battery tender question
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I'm sure someone here has the definitive answer, but I would say that as long as you are riding your scoot a few times a week you shouldn't have a battery issue. As long as it is more than up the street and back. I commute with my Majesty, so it gets at least 30 miles a day and then I like to ride on the weekends too!
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i recently had to leave mine locked in the garage for two weeks !
i was unable to ride for two weeks (long story), and it nearly killed me(not riding).
long story short.....after two weeks of inactivity, the maj started right up first time, no hesitation what so ever.
jason
i was unable to ride for two weeks (long story), and it nearly killed me(not riding).
long story short.....after two weeks of inactivity, the maj started right up first time, no hesitation what so ever.
jason
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The quick answer is: no.
When a lead-acid battery is not used for a while chemicals called sulfates are deposited on the lead plates - this is called sulfation. This reduces the battery's ability to hold a charge. Eventually the battery will not be able to hold a charge at all - it will be permanently destroyed and you will have to buy a new battery. The older your battery is the quicker this happens. As a rough guess depending on the age of the battery this could be 1-4 months.
A battery tender monitors the charging status of your battery and charges it with a small current when it becomes slightly discharged.
It is possible to destroy a battery by using too large a charger - like a large car or truck battery charger on you tiny Majesty's battery. If you manage to boil the electrolyte you have destroyed the battery. The batter tender prevents this. Because the Majesty's battery is so small the battery tender jr. is fine. The bigger ones are for car batteries.
So - if there will be periods when you won't ride for a month or more - get a battery tender - it will pay for itself. This includes overwinter storage. If you ride a couple of times a week year round a battery tender isn't needed.
Another quick note - lead acid batteries produce hydrogen gas when charging - this is an EXPLOSIVE. Having seen several dozen people who had batteries blow up in their faces I recommend you always wear safety glasses when making electrical connections to your battery - that includes jump-starting too.
When a lead-acid battery is not used for a while chemicals called sulfates are deposited on the lead plates - this is called sulfation. This reduces the battery's ability to hold a charge. Eventually the battery will not be able to hold a charge at all - it will be permanently destroyed and you will have to buy a new battery. The older your battery is the quicker this happens. As a rough guess depending on the age of the battery this could be 1-4 months.
A battery tender monitors the charging status of your battery and charges it with a small current when it becomes slightly discharged.
It is possible to destroy a battery by using too large a charger - like a large car or truck battery charger on you tiny Majesty's battery. If you manage to boil the electrolyte you have destroyed the battery. The batter tender prevents this. Because the Majesty's battery is so small the battery tender jr. is fine. The bigger ones are for car batteries.
So - if there will be periods when you won't ride for a month or more - get a battery tender - it will pay for itself. This includes overwinter storage. If you ride a couple of times a week year round a battery tender isn't needed.
Another quick note - lead acid batteries produce hydrogen gas when charging - this is an EXPLOSIVE. Having seen several dozen people who had batteries blow up in their faces I recommend you always wear safety glasses when making electrical connections to your battery - that includes jump-starting too.
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Wow! Thanks for thew info! I really had no clue. I guess I ride my bike enough that I just assume that when I turn the key, it'll fire...
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
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The red battery chargers that wal mart sells have a "desulfate" setting where you can set it for 24 hours and it will desulfate the battery. It works too, I had an old trolling motor battery that was about dead and I decided to give that a try before throwing it out. It bought me 2 more years of use before it finally died for good!Ishabaka said:
If you desulfate your battery once a year it should last you a long time and hold a charge much longer.
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klanger - the 400 Majesty uses a sealed lead-acid battery. I don't know about the 250 - it is not sold in the U.S. I don't know very much about polymer batteries, except that they are MUCH lighter than lead-acid.
When I had a Mustang (car), there was a company that made a polymer battery for it that weighed 17 pounds - the lead acid battery for the Mustang weighs 50 pounds, but the cost for the polymer battery was $175 vs. about $50 for the lead-acid battery. I had re-located my battery from the engine compartment to the trunk, over the passenger side rear tire, for more traction off the line in drag racing, so I figured a lighter battery wouldn't help.
I saw your post about taking the battery inside - we used to do this in Canada when it was really cold! Also, they sell battery warmers in Canada - a little electric blanket that goes around your car battery and plugs into an extension cord - they work. The most effective things were block heaters - electric heaters that heated the coolant in the engine, and kept the engine - and most importantly - the oil, warm. In some cities in Canada where it gets really cold - like Winnipeg - there are electric outlets at every parking place.
WITF - yes, proper charging can revive a sulfated battery - but not completely. It will reverse some, but not all of the sulfation. It's best to prevent sulfation in the first place, but like you said, a sulfated battery may be able to be fixed and work for quite a long while. You want a battery charger like yours, with a desulfation setting. When I was young and dumb (instead of old and dumb :wink: ) I left my first motorcycle in a shed over the West Virginia winter. Of course, come spring, the battery was dead and the bike wouldn't start. So I took the battery out and charged it with a big car battery charger until the acid was bubbling with hydrogen bubbles - man, I killed that thing! So it was off to the cycle shop for a new battery.
This brings up one more topic - as an ER doctor I see this a couple of times a year. When you charge a lead acid battery, hydrogen gas is given off. Folks - hydrogen mixed with the right amout of oxygen EXPLODES! That's why NASA uses liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel.
DON'T let any ignition source get near a charging battery. What I see is people who charge a battery and check on it while smoking a cigarette - the battery explodes, and they wind up with eyes full of embedded plastic particles and battery acid. The best thing to do is wear safety glasses whenever working with a battery.
When I had a Mustang (car), there was a company that made a polymer battery for it that weighed 17 pounds - the lead acid battery for the Mustang weighs 50 pounds, but the cost for the polymer battery was $175 vs. about $50 for the lead-acid battery. I had re-located my battery from the engine compartment to the trunk, over the passenger side rear tire, for more traction off the line in drag racing, so I figured a lighter battery wouldn't help.
I saw your post about taking the battery inside - we used to do this in Canada when it was really cold! Also, they sell battery warmers in Canada - a little electric blanket that goes around your car battery and plugs into an extension cord - they work. The most effective things were block heaters - electric heaters that heated the coolant in the engine, and kept the engine - and most importantly - the oil, warm. In some cities in Canada where it gets really cold - like Winnipeg - there are electric outlets at every parking place.
WITF - yes, proper charging can revive a sulfated battery - but not completely. It will reverse some, but not all of the sulfation. It's best to prevent sulfation in the first place, but like you said, a sulfated battery may be able to be fixed and work for quite a long while. You want a battery charger like yours, with a desulfation setting. When I was young and dumb (instead of old and dumb :wink: ) I left my first motorcycle in a shed over the West Virginia winter. Of course, come spring, the battery was dead and the bike wouldn't start. So I took the battery out and charged it with a big car battery charger until the acid was bubbling with hydrogen bubbles - man, I killed that thing! So it was off to the cycle shop for a new battery.
This brings up one more topic - as an ER doctor I see this a couple of times a year. When you charge a lead acid battery, hydrogen gas is given off. Folks - hydrogen mixed with the right amout of oxygen EXPLODES! That's why NASA uses liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel.
DON'T let any ignition source get near a charging battery. What I see is people who charge a battery and check on it while smoking a cigarette - the battery explodes, and they wind up with eyes full of embedded plastic particles and battery acid. The best thing to do is wear safety glasses whenever working with a battery.
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When you say polymer battery, do you mean lithium polymer? I really can't see any real benefit in these applications (gas powered vehicles). It just seems like added cost and complexity for a negligible reduction in weight.
As for charging batteries, I try to charge in the garage (whatever the battery type), and never get my head any closer than I have to. This also goes for jumping a vehicle. I think NiMH are probably some of the safest to charge.
As for charging batteries, I try to charge in the garage (whatever the battery type), and never get my head any closer than I have to. This also goes for jumping a vehicle. I think NiMH are probably some of the safest to charge.
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I don't know exactly what that battery was made of - it was called a "gel cell". You're right - the weight difference would be insignificant on the street - but it would be significant in racing. I find that people often get confused between performance improvements that are worthwhile on the street, and those worthwhile for racing. For example, in drag racing, races are usually won by a few one hundredths of a second in a quarter mile race. As a general rule, taking one hundred pounds off your car makes it one tenth of a second faster in the quarter mile - so taking 37 pounds off would make a significant difference - but you would never notice it on the street. A rule of thumb is the minimal horsepower increase that you will notice on a street machine is 5-10%. Same with weight reduction.
That is why racing machines tend to be so expensive, and why racers will go to such extremes to remove a little weight or gain a small amount of power, especially when they stand to win a lot of money. An example is NASCAR, where there are millions of dollars involved, and cars often win by less than a car length after going 500 miles......
I went to the NASCAR equipment manufacturers expostion at Daytona Speedway a few years back - it isn't open to the general public - one thing that impressed me was an engine honing machine that was on display. Proper honing of cylinder bores insures good ring sealing for maximum horsepower. In a normal engine rebuild the cylinders would be honed with a $25 hone using an electric drill. Speed shops generally hone the cylinders using torque plates - steel plates designed like cylinder heads that bolt to the block, to induce the deformation caused by the cylinder head bolts - that produces a better ring seal by a small amount.
This machine - which probably cost in the neighbourhood of a hundred k, immersed the whole block in oil, which was heated to operating temperature, so the engine block was at operating temperature, then honed the bores with a torque plate. The whole deal probably added 1-2 horsepower to an approximately 700 horsepower engine. Definitely not worth it on the street, but a whole different story in a NASCAR race with their strict engine and chassis rules.
That is why racing machines tend to be so expensive, and why racers will go to such extremes to remove a little weight or gain a small amount of power, especially when they stand to win a lot of money. An example is NASCAR, where there are millions of dollars involved, and cars often win by less than a car length after going 500 miles......
I went to the NASCAR equipment manufacturers expostion at Daytona Speedway a few years back - it isn't open to the general public - one thing that impressed me was an engine honing machine that was on display. Proper honing of cylinder bores insures good ring sealing for maximum horsepower. In a normal engine rebuild the cylinders would be honed with a $25 hone using an electric drill. Speed shops generally hone the cylinders using torque plates - steel plates designed like cylinder heads that bolt to the block, to induce the deformation caused by the cylinder head bolts - that produces a better ring seal by a small amount.
This machine - which probably cost in the neighbourhood of a hundred k, immersed the whole block in oil, which was heated to operating temperature, so the engine block was at operating temperature, then honed the bores with a torque plate. The whole deal probably added 1-2 horsepower to an approximately 700 horsepower engine. Definitely not worth it on the street, but a whole different story in a NASCAR race with their strict engine and chassis rules.
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Ishabaka I just read your post for the second time and I realize that you may not know what a battery charger with a desulfate setting does. You said that proper charging can revive a sulfated battery, "but not completely." Well thats not what the charger does. It hits the battery with pulses of a certain frequency that will knock off the sulfate built up on the plates. It does NOT charge the battery at all. After the desulfate process is complete you must then charge it like a regular battery.
Not sure if you knew this, by your reply it seems that you might think the "desulfate" setting on a charger just charges it a certain way, and it does not. Charging is not part of the desulfate process.
I have a feeling I'm preaching to the choir but if it helps anybody else it would have been worth my time.
Not sure if you knew this, by your reply it seems that you might think the "desulfate" setting on a charger just charges it a certain way, and it does not. Charging is not part of the desulfate process.
I have a feeling I'm preaching to the choir but if it helps anybody else it would have been worth my time.
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WITF - you are right and I am wrong that "desulfation settings" do not recharge batteries. The best info I could find out was from this site:
http://www.rpc.com.au/products/batterie ... rfaq16.htm
which states the jury is still out on how well pulsed desulfation works on reviving sulfated batteries.
http://www.rpc.com.au/products/batterie ... rfaq16.htm
which states the jury is still out on how well pulsed desulfation works on reviving sulfated batteries.
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Well I know for a fact our battery was DOA and the pulse desulfation made it like a new battery again. There was no denying what my trolling motor was telling me, that 5yo battery was ready to go fishing again!
I can't believe it, I actually taught Ishabaka something, NOW I feel like a member of the team! :lol:
I can't believe it, I actually taught Ishabaka something, NOW I feel like a member of the team! :lol:
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OK, WITF and klanger, just for mocking me I won't let you in on my new discovery - how to increase the horsepower of the Majesty's engine by 50% for $2.99. All other members can check it out at:
www.planetgazorkulon.com
WITF and klanger - you are LOCKED OUT of the site - Bwahahaha!
:twisted:
Hint: I figured out a way to mount a cold fusion reactor under the passenger grab rail.....
www.planetgazorkulon.com
WITF and klanger - you are LOCKED OUT of the site - Bwahahaha!
:twisted:
Hint: I figured out a way to mount a cold fusion reactor under the passenger grab rail.....
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Ishabaka said:
Code:
The requested URL could not be retrievedI knew this was coming! No one can say they were not warned!Ishabaka said:
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Christopher - I sent you a pm with my secret. The one thing is, you need ten kiligrams of U235 for the cold fusion reactor - should be able to order that from any online scientific supply store.... I "borrowed" some when I spent some time at Oak Ridge National Laboratories.
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No more sitting in traffic for me! Now I can take advantage of all the hills and simply jump all the poor slobs sitting in their cars. And I don't have to complain about no lane-splitting laws here in TN.
Thanks, Ishabaka!
Thanks, Ishabaka!
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