Charging mobility scooter and powered wheelchair batteries

Looking after your Mobility Scooter and powered wheelchair batteries.

Sealed Lead Acid Batteries (SLA) are the most commonly found batteries on powered mobility aids. Lithium are becoming more common on portable (boot) scooters. The following applies to Sealed Lead Acid products. 
We only supply and fit batteries from reputable manufacturers like MK, Strident and Yuasa. As with most things you get what you pay for, there are plenty of cheaper options being sold online but it's a false economy. You may save £20 - £30 buying cheaper options but they will not last as long as the more reputable brands. We have the latest testing technology and we see cheaper brands failing after a few months, often they are under warranty, from what we are told it's very difficult to get a refund for faulty products. 
It is important to charge new batteries for at least 8 hours before first use. We use a low amp charger to charge batteries for the first time. 
You should charge your batteries for a minimum 8 hours after each use, no matter how short the trip. The charger goes through a cycle that takes 8 hours. Even if the charger light goes green leave it on for the 8 hours. If you cannot charge for 8 hours charge for as long as possible and at least 2 hours after the light on the charger turns green. The charger LED will show green when the battery is at 80% charge. 
ALWAYS USE THE CORRECT CHARGER.

It is so important to use the correct charger, so often we find people using lithium battery chargers on Lead Acid batteries. All battery chargers are not the same! Buy cheap chargers can shorten the life of the batteries and invalidate the warranty. It's important to get the right output voltage and amps charger for your batteries. You should replace the charger every time you replace the batteries. As part of the service we test the batteries and charger, it's amazing how many chargers fail the test. We are happy to test your charger before you purchase another.

If you are not using your powered mobility aid for a month or more it's important to charge the batteries at least every month, more if possible. Charge them for at least 8 hours.

If possible keep batteries indoors over colder months, above 4'C if possible. If you have a larger product kept outside try to keep it covered, use an old duvet or blanket to cover the area under the seat where the batteries are. 
If you use your mobility aid most days you can leave it on charge all of the time, the charger will switch to a floating mode once the batteries are full.

Do not leave batteries on charge for weeks/months if you are not using it.

Please ask us if you need any assistance. 
I will cover Lithium batteries in another post.

Thank you for your time, I hope you found this helpful.

 

 


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