It got my attention because it was starting out at a little lower voltage every day when id start the day...And im back to being concerned...Yesterday it started out even lower at 12.5v and today it started out at 12.3vI ride for hours every day so i would be surprised if charging it with my battery tender would make much difference but its worth a shot to me simply because you suggested itIt charges well during use, but the voltage drops off REALLY fast when at rest :/
I notice that right after a ride and I shut down the motor I see 12.7 v. If I then keep it turned on, motor not running to check my trip meter or playing around with Noodoe or something else, I'll see it drop to 12.6 within 5 or 10 minutes. I've read in many places about this scooter having a few more phantom loads than most. I am thinking simply due to Noodoe attempting to communicate with a phone and possibly with the keyless fob.
I don't recommend connecting a battery
charger but rather a Battery Tender or other battery
maintainer. There is a big difference. A maintainer, such as Battery Tender, senses battery charge condition and will run through a program of sequences to keep a battery in top shape and maintains the charge without burning out a battery. They will turn on or off as needed based on state of charge of the battery. A charger is always on and in one state of constant charging that can burn out a battery. Trickle chargers and brute force chargers fall into this category. A Battery Tender or maintainer can be connected and left connected indefinitely with no harm and only benefit to the battery. That is why I bought a new Battery Tender Plus for mine. I have an older battery maintainer, an AccuMate maintainer, that I bought over 15 years ago that I will be continuing to use on my wife's scooter and my JD lawn tractor through the cold months but I wanted something newer dedicated to my AK 550.
I take it you dont think the lithium option is worth the extra cost? Or do you have any other opposition to them?
Just never really considered going to a Lithium battery in my bikes. Personal choice for a bike. I really don't see anything wrong with them and they likely will maintain a better charge level over time. But you would still have the issue of phantom loads drawing down the charge over a few days, even if maybe more slowly than a AGM battery.
All my previous bikes had nothing close to the tech that is in this scooter. And there was no phantom load when I turned the key off on those bikes. So the batteries would all maintain the charge level where it was at the time I shut off the motor, at least for several weeks, before I'd see a drop of even a few tenths of a volt. But this AK 550 is different. Even more modern cars with the added tech can run down their batteries over several days or weeks. My mom used to own a Cadillac Town car that had several batteries for all the different tech installed in it. She never drove it enough to get all the batteries properly charged and was constantly having to take it in to the shop to get some of the tech devices batteries reconditioned since they were constantly being run down. My mom would only drive the car once every few weeks and then only a mile or two at the most.
