Vehicle Chargers

[jmellc]

A friend at church bought his daughter an electric scooter. Didn't say how large, what model, brand, etc. Said the scooter won't go any more, just hums a bit when powered. Asked if battery could be bad or damaged by charger.

I've done none of this kind of work, short of providing power for chargers. I recalled ruining a drill battery from leaving it several days in a charger. He thinks he may have done such with her battery.

Do any of you work on vehicles? Could this be the problem or or their chargers designed to disengage when charged? He said the scooter was not quite a year old. I don't think age would get it that soon.

 

[EV607797]

I did the same thing to a scooter that I bought for my son. My first thought was to keep it plugged in continuously so that he'd always be able to jump on it and ride. Wrong. The charging circuit in this scooter was very unsophisticated and allowed me to literally boil the life out of the battery. I was able to buy a replacement battery pack from Batteries Plus that was more tolerant to over-charging and it did fairly well.

 

[jmellc]

I suspected that was the case. I said I would check it out & if timing was the issue that we could set up a switched receptacle, with a timer switch set for the max time given in owner's manual. Simplest fool proof way I can think of at the moment.

 

[kwired]

What is output voltage of charger VS battery voltage? Does charger voltage decrease or is timed or pulsed once battery is charged?

Once battery is fully charged you only need to supply a small amount of charging power or cycle it every so often to make certain the battery is still fully charged when you are ready to use it. If your charger never cuts back on charge voltage it is a cheap charger and can overcharge the battery.

I have noticed on more sophisticated systems like my cordless tools Lion batteries the charging rate varies throughout the charging cycle. The closer you are to full charge the more it varies.

 

[S'mise]

Probably battery is toast. I'd start with seeing if the headlight comes on