Best Practices For Your Mobility Scooter or Power Chair Batteries

The best practices for your mobility scooter or power chair batteries will maximize the life of these parts by helping owners take care of them properly.

There are several components that encompass the best practices for mobility scooter or electric wheelchair battery life.

The first is charging your battery. This article will include tips to impact performance.

Storing your battery is another consideration. For instance, storing a battery, which is in either a mobility scooter or electric wheelchair, in a damp place will decrease the effectiveness of the product.

A third component is tedious, but we promise it will not require frequent application. That is cleaning the battery.

The fourth practice is to be aware of how to optimize the battery life. Optimization is primarily dependent on weather conditions and driver habits.

How Can I Improve My Battery?

We have received questions from our customers about when and how to charge their batteries. These are excellent questions as the application of the answers can significantly impact performance.

One of the most important ways to protect a battery on either a mobility scooter or power chair is to keep them from extreme cold or scorching heat conditions. This is because prolonged exposure can permanently damage the battery.

Another important practice is to use the charger that accompanied the purchase of the mobility scooter or electric wheelchair. By consistently doing this, instead of borrowing the charger from your wife, for instance, will provide the safest and most efficient charging.

When charging the battery, each night the charge should be for at least eight hours — even if you did not use the  mobility scooter or power wheelchair in your possession that day.

However, avoid having the battery charging for 24 consecutive hours and once charged, remove the charger from the wall outlet.

Storing the battery also affects the operation of the battery. For instance, if the battery is stored in a damp location of your home, there will be a repercussion in the effectiveness of the battery. Therefore, it is better to have the mobility scooter or power chair stored in a dry place that is warm.

For optimal storage practices, it is important to consider the weather conditions the battery was in when in use. During the winter season, an owner’s long distance power wheelchair may be used in a cold area, such as in Chicago. The weather there can be extremely cold!

Keeping the outdoor conditions in mind, when the driver returns to the residence, it is best to allow the battery to defrost, or otherwise cool down until it reaches lukewarm room temperature. At that point, we recommend charging the battery.

A tedious task that is essential to the best practices for a disability scooter or an electric wheelchair battery is the cleanliness. The intelligent designers of these mobility aids equips batteries in places that are not directly exposed to the outdoor weather conditions.

The foresight was important because owners of mobility scooters or power wheelchairs do not have to clean the battery too often. When they do have to clean the battery, it is often because condensation or dirt will have accumulated on the battery. Mobility Scooters Direct recommends wiping the battery down.

Regarding battery cleanliness, it is also important to be aware of the terminals on the mobility scooter or power chair. This means ensuring that they are properly greased, as it will contribute to longer battery life.

Lastly, it is important to consider how best to optimize your battery life on a mobility scooter or quality electric wheelchair. Conditions can have a major effect on the operation of the battery.

Inclement conditions, such as powerful Chicago winds or steep Virginia hills, can have an impact on the power needed for the mobility aid to effectively take the driver to his or her intended destination.

The simplest way to prepare for severe weather is by bringing an extra battery. The battery should be fully charged. Should the mobility scooter or power wheelchair cease operation, it only takes a couple of seconds to change batteries and be on your way.

Another best practice to optimize the battery life on a mobility scooter or electric wheelchair is to limit the weight of baggage on the device. If you can, just bring the essentials.

Before heading out, try and map out where you will be going. The best way to plan the route is to take routes that have hard and flat surfaces, rather than traveling on steep inclines or bumpy trails. Additionally, take a second to check your tires. Does it have the proper pressure?

When traveling from one place to another, it is important to avoid stop-and-go driving. By avoiding that battery wasting behavior and going on a consistent speed, the driver will see improved performance from his or her mobility scooter or power wheelchair.

The 2018 Best Mobility Scooter and Power Chair Battery Practices

This article highlighted some of the best battery practices for mobility scooter or power chair owners. This included charging the battery, how to best store a battery, cleaning a battery and optimizing the battery.

For more information on the best battery practices, we recommend reaching out to one of the skilled technicians from our nationwide store, who can be reached at (877) 721-7748.

Mobility Scooters Direct is committed to providing the best advice and products to our customers. To speak with a member from our team, our hours of operation are from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening EST on weekdays and from 10 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon EST on weekends.

Our forum is also an excellent source of information. One of our recent posts addressed the question: “How long do power wheelchair batteries last?”

The post provided clarity to a complicated topic.

“Utilizing best practices for battery care will help you get the most out of your battery or batteries,” the post article wrote. It then advised readers to read the user manuals to figure out how to properly care for a mobility scooter or power wheelchair battery.

“User manuals are available on every product page of our website,” the admin wrote, “in the general description area that is titled, ‘User Manual Downloads.’”