Possible dead battery, input please? By sine (Read 30,564 times)

[sine]

Hi all,

I have a 2011 TaoTao ATM50-A1. I've been starting it up every week or so thru the winter to keep the battery from dying, warm up the engine a little bit, etc.

A few days ago I left the keys in the ignition (luckily it was safely locked in my garage), just noticed it today, and it seems that has killed the battery. Pushing the electric start button has ZERO effect. No noise, nothing. It starts with the kick starter but even after letting it idle for a half hour (couldn't ride, snowy here), the electric start still does nothing.

So - is my battery past the point of no return? I've read that these cheap chinese batteries can be killed very easily.

If the battery is dead, and I'm too lazy and cheap to replace it, will it have any effect on my scooter other than having to use the kick-starter?

Or, is there possibly something else wrong? Any input would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

sine

[Bashan]

Did you leave the key in the ON position? Just leaving the key in with the ignition OFF shouldn't have run the battery down. Letting the scooter idle will not charge up the battery, it's not producing enough juice. Get a multimeter if you don't have one, they're about 10 bucks, and check the voltage on the battery with the engine off. It should be about 12.5 volts. If it's below 12 the battery is exhausted. Put it on a trickle charger overnight and see what it reads. If it won't get back up to 12.5 it's toast and if it won't hold that for 24 hours it's also toast. Kickstarting the scooter will not hurt it at all, they used to build them without an electric start. If all the lights work when it's running and it operates OK, knock it out. And yes, Chinese scooter batteries are generally a POS and fail regularly. That's not to say you might not have something wrong with your charging system, we could check that with the multi too. Rich

[sprocket]

I agree with Rich.. the starting is really hard on this tiny batteries and 1/2 hour of idling won't charge back the power that was used in starting the scooter.

You need about 1/2 of riding but I have found it is actually more like 45 minutes of riding, to get the battery back up to where it was before you started...

Also be careful what type of trickle charger... it shouldn't put out more than 2 amps.

A battery tender for riding mowers/ATVs/generators etc is a good choice (1.25amps)... I have seen them at Walmart for under $15.00

[sine]

Yes, the key was left in the ON position..... sigh.

I'm going to try to find a cheap trickle charger, hopefully that works, but if not, I'll probably just be kickstarting from now on.

[terrilee]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

DO NOT RELY ON YOUR KICKSTART
THEY ARE VERY FLIMSY
& arguably the weakest thing on your scoot.

get a new battery

if u break the kickstart it may be a easy fix, but not from
what ive read.

kick starts should only be used in emergencies

[redrider]

2nd that on the battery tender ,they are a must for cold weather .

[mainepeace]

Unfortunately the running lights on the Tao Tao and Peace Sports scooters don't care what the battery voltage is. They will keep going just like leaving on a flashlight and will deplete the battery. I found that you really need to ride (not idle) for about 15 minutes to recharge the battery on a 50 for whatever power was used for a basic electric start. Just idling it in the garage for 1/2 hour does nothing as the 50cc stock stator does not produce ANY extra power to charge the battery at idle. It needs higher RPMs. I ride to my shop, about 3 miles each way, and I need to charge up the battery once a month, sometimes more often.

Greg

[sine]

Ok, thanks to terrilee for the warning on breaking the kickstart. She's right, the kickstart on my scoot does feel kinda flimsy. I guess I'll just have to be gentle.

The question at this point is - is it worth the money to buy a charger, or should I just save that money and jump right to buying a new battery? Has anyone ever heard of someone successfully re-charging a completely beyond dead battery (especially a chinese one)?

[jct842]

New battery, old battery you still are going to need a charger to maintain it. As far as keys go I have 3 scooters and they all have the keys in the ignition, and my car does too, and the house and garage aint been locked for maybe a week total in 17 years. I don't like carrying a wad of keys in my pocket. It helps to have a 130lb dog and the slackers don't have to know he would help carry stuff out for them!

[terrilee]

i agree

it may strain ur budget
but if u dont ride alot , say 1/2 every day, especially if ur in a cold weather area
to keep the battery charged.
u need a trickle charger and a new battery


if u have a car available , u can jump ur scoot with it
till u can afford a new battery.

JUST MAKE SURE THE CAR IS NOT RUNNING
me, i actually disconnected the car's battery,
just to be safer.

[bcgreatness]

you can charge your battery with the car running, just dont start your scooter while its hooked up to the car and the cars running, then you might run into some problems. i just charged mine like that thismorning and it only took 4 mins. for some reason my scoot does not charge, im sure its the stator, but it took like 4 mins with it hooked up to the battery of the car to charge it almost all the way. im going to invest into a trickle for my bike, one that i can bolt on and just plug a cord into it at night. just remember when you frequently charge your scooter from dead to full all the time, it kills the battery's life. i killed a new battery in less than a month due to charging it multiple times a week. best advice is to charge it fully with a good charger, then use a trickle every day when you put it up so the low amp charge wont destroy the battery's cells fast.

[sprocket]

It is not a good idea to charge a scooter battery from a car... you may do it once but it usually cooks the battery big time.. the alternator output of a car is too much for the small battery.

Doing this even once will shorten the life of the scooter battery...

My battery has a warning sticker than says do not exceed 7 amps for 7 minutes...

[Bashan]

Yep, rapid charging like that warps the plates and ruins the battery. Here's the FAQ page from Yuasa batteries, they talk about charge rates among many other topics. Rich

[bcgreatness]

yeah i wont be doing that again lol, i had to make a run to the store and she was dead, didnt want to jump it and get to the store and have it not start there lol. i loaned my mother my good battery charger and she lives 2 hours away didnt bring it back yet

[bcgreatness]

you probably dont have one because you just said you left your keys in the ign, but just in case, does your scoot have a remote start/alarm by any chance?