Unlike cars, scooters do not have an alternator to keep the battery charged. Scooters use generators which serve essentially the same purpose but are not as effective at maintaining battery charge. Keeping your scooter on a battery tender when it is not in use– especially if it will sit for long periods of time– will help prolong the life of your battery.
How do I use a battery tender?
At the shop, we sell the Yuasa Smart Shot 900 battery tender which can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. The tender then comes with two options for connecting it to your battery. They are interchangable depending on your needs. The first option is via alligator clips, as seen below.
However, using alligator clips can be a hassle if you cannot easily access your battery without removing parts of your scooter. So there is a second option called fused ring connectors which are small metal clips that can be placed under the screws on the battery terminals as indicated by the blue circles below.
What makes these so conventient is that the wire they are attached to can then hang outside of the scooter and be plugged into the tender without opening the battery compartment. The red circle in the photo above indicates where the fused ring connectors' wire is connected to the wire leading to the wall outlet. All you need to do once you are ready to ride is disconnect the area circled in red.
Depending on the placement of your battery, sometimes a small hole needs to be cut in either a floor mat or panel of the scooter that will allow the wires to stick out. This can be done at home but you can contact us at the shop if you have questions.
How often do I need to put my battery on a tender?
At the shop we tell our customers to put a tender on your scooter whenever you are not riding. However, this is not convenient or doable for some depending on where they store their scooter. Yuasa explains on their website, "When not in use, a battery discharges on a daily basis sometimes up to 0.5-1%. This rate of discharge increases when the climate is warm. To make up for this loss from disuse, a boosting charge should be given once a month."
Can I over-charge my scooter's battery?
It depends on your battery tender. The tender we sell at the shop will not allow your battery to overcharge. When you plug it in it will charge your battery and once your battery is in a charged state, the tender reverts to a "maintenance charge" which simply maintains a charged state.
The pictures below depict the different charging states of your battery. A red light means the tender is connected to a wall outlet but not charging a battery. The yellow light indicates the tender is in the process of charging the battery. The green light indicates the "maintenance charge" mentioned above.
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| red light on- plugged into working outlet |
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| red and yellow- plugged into working outlet, charging battery |
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red and green- plugged into working outlet, battery is fully charged, tender is in "maintenance" or "storage" mode
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Batteries have to work a lot harder in cold temperatures. Engine oil is thicker and gasoline does not vaporize as readily putting more strain on the battery.
My scooter needs a new battery, do you have one?
We do our best to keep batteries in stock for the models we sell. If you need a new battery, give us a call ahead of time and we will be able to let you know if it's in stock and also fill and charge the battery if needed. Even if the battery you need is out of stock we can usually get it within one or two business days.
Related information: check out our post about Winterizing Your Scooter for more information about preventative maintenance for your scooter during the winter months.
Still have questions? check out Yuasa's FAQ section for even more information about batteries and tenders or contact us by phone or e-mail at the shop.
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