How to Charge a Mobility Scooter Battery Without a Charger

Right off the bat, the task of charging a scooter battery without the supplied charger might seem impossible.

But there are a couple hacks that can help juice up a scooter's battery even if you don't have the appropriate charger.

However, different scooter models come with different batteries, so the steps might vary slightly.

In addition, there are some precautions that you need to take to ensure a safe recharge that won't damage the battery.

The following applies to Li-ion batteries, as most contemporary scooters come with one or more of them.

Removing the Scooter Battery

You need to remove the battery from the scooter before you proceed with the recharging methods described below. This is important because the alternative methods produce a lot of heat. If you leave the battery inside its enclosure, the heat has nowhere to go and your battery is likely to overheat.

As previously hinted, the following steps might be somewhat different depending on your scooter. But you can always check the scooter's manual to get a detailed guide on how to get the battery out.

Remove the screws

In most cases, a few screws and a plate hold the battery inside your scooter. Remove the screws and the plate to reach the battery.

Disconnect the battery

There are two wires that connect the battery electrodes to the scooter engine. The electrodes are usually connected via slide-in hatches or clips. Carefully remove the connectors to avoid any damage.

Note: Another clip or rod might be holding your battery, so you need to remove it as well.

Position the battery

Place the battery on a dry flat surface prior to connecting it to an alternative power source.

Replace your faulty Electric Scooter Charger

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Recharging a Scooter Battery with a Portable Car Jumper

Using a car jumper is usually one of the quickest methods to recharge batteries. These jumpers have a large portable battery built-in, something big enough to jumpstart a car's battery. The higher voltage will be able to push any amount of current into your scooter battery.

Connect the scooter battery to the jumper

Hook up the jumper cables to the battery's electrodes. The red cable goes to the positive electrode and the black cable attaches to the negative electrode. Double check the connections to ensure everything fits properly.

Turn on the jumper

Once the jumper is on, the current starts flowing into the scooter battery and leave it to charge for 20 minutes. The charging time might depend on the battery type; you'll have to play it by ear. If the battery gets hot, it's probably way over half charged. Leaving the battery overheated for too long will shorten its life.

However, modern portable chargers with digital control will automatically limit the current when the other battery is close to full charge. You may even be able to set it to charge different types of battery.

Disconnect the jumper

Turn off the jumper when it's appropriate. Remove the black cable (negative electrode) first, then the red cable (positive electrode).

Recharging a Scooter Battery with a Variable Power Supply

A variable power supply is a handy gadget available at any hardware store. The output voltage is adjustable and it recharges the scooter battery while limiting the flow of electrical current.

The same rule about overheating as outlined above applies.

Connect the variable power supply

By now, you can guess that the black cable connects to the negative electrode and the red one connects to the positive electrode.

Set the voltage

For recharging, the voltage usually needs to be set to 4.20V/cell. Of course, there's no way to tell how many cells are in your scooter, so you'll have to take a guess or maybe contact the manufacturer.

Set the current

Too much current may fry the battery so you'll want to go conservative here. Look up the capacity of your battery and set the current to 20%. For example, if your battery is rated at 9Ah, set the output current of the power supply to 1.8A.,

Wait for the charge

The supplied current will drop as your battery fills up. Once the current falls to about 3% of the scooter battery's rated capacity (Ah), it's time to disconnect the variable power supply and put the battery back in your scooter.

To Wrap Up

At this point, you should have a clear understanding of how to charge an electric scooter battery without a charger. The two methods described in the write-up are safe and easy to apply. And again, it's worth stressing that you shouldn't attempt a DIY charge since too many things can go wrong.

How to Charge a Mobility Scooter Battery Without a Charger

Source: https://scootersdream.com/how-to-charge-a-scooter-battery-without-a-charger/

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