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.
Showing posts with label Lithium Ion battery overload. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lithium Ion battery overload. Show all posts
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Ramping Up for Battery Overload
This is what I look like right when the battery overloads. (I know Hardy's going to look at this and tell me I should have been leaning forward because changing my center of gravity would have helped.)
When Rhonda and I were having our grand adventure on Wednesday, one of the things we did was test the ramps around the Governmental Building in Baton Rouge. I hope you can get an idea of the length and slope of this ramp from the picture. Our TravelScoots handled rolling over the hose with no problem. Rhonda and I have identical setups as far as scooter size, motor power and battery, but I'm a lot larger than she is. She was able to get up this ramp just fine, but I fell short of making it.
See all those people in the background? Well, I had to use the brakes and sit on the incline until the group passed, then I turned around and rolled back down the hill. That restarted the battery. The next time I came up the ramp I knew where it was going to overload so I stopped before that, locked the brakes and got off, then unlocked the brakes and pushed my scoot a few steps to the top of the incline.
For some ramps, when I know I'm going to have trouble, I put my feet down and help the scooter along.
So, what is battery overload and why did it happen? Hardy Huber has a great explanation of the differences in batteries on his website, at http://www.travelscoot.com/batteries.htm. I highly recommend reading it, if you haven't already.
There are two batteries available for the TravelScoot -- the lithium ion and the SLA (sealed lead acid). The lithium ion is a higher capacity battery and at 6 lbs., is much lighter in weight than the 20 lb. SLA battery. However, as part of the advanced technology of the lithium ion battery, if the battery is pushed too hard it will automatically shut off to keep from damaging the battery. To restart it you either have to plug it into a charger briefly, or keeping the power switch in the on position, you can give the scooter a hard push. I find that the "hard push" works best if it involves a strong 10-year-old boy (waves to Mark!) running while he's pushing the scooter from behind. However, I don't always have a 10-year-old boy handy, so another option is to turn around and whiz down the same incline I just came up. It almost always restarts the battery.
If you're a smaller person (250 or less), you shouldn't have any problems with a ramp like this one. If you have questions, write a comment and I'll do my best to answer.
When Rhonda and I were having our grand adventure on Wednesday, one of the things we did was test the ramps around the Governmental Building in Baton Rouge. I hope you can get an idea of the length and slope of this ramp from the picture. Our TravelScoots handled rolling over the hose with no problem. Rhonda and I have identical setups as far as scooter size, motor power and battery, but I'm a lot larger than she is. She was able to get up this ramp just fine, but I fell short of making it.
See all those people in the background? Well, I had to use the brakes and sit on the incline until the group passed, then I turned around and rolled back down the hill. That restarted the battery. The next time I came up the ramp I knew where it was going to overload so I stopped before that, locked the brakes and got off, then unlocked the brakes and pushed my scoot a few steps to the top of the incline.
For some ramps, when I know I'm going to have trouble, I put my feet down and help the scooter along.
So, what is battery overload and why did it happen? Hardy Huber has a great explanation of the differences in batteries on his website, at http://www.travelscoot.com/batteries.htm. I highly recommend reading it, if you haven't already.
There are two batteries available for the TravelScoot -- the lithium ion and the SLA (sealed lead acid). The lithium ion is a higher capacity battery and at 6 lbs., is much lighter in weight than the 20 lb. SLA battery. However, as part of the advanced technology of the lithium ion battery, if the battery is pushed too hard it will automatically shut off to keep from damaging the battery. To restart it you either have to plug it into a charger briefly, or keeping the power switch in the on position, you can give the scooter a hard push. I find that the "hard push" works best if it involves a strong 10-year-old boy (waves to Mark!) running while he's pushing the scooter from behind. However, I don't always have a 10-year-old boy handy, so another option is to turn around and whiz down the same incline I just came up. It almost always restarts the battery.
If you're a smaller person (250 or less), you shouldn't have any problems with a ramp like this one. If you have questions, write a comment and I'll do my best to answer.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Battery Overload Tip
I just talked to Rhonda, who learned a trick today. She was starting to go up a good incline but had to stop when someone walking in front of her. She started again, and got part of the way up and her battery overloaded. (This happens to protect the lithium ion battery from sustaining damage.)
With a little quick thinking she decided to stay on the scoot, turn it around and give it a hard push off with her feet to head back down the incline. The battery quickly turned from red to green.
She's sure it didn't look graceful, but it worked!
If you're concerned about this happening to you, you can always choose the sealed lead acid battery instead. It doesn't overload. I chose the lithium ion battery instead because it weighs 4 1/2 lbs instead of 20 lbs., it can be charged at any time without damaging the battery, and did I mention it only weighs 4 1/2 lbs?
More information about the differences in the batteries is at http://www.TravelScoot.com/batteries.htm .
With a little quick thinking she decided to stay on the scoot, turn it around and give it a hard push off with her feet to head back down the incline. The battery quickly turned from red to green.
She's sure it didn't look graceful, but it worked!
If you're concerned about this happening to you, you can always choose the sealed lead acid battery instead. It doesn't overload. I chose the lithium ion battery instead because it weighs 4 1/2 lbs instead of 20 lbs., it can be charged at any time without damaging the battery, and did I mention it only weighs 4 1/2 lbs?
More information about the differences in the batteries is at http://www.TravelScoot.com/batteries.htm .
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Rhonda's TravelScoot Adventure
Yesterday UPS delivered my friend Rhonda's TravelScoot. I went to her house last night to help get it set up (which took about 5 minutes), and to ride together to test it out. We had a blast riding through her neighborhood on our scoots. We drove them as fast as they would go. As expected, she can go a little faster than me because I'm a lot larger than she is.We rode a mile or more (I'm not a good judge of distance) and when we came back to her house at full speed she didn't have any trouble getting up the driveway, but my battery overloaded. It was the perfect opportunity for me to try restarting it by giving the scoot a hard push. I got off and pushed it two or three times and I'd see a red flash on the battery panel, but nothing else. Well, that's when Mark, her wonderful 10-year-old son, came to the rescue. He took off at a run, pushing my scooter, and got the battery restarted almost immediately.
If your battery overloads and you don't have a 10-year-old boy handy, you can also plug the battery into the charger briefly and that's supposed to reset it too.
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