Battery charging issue or something more?

[steve-a]

My first post on the new forum and it is a bit of a ramble but  I am after a bit of advice in regards to an issue I am experiencing on my Scooter.

The scooter was new (1 mile on the clock when I picked it up it is  a 2011 model) purchased about 4 months ago, it is a Piaggio BV300ie, I got a really good deal on it but had to pick it up from Leeds (I am in Essex).

The scooter was fine for the first 600 miles, just about the time it went in for its first service it was turning over really slowly and just catching / starting. 
I had the first service at the local Piaggio dealer in Romford (Steads) who were IMO quite expensive but they are a Piaggio dealer so just went with it, they did not mention the slow turnover and I forgot to ask them about it.
Basically a few days after the service the starting issue got worse and the scooter failed to start at all, I decided that I would just replace the battery instead of trying to get a garage / dealer involved in the first instance as the bike had been in the shop for the best part of two years.  So I purchased a replacement battery from Halfords and all was fine at first, but after a week (give or take) the symptoms returned, really slow to turn over and the battery either gives up or the scooter will just about turn over and start.

So currently I am charging both batteries overnight and connecting one to the scooter for my journey to work, and keeping the other as backup in-case it will not start.

When I get into work I disconnect the earth cable from the battery, but it still struggles to start, and tonight I had to use the spare battery to start it.

The scooter has a voltage meter in the dash which does appear to work, when revving the scooter it goes up to 14.5 or so, so I am not sure if I have just been unlucky and have two bad batteries, or if the regulator is knackered or if there is an earth fault draining the battery.

I phoned Steads up a few weeks ago about the issue but they just told me that their workshop was fully booked and that they did not perform warranty work as Piaggio failed to pay them so I am in a dilemma, I do not want to pay out for an independent garage to troubleshoot this as it could be expensive.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I could go about troubleshooting this issue?

[big gav]

Firstly you want to check the voltage at the battery whilst revving the engine. If that checks out ok then you'll need to oerform more intricate tests on the wiring. Checking all the earths and leads for continuity. Pin ou checks on the alternator and also for battery draining.

[steve-a]

ok thanks, I don't have a volt meter, would something like this be the tool for the job?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/digital-multimeter-with-autorange-frequency-counter-4407
how do I check an earth to see if it is drawing power?

[ash]

Measure the voltage at the battery with it bolted in and wire up, and then disconnected to see if there is any bad earths.

Does the bike have an immobiliser or alarm fitted ?

[Manic636]

Just a point about Steads being a piaggio dealer, if they don't do warranty work they will lose the franchise.. I would call the original selling dealer and get them to organise a local dealer to you to deal with, the more things you mess with the more get outs from warranty for them to quote.

[steve-a]

Measure the voltage at the battery with it bolted in and wire up, and then disconnected to see if there is any bad earths.

Does the bike have an immobiliser or alarm fitted ?

I think it has a built in immobiliser (factory) but no alarm (and a little flashing light on the dash)

I disconnected the interior (under seat) light as there was a thread on another site from a few years ago saying that not closing the seat down properly can drain the battery.

I was going to try Motoden, I did not like the attitude in Steads when I took it for the service before I mentioned anything about the issue, I guess they are used to dealing with kids & taxi drivers!!

Thanks for the help and advice so far.

[ash]

I would expect the current drain to be very small from an immobiliser. I have a tracker on my bike, and it zapped an old battery I had in the bike, but no problem for weeks with its replacement.