Scooter Problems!

[Fordy]

Hello everyone,

My Toylander 2 build started a few weeks ago, and I've been making slow but steady progress on putting the tub together as and when time allows.  The excuse is that I'm building it for my three-and-a-half year old twin girls, but we all know it's the dads and grandads who get the most fun out of these things!

Anyway, the first problem I've encountered is with the donor mobility scooter I'm using.  It's a four-wheeled Shoprider Deluxe, twin battery, 24V jobbie that's been living in my garage for the last few months.  I've been checking it and charging it every now and then and it was working fine about 6 weeks ago.  Last weekend, it was dragged out for a once over and all was not well.  On turning the key, about half of the battery life display lit up, but it would only move forwards or backwards a couple of inches before cutting out.  I assumed it was the batteries and put it on charge over night.  However, next morning it was even more dead.  Only a couple of the battery lights came on and it wouldn't move at all.  The charger says it's fully charged, the batteries both have about 12.8V across them, but the lights look pretty dim.  

Does anyone have any ideas?  I guess the batteries might be at fault, but they're not that old.  It did move a few inches on first start up, so I'm guessing the motor hasn't seized and the brake isn't sticking.

I'm a bit stumped!  I'd like to get it working again before building the bits into my car.  Help!

Steve

[electric4fun]

Steve,

what Voltage do the battery give  , for 12V gel/deep cycles, if below or around 10V then they are pretty much dead , try using a small bulb from e.g. a car (50w) on the batterie and see if it lits up.

it could also be a faulty charger ..


regards,
Luc

[Fordy]

Hi Luc,

Thanks for the reply.  I've checked with a multimeter and both batteries are showing 12.8V, but It's definitely the batteries (or charging system) causing the problem.  I borrowed another pair of batteries and the scooter powers up and runs fine.  The label on the dead batteries says they are sealed lead-acid types.  If, that's the case, does anyone know if they can be recovered from a deep discharge or have they had it? At least the rest of the scooter is still working and I can get on with my build!

Cheers,

Steve

[electric4fun]

this thread intrests me a lot as i'm having around 8x 12V 28Ah deep cycles and 8X6V 100Ah deep cycles , regularly I let them load overnight to keep them in condition (I got them al for free so no complaints on the overstock    )

i did some digging an came out here > http://www.ehow.com/how_6027823_restore-deep-cycle-battery.html

hope it is usefull to someone ,

regs,
Luc

[Fordy]

Thanks again Luc,

I'm borrowing a trickle charger from a guy at work.  I'll let you know if I have any luck with it.

Steve

[Robert]

this thread intrests me a lot as i'm having around 8x 12V 28Ah deep cycles and 8X6V 100Ah deep cycles , regularly I let them load overnight to keep them in condition (I got them al for free so no complaints on the overstock    )

i did some digging an came out here > http://www.ehow.com/how_6027823_restore-deep-cycle-battery.html

hope it is usefull to someone ,

regs,
Luc

Interesting information, Luc!
Now I wonder:
I put 3 pieces of 12V deep cycle battery's in series to feed my 36V system.
I don't manage to add diodes to the charging system, like Brian proposed, before my holiday.
Can I use my 12V motorcycle trickle charger to keep my batteries in shape for a few weeks?

[electric4fun]

I'm not an expert  , however , some rule of thumbs..

all batteries must be in fairly the same shape,meaning that you best not mix batteries that have not been used in similar conditions , sometimes hard to tell , if they come out of another machine and are the same brand you could more or less be sure they are in a similar condition , do not mix brands

all batteries must have the same voltage , first measure all batteries voltage, if they are not off to much best thing to do next is to parallel them so they 'charge' one another until all voltage are -almost- the same,

again , only do this if the batteries are a bit off (e.g. 1 volt , but that's a guess)

then it should be fairly save to use a trickle or other charger but do keep in mind polarities and voltages, I've seen batteries exploding long time ago , not a pretty sight.

last one, never use a car charger on deep cycle batteries , this will fry the palatines inside and in worst case literally blow up the battery housing, the case will bulk .

best regards,
Luc
Thanks for the explanation Luc

[dannyboy]

Hi There,

I have had similar problems with batteries. I have built two go karts for my sons, one has a fibre glass body shell and the other is a Toylander 2.

The Toylander is based on a smaller mobility scooter and I used 6" wheels instead of the 4" wheels with no gearing problems, and the other car is based on the large mobility scooter with 6" wheels and full suspension.

In order for the electronics to work properly the batteries must not fall below 11v each during operation, they should hover at about 11v - 11.8v under load. If one battery drops below this the "scooter" will fault out, I had bought two brand new 75 ah batteries and even when fully charged with both showing 12.8v I still had problems. So I lifted the rear wheels, volt meter accross batteries on at a time. Power on and pressed throttle pedal, one battery showed 11.8v the other droped off to 7.8v, fault indicator then showed on control panel. Solution was duff battery, exchange for another........