How to test electric scooter battery

How to test electric scooter battery

There are many electric scooters on the market, but many people don’t know how to test electric scooters batteries, so this article will show how to test electric scooter batterry.
In order to test the battery of your electric scooter, you need to have some tools and follow a few simple steps.

The tools in question are as follows:

Multimeter or voltmeter (I recommend a digital multimeter to ensure accuracy and ease of use);
A screwdriver;
A set of hex wrenches;
A simple wrench depends on the screw used by the manufacturer.
After that, you must follow the steps below:

Let the battery charge for 7 to 8 hours.
Secure the scooter; you need it to stay still because the battery is running and there is a risk of starting.
Pick up a multimeter or voltmeter and set its function selector to DC Volts V-or VDC, the value is 200;
Turn off the power setting of the scooter. Then connect the multimeter probe to the battery pack terminal, and finally read the voltage.
Finally, ask someone to stand on the scooter and keep it still. Turn on the power to the scooter and have the person step on the accelerator several times. Finally, read the voltage when the throttle is engaged.
The target battery pack voltage is equal to or slightly higher than the rated voltage of the scooter. If the rated value is lower than this value and exceeds 2V, it means that the battery is faulty and needs to be replaced. The rated voltage of the scooter is represented by the added value of the battery. For example, a 2x12V battery is increased to 24V.
This is a video describing the process:

How to diagnose your electric scooter battery?

The usual electric scooter battery comes with or contains two cables. Both have to be connected to the battery, and each has its own function. they are:

Discharge port: Without this wire connected to your motor, the scooter will not be able to run.
Charging port: This is used to charge the battery. Although there may be other colors, depending on the manufacturer, it usually uses a combination of red and black.

The black cable represents the negative pole, and the red cable represents the positive pole.

How to do it

You pick up your hex wrench/screwdriver and open the battery panel. Remove the top, which will expose the internal battery and cables. Make sure if you do it outdoors, don’t sit in the sun or not humid.

The same is true if you do it inside. Humidity and direct sunlight will significantly shorten the service life of these components.

Connect the cable to the multimeter
First, you must pick up the multimeter or voltmeter and connect the two red and black cables to the corresponding ports of the multimeter. Make sure to connect them to the correct terminals: red to red, black to black. Red-positive pole-should enter the 10ADC multimeter port, black-negative pole-should enter the V(omega)mA port.

All in all, red is on the top and black is on the bottom. Or, if you have a multimeter with a horizontal port, like in this photo, black goes to the left and red goes to the right.

Connect the terminal to the electric scooter battery
Then, you connect the two cables to the corresponding terminals in the scooter. You will know which is which by the red and black cable colors. The battery is connected to the scooter through some plastic clams. Separate them. Therefore, the black-negative-cable goes into the black-negative-terminal, and the red-positive-follow the same procedure.

The ends of the cables (from the multimeter) should be pointed, so try to wedge them into the battery terminals. This should be fairly easy because they are designed for this. Make sure that when you insert a pointed object into the pin, it will touch the metal, not just the plastic. You need to connect it to metal to get good, uninterrupted readings. Otherwise, you will not be able to read it.

If you have cables with crocodile connectors as shown in the picture below, it may be easier to connect them.

Alligator cable

Take measurements
Next, set the meter to DC-it should be at the top left of the meter -. Multimeters usually have DCV function in the range of 200m-2000m-20-200-1000. Set it to 200 because you need a reading higher than 20.

Multimeter voltage measurement

In addition, switch the switch button to on to make it work properly. Although this is obvious, those multimeters are full of numbers and things that confuse many people.

You must ensure that the battery is fully charged in order to obtain a fairly consistent reading. One thing you should do is to test the battery the first time it is fully charged. Write down the value.

Use it as a reference point for future tests, because this is when they are most powerful. This will allow you to judge how quickly the battery loses its “juice” based on the charging and usage conditions.

You don’t want your meter to show a drop of more than 1 to 2 volts at the rated voltage. If so, it means that the battery has lost its effectiveness and it may be time to replace it. Always take care of them and make sure to test the battery when you feel performance is degraded.

E.g:
Suppose your scooter is equipped with two 12-volt battery packs with a total voltage of 24 volts. Please keep in mind that after fully charged, your battery test results may exceed the sum. Therefore, two 12V batteries may display 26 or 27. This is good because it means they are strong and healthy.

In this case, you want the battery to be no less than 22-23. This means that their juice has been used up and you will need new batteries. If you discard them, be sure to always recycle them. Battery types include lithium-ion batteries, sealed lead-acid batteries and nickel heavy hydrogen batteries.

Author’s note: Electric scooter batteries are not like cell phone batteries. Unlike people who usually only charge when they are almost exhausted, the battery of an electric scooter should be charged as much as possible. Always keep “alive”, otherwise it will quickly lose its effectiveness. It is recommended to always keep the battery level above 30-40%.

Test Methods

There are two test methods:

Passive method and active method.

As shown above, the passive method is where you use the scooter switch power supply for testing.

The active method requires you to keep the scooter on, because sometimes the battery will not show any readings on the multimeter. This is because it needs to “kick” power. How do you do this?

The steps to follow are basically the same as before, but you need to pause the scooter. In addition, you will have to let the rear wheels free (so there will be no interruption at first).

After that, jack up the rear wheel and use a few throttles to fully open. Pay attention to the reading. Now, while throttling, take a reading break. It should create the so-called “load”, which is what the test needs.

When the “load” works, you will see the voltage drop on the multimeter. The more it drops, the worse the battery. Therefore, a good battery will slowly drop, and only a little bit. On the other hand, the bad ones will go down even more severely.

If you have free time, another positive way to test the battery is to ride a bicycle. Fully charge it, place it on a flat surface and drive at full throttle. A good battery should last about 40-50 minutes when the throttle is fully opened. If it is less than 30, the battery may be faulty. 10-15 minutes requires you to remove it immediately and replace it with another one.

Alternative method

There is an alternative method that involves auto parts sales shops in your friendly neighborhood. Or a local mechanic. The idea behind this method is to ask if they can load test your battery type. Read the manual to find out which type of scooter your electric scooter is sporting. If so, then everything is fine. You don’t have to spend precious money and time on the above-mentioned equipment and procedures.

Be careful because they are not obliged to repair anything. They may allow this, but if you forget the wiring sequence, they may not even blink. So, before you give it to them, take a picture and draw a sketch of the wiring. When you are done and ready to put it back in place, you will want to know which thing went where.

This includes wire harnesses, because you want the cables to be protected. Once you master it, this may not even be a thing to do.

Then, remove the wiring harness from the battery and bring them to the test site. If all goes well, you are all fine. All you have to do is to reconnect everything as is. If not, and your battery voltage is lower than the standard, you may need to replace it with a new one.

How to diagnose the battery capacity of an electric scooter

We haven’t done tutorials for a while, and we think it is appropriate to solve the most pressing topic in the world of electric scooters and electric bicycles, that is, lithium-ion batteries! In Part 1 of our battery series, we try to answer many of your most pressing questions about battery maintenance.

Many people want to know: What do you do when you send an electric scooter to the workshop to find out why there is not enough cruising range? If you want to consider battery life, we will first sort the following points in order of importance:

Tire Pressure-Low tire pressure can reduce the mileage of your electric scooter by up to 50%. Properly inflated tires can ensure that your electric scooter can last a complete specified distance. If the tire pressure is ok, we will move to the next checklist point.
Terrain-Check if your terrain is full of uphills and downhills. This usually reduces the mileage of the scooter by as much as 30%. If your terrain is mostly flat, then we will move on to the next point on the checklist.
Rider’s weight-we don’t want to say that, but oversized riders can’t expect to be close to the designated range of their scooter. Pushing a heavier load requires more power, and this extra power means a shorter distance. Considering that a typical rider weighs 75-85 kg, the average battery allows you to travel 3.36 kilometers per ampere hour. For a 100 kg rider, the mileage will be reduced to 2.2 kilometers per ampere hour.
Ambient temperature-heat is the nemesis of all mechanical organisms. Heat can cause battery wear, damage, and downtime. Most batteries can operate at temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius and below. But when the conditions exceed 60 degrees Celsius, the situation begins to deteriorate. The battery will shut down or work efficiency is very low. Therefore, on a hot day, if you are going to ride an electric scooter for a long distance, be sure to pay attention to the battery temperature and how it will affect your journey.
Battery-When you have exhausted all the above possibilities, the only thing you need to check is your electric scooter battery. There are two diagnostic methods: the first is to actually ride an electric scooter after it is fully charged. Using it under normal working conditions is the most accurate way to measure battery performance, but it is also the most tedious. The second, simpler method is to perform a bench test that simulates normal operating conditions or stress test conditions. Watch the video below to learn how to perform a bench test!

In conclusion

Now, you should clearly understand how to test your electric scooter battery. Make sure to test the battery when you feel performance degradation, as this is the first symptom of battery aging.

If you interest in electric scooter and have any other questions, please let us know in the section below.