New Season w/ Mistake that Fried Scooter! By abdulmuhsee (Read 2,960 times)

[abdulmuhsee]

Alright, I have a 2008, 250cc Roketa which looks identical to pictures of other Roketas I've seen on the forum (and by extension most Chinese scooters), but anyways, it's been sitting in the garage all winter and it's now getting warm enough to drive!

I hooked up the battery to the car and got the scooter started and running, but after I removed the jumper cables, it eventually died and the lights started dimming. No big deal, I just didn't charge it enough.

However, I did something stupid: I accidentally re-attached the positive cable to the negative side of the car battery and negative to positive, and after I put the cables on the scooter battery, it sparked and I removed them. When I turned the key to the "on" position, nothing at all now.

I re-attached the cables to the car battery correctly this time and tried to charge again, but still nothing. I went to the store and got new fuses and put a new fuse in there, but still nothing. Did I fry the whole electrical system of the scooter or what?

[abdulmuhsee]

Just as an update, I put the battery on the trickle charger. When I connected the two cables, the "connected" light came on, so it recognized the battery I guess.

After being on there for a few hours, I watched the charge go up from nothing to 25%, to 50%, and after just now reaching 75% I turned the key to the "on" position and nothing at all. No panel lights, no electronic fuel pump, nothing at all.

Could the trickle charger be wrong and it's just the battery that's fried, or does this mean something else got fried and there's a big problem?

[abdulmuhsee]

Well, you told me way back on page 1 of this sub-forum that it's the Yamaha/Linhai clone, so I'll go with that :-).

Yes, I mean the blue 15 AMP fuse that is located by the battery. I don't know of any other fuses, but here's a repost of the engine pic.



How do I check the fuse on the solenoid relay? Do you think the problem is a fuse getting blown from the crossed battery connections?

[abdulmuhsee]

Alright, so I found the 20 AMP fuse on the thick red wire above the muffler and took it out with some pliers - as I couldn't get it with my fingers due to the rubber covering around most of it. It didn't look blown, but I put a new fuse in there. Still nothing.

So finally, I took the battery somewhere to be tested, and the load bearing test indicated it had plenty of juice. Therefore, since the battery is fine, the 15 AMP fuse is fine, and the 20 AMP fuse is fine, I suppose something else must have blown, which I'm guessing could be a needle in a haystack, so I just had the shop pick it up to find out what it is (it needs a new rear tire anyways since the original one is almost thread-bare after putting almost 6000 miles on the thing).

By some hair-brained coincidence, the guy I originally bought the scooter from with only 100 miles on it last February showed up at my door only an hour after the shop towed it away and wanted to buy it back! It seems that as soon as the sun comes out, people get the desire to scoot.

He said he had a heck of a time finding me, but finally had a friend of his - a retired policeman or something - do a license/address search, which admittedly is a bit unnerving and weird. I told him I'd let him know after it gets fixed, though I doubt I'd sell it. It has quite a few dings on the fiberglass body from all the riding I did last season, but was running (last time I rode it anyways) way better than when I got it from him.

[abdulmuhsee]

Maybe I should have, but I figured that I'd be unable to do anything about it if it wasn't the fuses or battery.

But what I can do is get some advice as to how much effort such a repair should take. They could always call and say, "Yeah, your XYZ is busted and it'll take 8 hrs of labor minimum to fix" since I'm an ignoramus and will accept whatever technical babble they give me.

What would be the acceptable price limit they can quote me without knowing they're just trying to get a fortune out of me for something simple? Or, if they do say the starter or solenoid is fried, is that something difficult to fix?

[jhbietz]

Both are easy fix. It really shouldn't take more than hour to diagnose and fix so figure there labor rate plus parts.

[zugzug]

I have a easy way to tell when the shop guy is lying to me or trying to rip me off. His lips are moving.

[fairweasel2323]

yeah I learned that the hard way to Never jump ur scoot off ur car battery!!! only use a battery charger the slower the charge the better for ur battery. I didnt even hook it up reversed and I read it died on u after u first jumped it thats when u fried things! Mine did the same died instantly! I had to replace the stator and voltage regulator all my light bulbs almost everything electrical never did get my dash lights to work or my rear taillights and license plate light. Was a lesson learned but was glad I did it to my old 150cc not my new 250 Bali! Jr knows what hes talking about hes got same Lihani motor on his scoot he can help u out he has helped me out of some jams, he really knows these scoots good!

[jim150]

there is a second fuse up by the starter solinoid. 20 amp i think. Pain to get to but it blew on mine from a similar incident. You have not blown a starter or anything else. Just a fuse.

Jim

[redrocker1]

March 22nd 2011

I connected a 2 amp trickle charger to my BRAND new Roketa MC-75-150 and FOUND the NEGATIVE fuse (GROUND) broken!
NOT BLOWN!
Starter/lights out NO start!
I checked both battery fuse's
and
I replaced the fuse with the one in the fuse holder and presto it started!
Check your ground fuse on the battery ground!
redrocker1

[Cruiser]

I have never heard of a fuse on the ground wire of the battery. Neither one of my scoots has this. This would be redundant as the main fuse on the positive side carries all the battery current. Has anyone else had any experience with the ground wire fuse?

[mcalli]

I have not taken the time to read the rest of this blurb. But if you are getting nothing when you try to start, I would buy a new battery. Even though the battery is showing that it charges on the trickle charger, the battery is probably ruined. Since you charged it via car, and reversed the polarity, there is a very good change that even though the battery charges, it doesn't have enough kick (amphereage) now to start your bike. Try a new battery. fill it and trickle charge it according to directions.

Oops, went back and reread the blurb. Battery tested ok. going onward!

[89newbie]

what was it??/