My motor overheating is a "once in a great while" problem, but it does happen. I didn't want my battery review post to be confusing, so I'm putting this as a separate entry. Even though Leo the L'ion performed beautifully at the zoo, over the course of a couple of hours my motor overheated three times. The first two times were after I'd been riding for awhile and then gave it a bumpy wooden bridge to struggle with. The third time was after I'd ridden my great nephew Jaxon around and around and around and around and around and around.
If your first thought is, "Oh no, I don't want a scooter that does THAT!" keep in mind that I'm much larger than the average rider. My friend Rhonda, who is about 250 lbs., doesn't have these same problems. Yes, her battery has overloaded on an incline, but it happens far less frequently than it does for me. Also, in everyday use for work and shopping it's rare for these things to happen even to me. I did have the smaller lithium ion battery overload twice on a recent shopping trip at the mall, but the first time was because I was in a jewelry store with incredibly plush carpet and the second time was on carpet when the battery charge was already low.
So... how do you know if it's the motor overheating or the battery overloading?
In both cases the scoot just suddenly stops, leaving you wondering what just happened. If you try turning the throttle, it doesn't do anything. The way you'll know which thing happened is by looking at the lights on the on/off switch panel.
Battery overload: Red light on display or no light on display.
Motor overheated: Green light indicating the battery is still giving you power.
What's the solution? If the motor has overheated just sit for a few minutes and give it a chance to cool down. I wasn't timing it, but it wasn't more than 5 minutes before I was moving again. If your battery has overloaded you can either charge it again briefly to turn it on again or use your scoot as a generator and, leaving the battery in the on position, get off and give it a couple of hard pushes until the battery light turns green again. (My husband and sister Rae have gotten mine going for me again by running with it.) If you were on an incline when the battery overloaded, turn around and try going back down the incline. That's always worked for me to get the battery going again.
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I luckily haven't had either the battery overload or the motor over heating happen to me yet.
ReplyDeleteBut when I first got my scoot what I did have happen (please feel free to laugh and point) was when I was shopping one day my scoot just stopped and the battery light was green. I pushed the scoot with my feet and after a few feet it would start going on its own again.
This happen several times before I noticed my purse which was riding on the handle bars was pushing the break control all the way down. After I moved my purse ah... no more problems.
Cynthia, I'm giggling, but I surely won't point, I had a no start situation that even a tribe of Leo the L-ions couldn't have cured, lol.
ReplyDeleteI had stopped in an aisle to find something, and when I throttled up again a red light came on and Scoot didn't budge. PANIC! It (L-ion cub) had just come off the charger, so I tried again. Same thing, but as I recall the green light was on also.
hmm what did the Blog say about jump starting? I try....Ha!
Hubby comes over, listens to my tale of woe and the explanation of how to jump it, and says.....
"Let's take the brakes off first."
and then, the sweetie, knowing how upset I would be about the short circuits in my brain, turned it into a very positive, but humerous situation.
So folks, funny lights flash when you try to drive with the brakes on.
I obviously need to do a post about checking first to see if they brakes are on, because you two aren't the ONLY ones who've had this problem. *sheepish grin*
ReplyDeleteI too am guilty of locking the break when I step off the scooter only to forget I have locked it when I get back on.... and wonder why it wont go?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been able to get my brakes to lock, my niece's boyfriend tried it also, but no luck. Is there a secret to it?
ReplyDeleteDebbie, I sometimes have to squeeze mine really hard to get them to lock. I'm not sure exactly how to explain this, but my sister Kay suggested you might also want to be sure your brake cable isn't twisted. You know how the handlebars can spin around when you fold it down? You may need to twist them back around so the cables aren't too tightly wrapped.
ReplyDeleteSomeone else might be able to explain this better.