Scooter Maintenance |
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| Before operating your electric scooter:
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- Make sure the tires are inflated properly. Small tires loose air pressure quickly and must be aired frequently. Most small tires can accept air pressure to 85 psi.This allows the tire to properly contact the surface and keeps the tube from rotating inside the tire during braking and acceleration.
If the tube rotates, the valve stem will possibly be cut or torn from the inner tube. This will require replacement of the inner tube.
- Charge the battery. Batteries should be charged frequently, especially after prolonged usage that runs the battery down.Allow the batteries to cool for an hour or more before charging. Heat will damage batteries and it is helpful to keep batteries as cool as possible during use or charging.
- Keep the right tension on your drive belt (or chain) during use. A loose drive belt will allow the teeth to slip and wear at an excessive rate.Failure of the belt will occur due to slippage or the heat generated due to improper tension. The belt can be adjusted by moving the rear tire forward or aft.
Check your specification, but look for approximately one-half to one-quarter inch gap when pressing against the middle of the span. It is important to prevent slippage.
- When you change a belt due to wear be sure to center it so that it does not ride against the side of the belt hubs on the motor or rear tire.If it is not centered properly it will cause the belt to try to jump up on the edge of the hub and cause a tear in the edge of the belt which will eventually cause the belt to completely separate.
Most dealers have a very limited replacement warranty for belts due to improper installation and replacement. Please check your belt often after replacement to insure it is properly installed and centered on the drive hubs.
- Lightly oil throttle and brake linkages to prevent binding.Check nuts and bolts to insure they are tight and cannot come loose. Wipe down the chrome pieces to prevent rust.
- Do not ride electric scooters through water or mud, or even on wet grass since water can cause failure of the electrical components!Electric scooters are meant to be ridden on dry hard surfaces.
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| Troubleshooting: no power
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In this situation we will assume that the battery has been charged or allowed to stand for several hours (a battery will normally self-charge up to a point and make the scooter power up for a fair distance). There are generally two main suspects:
- First suspect a loose or broken connection. Take the top or deck off to see the wiring and inspect it for any loose or broken connections on the battery, switch, controller, etc.
- Second suspect the controller box has failed. Since the controller is the heart of the system it can fail in many ways to prevent current from being supplied to the motor.
- Other less likely suspects can be:
A battery that is completely open, supplying no current and possible even testing as having no voltage. It can be very briefly shorted with a wire to see if an arc is produced, revealing current is present. See Below for more advise on batteries.
It is also possible to have a bad brake lever or throttle since both have wiring and switches or variable controls. The brake lever has a power cut-off switch. The throttle variably controls the speed of the scooter.
The scooter On/Off switch can be defective. Without a good switch the scooter has no power, but the test of this is the power light. Does the power light come on when the switch is activated to the On position?
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| Troubleshooting: After fully charging, powers only for short distance use
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- Suspect the battery charger or the battery as the primary cause of short distance riding after a lengthy or full charge.. If your battery charger does not have charging indicator lights then you may not be charging the battery at all if the charger is defective.
- The battery may be self-charging to only about 60% on it's own. If the battery is getting old then it may not be able to hold a full charge and the battery will need replacement.When suspected you can very briefly arc across the battery terminals with a insulated wire to see if it produces a nice arc.
. It is also possible to test some individual battery 12 volt cells using 12 volt motors or lights that will show you the available current capability. Is the 12 volt light dim on a charged battery?
Does the 12 volt motor run slowly when connected to the cell? Similar type tests can be performed using a 24 volt battery cell, too.
WARNING! Batteries contain acid that can explode, or the vapors ignite from an arc. Batteries produce current and voltage that can burn you when a shorted circuit occurs.Be absolutely sure you know what you are doing before trying any tests to eliminate a component from consideration of being defective!!!
- You can take the battery to a shop capable of testing the battery under a loaded condition. Fully charge the battery and carefully remove it.Let a technician determine the condition of the battery for you.
- We absolutely recommend a high quality Battery Charger as sold on our scooter parts page.
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| Troubleshooting: Electric scooters
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- SCOOTER TAKES OFF-WILL NOT STOP
A) If the scooter is moving when you turn the key to the on position without turning the throttle you will need to replace the throttle or control box.
B) If scooter takes off without turning the key to on you need to replace the control box
- Scooter not moving and Lights do not work using battery, but lights do work when you plug the charger into the side of the scooter and also plug the charger into the wall-Scooter will notmove at all and all lights do not work (lights do work when you plug the charger into wall):
A) No fuse in fuse assembly= add one of the fuses includes with the scooters
B) Bad Fuse= unscrew the cap only on the fuse holder. Remove the fuse and make sure that the fuse is not blown (a good fuse will have a solid wire from one end to the other, a bad fuse=the wire inside is broken)
C) Bad fuse holder = fuse assembly may be cracked or have a bad connection within it .
D) Bad control box
E) Possibly bad battery, although this is rare.
F) Wires behind fuse assembly have come off due to improper replacement of fuses or loose wire connections to the battery. This is always due to the customer rotating the whole fuse assembly
(when changing fuses) and twisting the 2 wires that are in the back of the fuse holder. You must open up scooter and reattach these wires to back of fuse assembly or to batteryand control box. If this is the problem the lights WILL work when you have the charger plugged in.
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