Looking After Your Mobility Scooter Battery

Most mobility scooter batteries fail slowly rather than suddenly, and how they were charged in the first year often decides how well they perform in the third.

Charge it properly, every time

Charge after every use. Putting the scooter away and charging it later, or only when it feels low, is the most common reason batteries lose capacity early. Lead-acid batteries do not enjoy being left part-discharged.

Charge it fully, then unplug it. Once the charger shows that the battery is full, switch it off at the wall. Leaving a charger running for days adds heat, not charge.

Do not run it down to nothing. A deep discharge every now and then does particular harm. If you notice the gauge is low, charge it rather than squeezing out one more trip.

Charge in a dry, frost-free place. A cold, damp garage in February will shorten both the charge and the battery itself. If the scooter lives in a cold outbuilding, consider bringing the battery indoors to charge — and check your manual, as some batteries are not designed to be removed.

If you are not using it, charge it monthly. A scooter left untouched over winter with a flat battery may not recover in the spring. One charge a month is usually enough to keep it healthy.

The warning signs worth noticing

• Range drops noticeably over a few weeks rather than over a couple of years.
• The scooter slows earlier than it used to on a slope it once managed comfortably.
• It takes far longer to charge, or the charger never seems to reach the finished light.
• The scooter cuts out under load, then runs again after a rest.
• The battery case feels unusually warm, or looks swollen or distorted.

If a battery case is swollen or distorted, stop using it and contact us — do not keep charging it and do not attempt to open it.

Small things that add up

Tyre pressures that are too low make the motor work harder than it needs to, which shortens each charge. A dragging brake does the same. Keep the battery terminals clean and dry, use only the charger that came with the machine, and do not mix old and new batteries in the same pack.

When replacement is the right answer

When the time comes, we test the battery under load rather than guessing from the age of the machine. That takes a few minutes and tells you whether you need a replacement, a new charger, or simply a change in how you charge it. Replacement batteries are fitted and the old ones disposed of responsibly.

If your range has dropped

Ring us on 01264 243124 and describe what has changed. We will tell you whether a test is worth arranging and what it will involve. If the honest answer turns out to be that the machine is now beyond sensible repair, we will say that too.