Battery life.... what to expect

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tempustemper
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Battery life.... what to expect

I am trying to convince my wife to let me get a new scooter. I am wanting something a little bit larger than my Schwinn s-750. The problem I am running into is that the batteries in the schwinn started giving out at 9 months and completely died at 12 months.

So, the question here is, would a larger scooter have longer battery life, or is the culprit the stock batteries that schwinn put in their scooter?

Thanks!

dogman
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Re: Battery life.... what to expect

The real issue, asuming that you ride the scoot daily, is sla batteries. There are better ones out there, such as B&B that are longer lasting, but quite expensive. Possibly you should switch to a nicad pack, unless you are willing to go whole hog and get lifepo4. Lithium polymer is also an option, but don't charge it inside the house or garage.

Nicads or nimh is the simplest answer to your problem, very very reliable and no dealing with bms and balancing issues. Ebikes-ca has nice packs reasonably priced that will fit in the space of 2 sla's. They will last that much longer enough to cover the price compared to sla.

Lifepo4 is potentially the cheapest battery per ride, but personally, I have 8,000 miles to go to know if my money was well spent. So far so good. If you do go for lifepo4, be sure to buy from pingbattery.com There are some ebay sellers out there that use inferior round cells. They sell a lot cheaper, but many complaints have been made on other discussion sites.

Buy the new scoot if you want, but you may get more for your money by just buying better batteries for the one you have.

Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global

jdh2550_1
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Re: Battery life.... what to expect

I agree with everything dogman says. Just wanted to let folks know that www.elitepowersolutions.com now sells a 20Ah cell which might make the economics a bit more palatable for some folks...

John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.

tempustemper
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Re: Battery life.... what to expect

so, for a 24 volt schwinn scooter, what battery back would you suggest and i am going to assume i need a new charger as well.

dogman
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Re: Battery life.... what to expect

Asuming the scoot used 12 ah sla, the ebikes-ca 8ah nicad should fit in the case, and then you need the charger for it too. In lifepo4, ping has the best batteries, but they are too tall. You'd have to ask him if he can make a pack that would fit the space. Range may improve a bit with a nicad pack, but mainly lifespan would improve with nicads lasting a lot longer, and they don't care how far you discharge em, so you could ride till it stops. With sla's if you didn't stop pretty quick, it would wear em out even faster. Most low battery lights go on long after the damage is done.

Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global

tempustemper
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Re: Battery life.... what to expect

We are moving in the right direction, for my wife to win the argument. I hate that! Anyway, so i can't exactly find a 24V 8ahm battery back on their site, but i haven't looked really hard either. The only question left is what is that going to do to my range, since range is tied in to you amps?

The 20ahm battery would be nice, but its too tall. current battery specs are 5.94" x 3.90" x 3.74"

thanks!

e-doggies
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Re: Battery life.... what to expect

If your battery box is about 14.5 inches long, could you lay (2) 12V 20Ah SLA's on their sides, end-to-end?

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