batteries for mobility scooters

[Dave Liquorice]

Last lot in my small UPS almost caught fire. Nasty smell, chared/melted terminals, distorted cases etc...

Set of 2 12 V 7 Ahr batts for the APC UPS is around £30 delivered from VPS. the "branded" APC replacement are around £60...

Since the near fire incident I've "got at" my UPS and reduced the charging voltage by about a volt (remove an R, fit multiturn pot in it's place) and fitted a fan (remove housing for the SNMP card, fit PC expansion slot extract fan and MIC502 based fan speed controller). The UPS that used to run at "rather warm to hot" is now "slightly cool". I'll be interested to see how long this set of batteries last, around 3 years has been the previous life.

Previous sets have been Yuasa one set Cambden(?).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Seems to be not that long ago you asked the same question? Were the recommendations then not any good?

I'd be inclined to look at any warranty. This sort of battery will have a fairly predetermined life (number of cycles). That number may well vary between good and poor quality ones.

[meow2222]

Life will depend on depth of discharge, amount of vibration, charging regime. I doubt you'll find much if anything in the way of extended warranties on buggy batteries.

NT

[Bill Wright]

They were unbranded UB12120 ones. My explanation was misleading, now I think about it. It was 500 days, but she charges it once overnight and once when she has her afternoon snooze. It very rarely gets deeply discharged. That only happens if she's going in a lot of shops and uses it for a trip to town.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's probably more easy to work out the expected life with a buggy than say a car. Yet car batteries can have a warranty from 1-5 years.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Wonder just how good the charger is? SLA are far more fussy than wet types, as I'm sure you know.

[meow2222]

It would be unusual to get 5 yrs from any type of buggy battery. Cars don't deep cycle. They also have less vibration shock forces due to suspension.

NT

[Nightjar]

A closer equivalent would be fork truck batteries, which come with a

1,500 charge cycle life expectancy; normally taken as 5 years at 300 working days p.a. However, to achieve that, there needs to be a regime of battery care that I suspect many buggy owners don't even think about, much less do.

Examples of the rules for long life for lead-acid fork truck batteries are:

Recharge every night or at 30% capacity. Never allow more than 80% discharge. Never leave the battery discharged for long periods.

Run the weekend cycle, which equalises cell voltages, every 5-10 charges.

Avoid opportunistic charging (e.g. plugging in over lunch). Each charge costs one charge cycle. Don't interrupt a charge once it has started; wait until the battery has fully recharged.

[meow2222]

A couple of those arent very practical with small buggy batteries. I'd also expect more vibration without suspension.

NT

[JimK]

/ [e-mail]

- show quoted text - A couple of those arent very practical with small buggy batteries. I'd also expect more vibration without suspension/q

You think elec fork lifts have suspension? Oh dear....

Jim K

[meow2222]

Pneumatic tyres do the same job, upto a point. Small golf or mobility things tend to have solid tyres, and 12Ah is small.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

All true. But if someone is willing to warrant a scooter battery for two rather than the more usual one year, it may be a better buy overall. That's all I meant.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article , Nightjar >> It's probably more easy to work out the expected life with a buggy

That's interesting. What might make a difference is if an SLA type can have as long a life under arduous use. Or if, as is more likely, 'they' simply want to sell more batteries.

[meow2222]

If you mean a buggy battery, then it would be a far better buy, hence I've not noticed any such offers.

NT

[Nightjar]

Every electric counterbalance fork truck I've driven has had very solid tyres.

[Nightjar]

I wonder if they too have a life limited by charge cycles. If so, the fairly natural temptation to put them on charge whenever the opportunity presents itself might well shorten their lifetime. Of course, fork lift trucks are supplied with batteries that are supposed to keep them running more or less constantly for at least eight hours every day. Weight is usually an advantage on a fork truck, so it may as well be in the batteries as in ballast. I doubt that buggies could do the same. However, it could be that minimising the number of charges every day, so far as is possible, might help with battery life. Avoiding over discharging and not interrupting a charge once started (except in an emergency) are probably also advisable.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article , Nightjar > That's interesting. What might make a difference is if an SLA type can

The bit about not keeping them topped up is interesting - after all that's what a car does on a long journey. And my last battery - Bosch - did 11 years. By far and away the longest ever in some 50 years of owning cars.

[Nightjar]

Quite different requirements, resulting in different designs. A car battery has to withstand a single deep discharge (not normally more than

50% of capacity) followed by trickle charging. They spend much of their life at or near full charge. Traction batteries have to withstand regular very deep discharge, possibly close to fully discharged, but have to provide full power at all normal levels of discharge. They spend much of their time partly discharged, but routinely get fully charged between uses.

[Capitol]

My experience with the electric wheel barrow has been a seven year life with Yuasa ( 40Ah). OK, the capacity fell off after year 4, but the performance was good enough for my light usage.

[Bill Wright]

I've had six batteries (three pairs). These were the originals, the new ones, and the replacements. They are all SLA and they all say 'max charge rate 3.5A.' and they also specify the starting and trickle charge voltage. The charger I use for these batteries is rated 2.5A and the voltages are correct. It's actually the one supplied with the machine.

By the way it's interesting that the industry standard charger connector is a 3-pin XLR?

Bill