Lexmoto Hunter 50cc

[LADYV]

Hi there, am a newbie and 16, just got my first motorbike, lexmoto hunter 50cc but waiting for my provisional licence to come through(its been over 2 months) however I start the scooter daily but it seems to need more and more battery charge, until today, it states its a full charge battery but the bike wont start , any ideas what i can do? I am very new to this, so sorry for being a bit slow on the up take! cheers!

[rennie]

Hello and Welcome

Is it turning over/trying to start?

[LADYV]

Hello! thanks for reply! Yes it is turning over and have started it until yesterday , now it just dosnt seem to start, even though battery charger when attatched says its fully charged. Ive tried it with brake on, clutch on and choke on, and putting revs to it, all in various ways but today and yesterday it wont start.

[fastbob]

Hi and welcome . Although you probably mean well , you are probably doing more harm than good by starting it every day . It takes time and some revs on the engine to charge a battery so starting it up and letting it idle ( Run slowly ) is probably what's run the battery down . The best thing to do is get a maintenance charger and leave it connected to the battery . You can pay a fortune for these things but I've got a cheap one from Machine Mart that works just as well . https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/streetwize-15a-trickle-charger/

[LADYV]

Thanks again for the reply. I have bought a charger 12volt to 4&6amp from Argos, it did the trick to begin with. It dosnt say how long to leave it charging and have been afraid to overcharge and knacker the battery. Is it safe to leave it overnight? It also dosnt say if it will automatically switch off if its fully charged, what is the usual way to get it fully charged without causing damage? As ive not got my licence or CBT yet I cant take it out to run it about, shall I not keep leaving it to idle? This was my mums advice but neither of us really knew how to maintain the bike for the best until I can legally ride it. Sorry for all questions!

[Tiggie]

It will be safe to leave overnight. The charger will stop charging when the battery is full.

Don't worry about starting it everyday or even charging daily. People go on holidays (Before covid ) for two weeks and it doesn't hurt the vehicle or battery.

I would leave it charging overnight and try starting again. As an aside has it got any fuel in it? that could be why its not starting (not being mean, we've all done it at one point )

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

That battery charger is to big for your bike battery. You really want to charge smaller batteries at a lower amperage. Bike specific chargers typically charge at 1A or under. My CTEK is 0.8A.

If the battery has dropped voltage through being used to start the bike so often then your Argos charger may not be able to charge it. In which case you need to raise the voltage by charging at a very low input for a couple of hours. I use a cheap plug type gel cell charger at 400Ma to do this.

My neighbour used to flatten his scooter battery every winter and that's how I revived it every spring.

Using too powerful a charger that is designed for car batteries can damage a bike battery so consider getting a lower amp version.

The CTEK 0.8 is a bike specific maintenance charger that I leave connected permanently to one of my bikes.