Your electric scooter’s battery just died on you, and you’re stranded in the middle of nowhere without a charger? Fear not; you’ll be surprised to know that charging your electric scooter without a charger is possible.
Most lead acid scooter batteries work with any universal power adapter, which can be a life-saver. Furthermore, standing at the side of the road and trying your luck with the hitchhiker’s sign can prove useful. The electric scooter battery can be charged through a car’s jumper cable, giving you enough juice to make it to the nearest electric outlet.
There are still other ways to charge your electric scooter’s battery without a charger, so stick around as we walk you through our step-by-step guide to getting your dead e-scooter back on the road!
Short Answer
There are multiple ways to charge up an electric scooter’s lithium-ion battery without the need for a charger or electric outlet. Using your car battery, variable power supply, or a universal power adapter are just a few of the ways you can get electric scooters back up and running.
Guide for How to Charge Electric Scooter Without Charger
When we embarked on the mission to create this guide, we wanted to create a curated list of the most accessible charging methods that don’t compromise your scooter battery’s rated capacity. You don’t want a one-time emergency charge to negatively affect your lithium-ion batteries’ lifespan and present you with inconveniences down the line.
Let’s jump right into the most practical ways to charge an electric scooter without a charger!
Method One: Charge a Scooter Battery Using a Portable Car Jumper
For the uninitiated, a portable jumper set includes a pair of thick cables that can be used to drive voltage across two battery terminals. That being said, such a high voltage source is more than enough to deliver juice to your electric scooter’s relatively small acid battery and buy you some more time on the road.
Stick to the following steps to safely charge your lead acid scooter battery using a portable car jumper!
Step 1: Access Your Scooter’s Lead Acid Battery
Generally speaking, most electric scooters have the battery held under a plate and require the removal of a few screws to give access. A screwdriver or a versatile tool kit comes in handy, so make sure you’re always equipped and ready to tackle whatever life throws your way.
Step 2: Disconnect the Battery
Once you gain access to the battery compartment of your electric scooter, you’ll notice that the lead-acid battery connects to your scooter’s motor through a pair of cables dedicated to the positive and negative terminals, respectively.
You need to disconnect such cables before any attempts to recharge your battery using a car jumper so that if anything goes south, your scooter’s electronic circuitry remains safe.
Step 3: Attach the Jumper to the Battery Terminals
Now that you’re all set up, it’s time to connect your battery to the car jumper. Make sure that the red end of the cable is connected to the battery’s positive terminal while the black one goes onto the negative port.
Also, check any extra gadgets or accessories connected to your car jumper to ensure that the charging process remains proficient. Furthermore, double-check that your connection is free of breaks or nicks that might lead to power leakage and therefore extend the time of a complete charge.
Step 4: Turn On the Jumper
Once you’ve taken care of all the cables and got your connection ready, it’s time to turn on the jumper and wait for it to charge your scooter’s battery completely. Depending on the cells’ capacity, your charging time may vary.
However, for the most part, you’re looking at 30 minutes for a complete charge, which speaks for why we chose to start with a versatile portable jumper to battery charging method. It’s worth noting that you have to keep your scooter’s battery in a cool and dry place throughout the entire charging process to avoid any unwanted accidents.
Another precaution to bear in mind is that it’s not recommended to disconnect the vehicle jumper from your scooter’s battery before the 20-minute mark. Any interruption to the charging process before that might risk harming your battery or, worse, exposing you to electric shocks!
Step 5: Check the Battery Levels
Without any real indicators in place, you can only estimate where your battery levels are at. This can be done by checking your battery temperature from time to time. If it’s somehow warm, you’re on the right path, and you might’ve even reached half your battery life.
Nevertheless, you should keep your eyes peeled for any potential overheating issues. It’s true that a hot battery is a sign that the process is right on track and charging is taking place. However, this doesn’t mean that you should allow your battery to get way too hot!
Step 6: Disconnect
After reaching the desired charge level, it’s time to turn off your jumper and disconnect the battery. Make sure you remove the dark cable connected to the negative electrode first.
Slide your battery back into its scooter’s compartment and power on your e-bike. Once the LCD is on, you can know how much exactly your battery is charged. If you’re pleased with what you’ve got, you can hop back on your scooter and hit the road!
Method Two: Use a Universal Adapter Instead of the Scooter Battery Charger
However, for the most part, you’re looking at 30 minutes for a complete charge, which speaks for why we chose to start with a versatile portable jumper to battery charging method. It’s worth noting that you have to keep your scooter’s battery in a cool and dry place throughout the entire charging process to avoid any unwanted accidents.
Step 1: Remove the Battery
Just like the first method, you need your handy screwdriver to access your scooter’s battery compartment. Next, disconnect the power cables and make sure your battery remains in a dry and cool place for the entire charging process.
Step 2: Connect the Power Adapter
Next up, it’s time to connect your versatile power adapter. The process follows the same principles we’ve already established. So, to reiterate, connect the black cable to the battery’s negative terminal, and the red end of the cable should go with the positive electrode.
Step 3: Adjust the Variable Power Supply’s Voltage
For this step, you need to check your electric scooter’s user manual or contact the manufacturer’s customer support to know your model’s exact voltage.
There’s a great chance that you don’t have such a piece of information ready in your head when faced with a dead battery emergency situation. In this case, it’s safe to adjust the power adapter at 4.20V per cell, as this is the safe preset for most lithium-ion batteries.
Step 4: Set the Power Adapter’s Current Flow
It’s better safe than sorry, so keeping a well-adjusted current flow is always a top priority before starting to charge your scooter’s battery. It’s recommended to keep the current flow at 20% of your battery’s rating. For example, if your battery is rated at 20Ah, it’s a safe bet to adjust the current flow at 2Ah.
Step 5: Wait for Your Battery to Charge
Leading up to this point, everything should be straightforward, and it’s only a matter of time before your electric scooter battery is all charged up. However, compared to our first battery charging method, using a universal power supply might come with some caveats.
The biggest of them is that you might have to sit through some extensive charging times before your battery is fully charged. Expect anything between 3 to 8 hours, but still, the process can take longer.
You’ll know that your battery is jacked up when the current flow falls to 3% of your battery’s rated capacity. For your given situation, reaching only a fraction of your battery’s capacity might be just enough to get you to a charging station.
Step 6: Reinstall Your Battery Back in Place and Hit the Road
Next up, disconnect the battery from the power adapter and let it rest for around five minutes before installing it back into your scooter’s battery compartment. Once your scooter is powered up, make sure your battery has enough juice before hitting the road one more time.
In Conclusion
Charging electric scooters without a charger might sound like an impossible task. However, we hope our guide has streamlined the entire process for you, and the next time you find yourself in such a situation, we’re sure our step-by-step instructions will come in handy.
