Chargers for electric scooters and electric bicycles
This category includes chargers and accessories for electric scooters, electric bicycles. When choosing the right charger, it is important to pay attention to three main aspects: the type of connector, the voltage of the charging current, and the amount of charging current.
To choose the right charger, let's look at them in more detail:
Connectors
There are several types of connectors (in this case, obviously, we are talking about connectors that can be plugged into the battery/scooter/bike, not the connectors for the wall outlet), as you can see in the picture below:
It is important to choose the right type, otherwise you will not be able to plug the charger into the device. In the case of smaller battery scooters, DC sockets are the most common, but it can be seen that there are 3 different types of them:
- Suitable for Xiaomi/Ninebot-Segway scooters (although there are exceptions, e.g. Xiaomi MI4 Pro or G30 Ninebot series) aka DC 8
- DC5521 or also spelled DC 5.5x2.1
- DC5525 or also spelled DC 5.5x2.5
For batteries with higher power and therefore higher capacity, GX/XLR connectors are more used. The ANDERSON and XT connectors are usually found on the batteries themselves, especially when retrofitting spare batteries.
Charging current voltage
Electric scooters and electric bicycles are mainly equipped with so-called 36V batteries (smaller ones with 24V, larger ones with 48V/52V/60V/72V). It is worth knowing that these figures, this voltage value represent a kind of mid value, since, for example, 36V batteries operate between 30V and 42V in general. This can cause confusion in many cases. We have collected what voltage charger is suitable for batteries of different voltages:
- 42V charger for 36V battery (although sometimes called 36V for marketing reasons)
- 54.6V charger for 48V battery
- 52V battery 58.8V charger
- 67.2V charger for 60V battery
- In the case of a 72V battery, use an 84V charger.
And finally the amount of charging current
The value of the charging current can be expressed in mA (milliamperes) or even A (amperes). Between them, the alternating number is 1000, that is, a charging current of 2000 mA is equal to a charging current of 2A. Obviously, the higher the current at which we charge our device, the sooner it will charge. The charging time is reduced not proportionally, but according to the charging curve of the battery. Of course, it is impossible to charge a battery at any high current, it has limitations. It's a good idea to choose a charger with the same current as the factory or find out the maximum charging current for a given battery. Let us never exceed this. Higher current can cause faster charging, while faster charging can cause both the battery and charger to heat up. Excessive heating can reduce battery life. For more powerful chargers, a fan is often installed to reduce the heating of the charger and prevent it from overheating (this causes some operating noise). Chargers with lower power/charging current are usually fanless and operate noiselessly.
