Battery charging advice, please!

[shawgb]

Hi all -

Well, I've had SUCH amazing responses using this forum in the past - I'm giving it a shot again...
So - the battery on my '06 Grandvista 250 didn't hold a charge thru the winter.
I've got the battery out of the bike, and I have a charger (it even says "smart charger" on it!), but I don't have the instructions for the dang thing.

Okay - first, it wants you to select the type of battery. The 3 choices (obviously abbreviated) are WET, GEL and AGM. Then you select charging rate, and the 3 choices are 2, 10 and 15 amps.

Sadly - I DUNNO EITHER PIECE OF INFORMATION! And I'd like to keep from causing an explosion, if possible. 

Of course I realize the battery may have had it - but since I have this charger I'd like to give it the ol college try.

Any help will be HUGELY appreciated!
The users on this forum totally RULE!

Thanks

[zombie]

Without sounding like a tutorial: wet is the plain old lead acid battery that most of us add water too. Gell is the sealed/do not add water type, and AGM is the newest absorption glass matt also sealed. The #'s are the charging rate in amps. The 2 amp setting is preferred for slow charging a battery. The higher are for a quick boost. If the battery is more than 2 years old I would just replace it. The sealed gell type are the most cost effective battery's at the moment. Generally running around $60.00. You can try charging yours at the 2 amp setting for 6-12 hours, but check it every 2 hours to see if it will take a charge.

[shawgb]

Oh YEAH - once again, YOU rule and this forum RULES!
Thank you!

I think the thing is fried...but I'll give it a shot.
Hell, it's 4 years old...surely that's about all one can expect of such a battery, yes?

Nonetheless, we shall see...
Thanks again!

[TechGuy]

I bought mine from WalMart and it's been great. It is a sealed battery that they sell dry.  You add the acid and charge it.  I think they will do it for you if you ask.

There are only about 4 major manufacturers and about 100 brands.  The Wally ones are made by the majors for them.

The first three letters are the manufacturer/brands branding of the battery.  I think most of the ones that end in X are sealed.

The number, like 12, is the capacity,

The suffix tells you the type of the terminals.

Basically if the first letter is different, it make no difference.  It is just a manufacturers code.  All of YTX, GTX, BTX... xTX are the same size

[blue]

ya they are ok batterys I use theam all the time the ones you buy with acid in theam you dont how long they just sat around this way you know the acid is good

[jprestonian]

Four years is a heck of a long time for a standard lead-acid battery (such as what comes OEM with the Kymcos).
.

[shawgb]

AGAIN...(and again!)
THANK YOU to all...

A lot of great info.

[zombie]

Tell your friends!

[yellasei]

try giving the battery a "shock charge" for about 10 minutes on the 15 amp setting!
this might sound harsh but can sometimes "wake up" a flat battery always worth a try

[zombie]

I have Shocked batteries in the past It is a short term fix. What happens is the battery plates start building up a coating (zinc oxide I believe). The heat created from a fast hard charge (Careful Axy) breaks this coating, allowing new lead to be exposed to the acid. The down side is this free floating material can short the battery. That can either take out a stator, or maybe cause an exploding battery. I have had many batteries actually reverse their polarity, because of overcharging. If I had to do it I would be hunkered down in a remote location.

[joeboy]

If you look at a battery it will have a rating in AMP HOURS, so say you have a battery that is 4 amp hr. the correct way to charge this is to divide the amp hours by twelve, this will give you the maximum rating you should ever charge the battery with.

So your 4 amp hour battery should never be charged with more than 0.330 amps (330 mAh) or you could damage the battery permanently.

Never use a car charger even on trickle as there way too powerful, most trickle settings are over 2 amps.

[shawgb]

Wow!
So - just what kinda charger should I have for a scoot battery? Do they make special chargers for small batteries?

[joeboy]

Yes they have nice little ones for motorcycle and scooter batteries. They sell them on ebay very cheaply you are better going for an automatic trickle charger then you can leave it hooked up all winter or when your not using it and it will save your battery.

[Shaka]

I bought one at Batteries Plus for like $20 that is a 1 amp charger, works great!

[joeboy]

I bought one at Batteries Plus for like $20 that is a 1 amp charger, works great!

To be honest even 1amp is too powerful for a little scooter battery it should be around 1/2 an amp or less to be safe.

1amp would be a boost charge for a short period.