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Discussions Question and Answer Forums Electric Scooter, Bike, and Go Kart Repair Forum

New Batteries

I am buying four 12 v 12ah sealed lead acid batteries for my electric scooter. I'm wondering how the beginning charges go? I heard different things. I heard to use it till 80% then charge for first ride or use. And never let go below 20%? Any help would be great.

 That is a great question and one that has not been asked on this forum before.


We recommend to charge new sealed lead acid batteries for 12 hours before their first initial use. This initial 12 hour charge will give them a deep charge which will help condition them for a long lifespan. During the initial charge the battery charger's light might indicate that the batteries are fully charged after a short amount of time, however leave the charger on the batteries for around 12 hours to provide them with a deep initial charge.


After the initial 12 hour charge then recharge the batteries after every ride, even very short rides, to keep them fully charged whenever the scooter is not being used. A deeply discharged battery pack should recharge in around 5-6 hours with most battery chargers, however there is no harm in charging the batteries overnight as the charger will go into float mode so it does not overcharge the batteries after they are fully charged.


Short rides will require considerably less recharge time depending on how long the scooter was used for.


Electric scooter controllers have a built in low Voltage protection circuit that will shut the motor off when the battery pack reaches an 80% discharge level, so you do not have to worry about letting the battery pack go below 20% of its charge because the controller will not allow that to happen.


Sealed lead acid batteries do not need to be 80% discharged for the first ride, they could be discharged any amount on the first ride as long as they were fully recharged afterwards. Their capacity will increase during the first 20-50 deep discharge and recharge cycles as the batteries are being formatted, so the deeper they are discharged during these first uses the faster they will be formatted to provide their peak capacity and ride time.


SLA batteries do not develop a memory like Nicad batteries do so they can be used for any amount of time from a few seconds up to they are 80% discharged without effecting their performance.


Here is a sealed lead acid battery lifecycle chart to provide a better understanding of how these type of batteries perform during their lifetime.



Please let us know if you have any questions.

Awesome thanks for your help.
How often would you charge them overnight? Like once a week or?
They would only need to be charged overnight when they were used for a long ride and deeply discharged. When the scooter is used for short rides the batteries would not need to be charged overnight, however charging them overnight would not harm them. The batteries should not be charged for over 12 hours at a time though as this might overcharge them from the charger being attached to them in float mode for too long of a time.

This brings up one very important piece of information which I forgot to mention in my previous reply. Whenever the scooter is not being used for a prolonged period of time such as during the winter or rainy season it is extremely important to recharge the batteries at least every 30 days. They will not require an overnight charge every 30 days if the scooter has not been used, usually a 1-2 hour charge will do the job. If the batteries are not recharged every 30 days when the scooter is not being used then the battery pack could completely fail and need to be replaced after a few months. It is very common in the spring season that scooters which were not recharged for the winter season will need new batteries, even if the batteries are not very old, because they were not recharged every 30 days.

Sealed lead acid batteries also need to be protected from freezing or their plastic cases may crack and leak out their electrolyte fluid which would destroy the batteries. So they need to be brought inside of a heated area in climates that freeze during that time of the year. Cold weather also effects sealed lead acid battery performance so in cold and cool weather the battery pack will not provide as long of a ride time as it does during warm and hot weather.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Great, I think that answered everything I needed to know. Thanks so much.
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