Battery question

[DryFly]

I bought a 2007 People 250 last week. Typical for a low mileage scoot it’s been sitting quite a while. The PO had installed a new AGM battery about a year ago. It died on me after the first night so I put it on a trickle charger, then  disconnected it the next morning and I had to leave town for a week. I thought it would be charged but when I got back in town and tried to start it - the battery was dead again. I put my multimeter on it and it was down to 11.87 volts. I pulled the battery out of the scooter and have it hooked up to the trickle charger now. Its a four stage charger so it will go into absorb mode at some point which should take care of any sulfation on the battery. If that’s the problem it should fix it.
 Here’s the question, is there any reason that I would need to have the battery in the bike? Can I leave the battery out of the scooter for a week or so while the trickle charger does his magic? I can’t think of any reason not to as there really isn’t any type of motherboard on the scooter or electronics that are going to get all haywire if there’s not a battery hooked up to it. Any thoughts?

[john grinsel]

Get a new battery and save yourself grief.   In US Batteries Plus can charge/load test/ and sell you new battery.   Bikes/scooter ridden everyday seem to have no or little battery trouble.

[CROSSBOLT]

Yes, you can leave the battery out for however long you want with no downside/ problems.

Do like John said and replace it. Oh, keep the original for a paperweight, if you want!

[DryFly]

Thank you. Since I have to leave again this morning for a few days  I’ll just leave it hooked up and see what happens when I get back. My guess is it will be dead but no harm trying. Thanks for the feedback

[tortoise]

put my multimeter on it

Test cranking and charging volts.

[DryFly]

Great advice Tortoise, thanks

[JJJoseph]

End-of-life dead battery on a trickle charger may appear to get charged, but it's still dead.

[DryFly]

I ordered a new battery and will install when I get back this afternoon.
I won't be able to ride this scooter much for the next few months, and then winter will set in. My question now is, what are your opinions on leaving a battery hooked up to a trickle charger for extended periods?
The reason I ask isI recently purchased one that advertises "set it and forget it" and I know many other brands tout the same thing. The reason for my hesitancy is that I once had a LI battery from a drill on it's charger base overnight, and when I came back the next morning the thing was fried and there was some charring on the concrete where it sat. I've been wary of battery chargers since.
So, do you leave batteries on a trickle charger for weeks. months?

[Billtrout]

Use a Battery tender it's meant too be left hooked up

[boo]

I would give it a good charge on a full charger, not a trickle charger. Trickle chargers are designed to "maintain" a fully charged battery. The trickle charger may not have enough power to give it a good charge.
If your battery is only a year old, it should not be bad.

[Tromper]

Depends a bit at what phase of battery charging you're referring to.

If you bought a dry battery you'll want to charge that at somewhere around 1.2 to 2 amps on the initial charge or you do run the risk of frying it and possible heat issues although Lead Acid AGMs aren't as bad about that as LI's are.

After the initial charge a trickle charger is fine.
I keep one of my SYMs on a Battery Tender (TM) most of the time.  No issues so far save for frying a battery once when I left the bike on (not running).  That was on me, not the tender.