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Hi Chris are you still active in “upgrading mobility scooter to Lipo”
Hi scoobies. I am hobbled by arthritis adn have been with scooters for 10+ years – for us afflicted guys these are a godsend and you come to rely on them heavily
I am so glad I have discovered this thread – by accident – as I found there is almost no relevant forum for mobility users (ie that isnt a commercial site with their cowboys). This seems to be a genuine user’s site which is what I want to share my frank experiences with
This website seems to make it really obtuse to register a new user? weird, but figured it after half hour round the houses
Also frustrating is the site is not subdivided into categories, so all comments are just lumped on top of each other, making is near impossible to find this thread from “home”. Wrose still is you cant list the comments by their one line title (AFAIK)
Well im here now and book marked
I started my search cos I need to upgrade my dying Lab batteries 2×12 75Ah to an equivalent Lipo set so have been taking council here on others’ experiences. I went into it all 2019 when I noticed my range dying off, but Covid limited my trips to a couple of miles to the local shops so I shelved my enquiries. A recent 3 mile trip showed me action was needed soonest (DoD down to 50% never happened before.
So here I am hoping to exchange views
BTW I notice that many of the comments are from lay users – no disrespect here – who have not the benefit of a technical background – which I have. So I am happy to contribute to the knowledge base for example
Lab vs Lipo operation
The discharge curve of a Lab is flat from 25v till about 40% Dod 24v then is rounded like a knee to 23v when it drops off very quickly
Sadly if only it were that simple but the plateau level varies widely 26v – 25v (summer full charged) down to 23v – 20v winter heavy load drawn
The capacity say 100Ah new can drop to 60Ah on prolonged heavy discharge – going up a long hill
It can be seriously false because of manufacturers exaggerated claims and hidden use of recycled materials
Winter temps reduce capacity to ca 75%
The ribbon LED range meters are a very poor indicator of remaining usage. I never ran mine below 70% as the the rate dropped very rapidly after that with barely 500m left – I didnt want to get pavement stranded
I found a better way (other than travelling known distances) was to use an app on my smart phone GPS speedometer distance meter free
Age and abuse will show in reduced range. Dont expect >4 years from a premium quality battery supplier
Batteries must be kept in fully charged state. Deep cycle does not mean you can go from 100% down to 0% like a tank of gas. In good practice it mean 100-60% and maybe 80% in an emergency only
For newbies for safety I would advise – whatever the range claims of salesmen divide by 4
Hope that helps, I will try and post some more pix and graphs
This is a very comprehensive popular source on Batteries
file:///C:/Users/User/Documents/battery/batteries/lab/Measuring%20State-of-charge%20-%20Battery%20University.htm
OBTW reason Lipos die suddenly is their curve is much more like a doorstep than a knee
But the positive side is that you can get a reliable DoD estimate from a simple no load voltmeter reading – more on this next time
