AGM: This stands for Absorbed Glass Mat. These are the most popular type of battery as they are the most cost effective. These batteries offer a high rate of discharge current for their size. So for the same performance, the package size can be smaller than Gel types.
Gel: Gel batteries are more expensive than AGM, but offer the ability to fully recover from a deep discharge (completely flat) condition. They also last longer than AGM, but that needs to be balanced against the higher initial cost.
Capacity: Battery capacity is measured in Ampere Hours or AH. For example, if a battery has a capacity of 12AH, that means that the battery can supply 12 Amps (a measure of current) for one hour. Nearly all mobility scooter batteries are 12 Volt and nearly all mobility scooters have 24 Volt electrical systems. Therefore most scooters have two batteries (connected in series) providing the 24 Volt supply. The smallest batteries used in mobility scooters start at 10AH ranging all the way up to over 100AH for the largest scooters. As you would expect - the bigger the capacity your battery has, the further that you will be able to travel on your scooter.
Brand New Capacity: When you first receive batteries that are brand new, they will only have be able to provide approximately 80% of their specified capacity. So a 10AH battery will only be able provide 8 Amps for an Hour when it is brand new. Full capacity is reached after 4 or 5 charge and discharge cycles.
Charging: Batteries like to be charged regularly. Every time that you use your scooter, put it on charge overnight. Once the charger has turned green, disconnect the charger from your battery. Don’t leave your charger continually charging your battery once the light has turned green as most chargers pulse charge from that point on. If you leave it continually plugged in you risk cooking your batteries. As a minimum, charge your batteries at least once a fortnight whether you have used your scooter or not. One of the worst things that people do to mobility scooters is to leave it for the whole of the winter period without charging. All batteries will “sulphate” up and they will lose all of their capacity to hold charge.
Testing: If you suspect that you are losing range from your scooter after a few years, it may be that your batteries are on their way out. Most mobility scooter shops have a battery tester that they can check your batteries performance with. This works by “loading” the batteries at three times their stated AH capacity for a short period of time (approx 20 seconds). The voltage at the end of the test is measured and if it is below a certain value (temperature dependant) then they are deemed to have failed.
http://www.mobilitynation.co.uk/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=32&cat=Mobility+Scooter+Batteries
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