Advice please Lithium batteries for mobility scooter

[Mikeandthewife]

Hi 

I'm after some advice please, from forum members with purchase experience of Lithium batteries, the batteries I'm looking to purchase, are actually for a mobility scooter, currently fitted, are two standard mobility scooter batteries, 12v 22ah, (L181mm x W76mm x H163mm), these batteries usually last for about a year, before their overall performance is affected, so prior to our two month travels in Europe in the motorhome each year, I buy new ones anyway.

I've been wondering about swapping the standard battery's to Lithium, from what I gather, there are 3 plus points and 1 minus with regards Lithium.

1. Overall lifespan of the battery is longer

2. They are lighter in weight 

3. (Mobility scooter wise) there's an improved range 

The minus, being the actual cost of Lithium.

So, i have two questions please, from those who have purchased Lithium more recently:

1. From purchase experience, is there a particular good brand of battery that's actually not too bad price wise as well?

2. From purchase experience, can anyone recommend a particular good UK supplier?

Thanks Mike 

 

[Steve928]

I've recently purchased 2 different Lifepo4 batteries in this mobility scooter size.

- an Ultramax LI22-12s 22Ah. Ultramax use grade A cylindrical cells and are supplied with a cheap but adequate charger. Although available direct from Ultramax, trading as BatteryMasters, and also via Ebay, I found the best price was from Tayna at £117. 

- an EcoWorthy 30Ah in the same size case, currently on a Black Friday deal for £119 on Ebay. EW use pouch cells which allows them to squeeze the extra capacity into the same size case. 

I've really only used the Ultramax in anger yet (I carry it back-and-forth to my boat as extra battery capacity to power the diesel heater, lights etc.) and it's performing well. I tend not to use the supplied charger but charge it with a CC-CV profile using a desk DC power supply.

If the EW is still on offer then it's a good deal for the extra capacity, but no charger of course and made in China. The Ultramax is UK-made (from Chinese cells obviously) and Tayna are always good to buy from.

 

[Mikeandthewife]

3 hours ago, Steve928 said:

I've recently purchased 2 different Lifepo4 batteries in this mobility scooter size.

- an Ultramax LI22-12s 22Ah. Ultramax use grade A cylindrical cells and are supplied with a cheap but adequate charger. Although available direct from Ultramax, trading as BatteryMasters, and also via Ebay, I found the best price was from Tayna at £117. 

- an EcoWorthy 30Ah in the same size case, currently on a Black Friday deal for £119 on Ebay. EW use pouch cells which allows them to squeeze the extra capacity into the same size case. 

I've really only used the Ultramax in anger yet (I carry it back-and-forth to my boat as extra battery capacity to power the diesel heater, lights etc.) and it's performing well. I tend not to use the supplied charger but charge it with a CC-CV profile using a desk DC power supply.

If the EW is still on offer then it's a good deal for the extra capacity, but no charger of course and made in China. The Ultramax is UK-made (from Chinese cells obviously) and Tayna are always good to buy from.

 

Hi Steve928, this is exactly the type of info I wanted, they are nowhere near as expensive as I thought they were going to be, I now just need to find out if their suitable for mobility scooters, thanks for the quick response

Mike

[Tracker]

I have no experience in this but as we too look like going down the mobility scooter (Granny racers we call 'em) pathway very soon it is very much of interest, and I wonder if golf cart batteries are similar enough in size and format to be used as a comparison tool as there may well be some online info re golf carts and their batteries?

Just a thought!

[Mikeandthewife]

5 hours ago, Tracker said:

I have no experience in this but as we too look like going down the mobility scooter (Granny racers we call 'em) pathway very soon it is very much of interest, and I wonder if golf cart batteries are similar enough in size and format to be used as a comparison tool as there may well be some online info re golf carts and their batteries?

Just a thought!

Hi Tracker

Not sure, but understand your line of thought, they are similar, I'm currently in contact with Careco were we purchased the mobility scooter, because the current batteries are housed in a plastic box, with it's own 3 pin charging point socket, so I now need to know, if I swap the batteries over to Lithium, will the standard scooter charging setup be compatible, I'm waiting to here back from them.

I'm really keen to swap over to the Lithium, I know they are more expensive. However, there are some great advantages, especially when away in the motorhome, there should be an improvement in the distance the scooter can travel, the double battery pack, will be lighter for both handling and packing away in the boot of the car, or in the motorhome, charging the scooter will be quicker, perfect when only touring short distances during your travels and requiring a fully charged scooter for the next place of interest.

Mike 

[Tracker]

Cheers Mike, we have had problems with Careco customer service and the best way to get their undivided attention is to post a bad review on Trust Pilot - that got us the exemplary service we should have had in the first place! I believe they are sellers with no real expertise in anything technical so to get any worthwhile info you may need to contact the makers / importers if possible?

[Mikeandthewife]

9 hours ago, Tracker said:

Cheers Mike, we have had problems with Careco customer service and the best way to get their undivided attention is to post a bad review on Trust Pilot - that got us the exemplary service we should have had in the first place! I believe they are sellers with no real expertise in anything technical so to get any worthwhile info you may need to contact the makers / importers if possible?

Hi Tracker

Care-co no help at all, they passed me off to the Scooter makers/importers (Pride Mobility), which is what you suggested. However, they, apparently don't sell or use Lithium batteries in their products, my opinion is, their quite happy for customers to keep buying their batteries year in, year out, that's probably were they make most of their money, so I'm on my own.

I dont see swapping the batteries being too much of an issue, if you get one's similar to those mentioned by Steve928, the type used on vehicles like golf buggies, its charging them, that's the problem, the two batteries are housed in a plastic box which has it's own 3 pin charging point that the scooter battery charger plugs into. I need to ascertain if the Pride scooter charger set up, would be ok charging Lithium.

I might have to give up on the idea, put pics on in case there's any expert's that can help.

[Steve928]

According to the Pride Mobility manual for that charger the fast charge phase is at 29.6V which equates to 14.8V/battery which is too high for lifepo4, plus you have the complication that this voltage would indicate that the 2 batteries are being charged/used in series.

The best option might be to have a look through the Ultramax/BatteryMasters website and look at their 24v lifepo4 mobility/golf batteries; there might be one that would fit in the footprint of your 2x current batteries and would then come with the correct 24v lifepo4 charger included. A single 24v battery's BMS would provide better lithium cell balancing than using 2x 12v batteries in series.

[Mikeandthewife]

27 minutes ago, Steve928 said:

According to the Pride Mobility manual for that charger the fast charge phase is at 29.6V which equates to 14.8V/battery which is too high for lifepo4, plus you have the complication that this voltage would indicate that the 2 batteries are being charged/used in series.

The best option might be to have a look through the Ultramax/BatteryMasters website and look at their 24v lifepo4 mobility/golf batteries; there might be one that would fit in the footprint of your 2x current batteries and would then come with the correct 24v lifepo4 charger included. A single 24v battery's BMS would provide better lithium cell balancing than using 2x 12v batteries in series.

Hi Steve928

Unfortunately the footprint of the housing is shaped and moulded and will accept only two smaller batteries. Swapping to Lithium is looking less likely now on our current scooter, but at least I haven't wasted money purchasing batteries that potentially wouldn't have worked/charged correctly, so thankyou for taking time to reply, very informative and much appreciated.

Mike

[Mikeandthewife]

Will still look at purchasing replacement standard batteries from Tayna though, again as you suggested. Do you know what are good brand names, the one's I've been getting must be cheap spec, they dont even last a year