HOW TO MAINTAIN BATTERYLIFE OF EUC AND SCOOTER
SOME EXPLANATIONS
Whatever the model or brand used, all wheels on the market use lithium batteries to operate. These batteries don't last forever, but depending on use and maintenance, you can double or even triple the life of your lithium battery.
In this article I will give you some tips to get the most out of the life of your battery.
Have you noticed that suppliers use the Wh as a unit of measurement for batteries? Wh means Watt hour, it is the capacity of the battery. For a car for example, the fuel tank is measured in liters and for an electric battery it is measured in Wh.
Example: If you have an engine with a maximum consumption of 500 Watt and you have a battery of say 1000 Wh. In theory you can run your engine at full power for 2 hours. (Calculation: 1000 Watt hour divided by 500 Watt = 2 hours).
But let's come back to the maintenance of our battery!
HOW TO MAINTAIN THE BATTERY OF your ELECTRICAL VEHICLE?
The lifespan of a battery is expressed in cycles. A cycle corresponds to the "consumption" of the entire capacity of the battery, in one or several times. For example: if you use 50% of your battery's capacity and then charge it and then use 50% of its capacity again, you have completed a cycle.
Below are some rules to follow to optimize the life of your battery:
- Do not always allow the battery to completely discharge before recharging it. On the contrary, multiply small charges as soon as you have the opportunity. Try to leave between 20 and 30% of residual charge in your battery during use.
- Wait about an hour after use before recharging your battery. Above a certain temperature threshold, all lithium-ion batteries wear out faster. The threshold varies greatly depending on the basic chemistry of the battery. When you charge your battery, the battery heats up. Give the battery time to cool down before recharging. Batteries don't like high temperatures!
- Always use the original charger. They are very sensitive to the charging mode. If you want to improve a battery's service life and performance, one of the most important things is to use the right charger and follow good charging methods. Always choose a charger specifically designed (voltage and current) for batteries.
- Do not expose the battery to extreme temperatures. Neither too hot nor too cold, it's a golden rule! The ideal temperature is 15°C (59°F). When you are not using your wheel, store it in a place with low humidity (50% to 60% humidity). Avoid the basement and the garage.
HOW TO STORE YOUR WHEEL WHEN NOT IN USE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME?
In winter or during your vacations you can't enjoy your wheel and you want to store it without risk of damaging the battery, here are some tips to follow:
During a long period of inactivity, store your battery in a dry place, away from cold and heat. I remind you that the ideal temperature is around 15°C. In a cellar or a garage it should be perfect if there is not too much humidity.
Charge your battery between 30% and 60% of the maximum capacity before storage. The battery loses about 10% of its charge per month even in good conditions. If you store a battery at 100%, it will discharge faster at the beginning and you will have used cycles unnecessarily.
Once or twice a month, turn your wheel on for a few minutes to get it working. Do not store your wheel without turning it on or recharging it from time to time.
Once a month, recharge your wheel for a few dozen minutes to prevent the battery from being completely discharged and to keep the charge at 30-60%.
If you follow all of these tips, you will enjoy your scooter or your gyroroua for many years.However, like humans, batteries age over time.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you want to carefully protect your battery, there is an additional device to use called the Charger Doctor (CD). This is a battery charge controller.
The main use of the Charger Doctor is to set a maximum charge threshold. For example, you can configure your CD so that the power to your case is cut off when the battery is 90% charged. In this way, you don't charge your battery to 100% but only to 90% and you increase the life of your battery. It is important to know that a battery charged at 100% each time will wear out more quickly.
There are other features with a Charge Doctor. You can know the performance of your battery, whether cells are dead etc.. I won't go into details here but I will tell you that it is a really useful complement.
If you think that this article has helped you to identify good battery maintenance practices, don't hesitate to share it around you!