WheelchairDriver

HI everyone I hope you are well,

With the limited budget I have and the need to have a back up chair I opted to get this affortable wheelchair that is said to work. I know it is a discountinued model but it is supposed to be functional and it has almost no rust

It has Mk batteries that came with it . The joystick horn works but batteries are probably empty since it does not move. They might have some life left enought for me to roadtest the chair without having to transfer my current batteries so I would give them a try. I have couple questions about the battery setup.

8g24t881 written on the batterie . googles leads me to a page where it is written MK Powered 12 Volt 73.6 AH Deep Cycle Sealed Gel Battery 8G24T881
1)Is there a way to confirm they are real gel and not agmgel?

2) I have a victon ip65 bleu smart charger set to gel already. Is it worth it to charge them individually( for the first time since probably 4 months or more )OR charging both at the same time is ok? how many hours?

The readings as it is I took say
battery A 11.7 v
battery B10.09v
touching A+ and B- when connected shows 22.7volts

3) I marked where the terminals are going to be sure to reconnect them the same way but I wanted to show you the way they arrived . It is different from what I have seen so far (the place the connectors go and there are 5 cables not 4 ). I would like to know if it is a safe way what the previous user did. Because I could always use the anderson connectors from another chair if it is advised to avoid using this 5 wires pattern of linking the batteries together.

Thanks

8g24t881 written on the batterie . googles leads me to a page where it is written MK Powered 12 Volt 73.6 AH Deep Cycle Sealed Gel Battery 8G24T881
1)Is there a way to confirm they are real gel and not agmgel?

Yes. I can absolutely garantee that those batteries are gel.

2) I have a victon ip65 bleu smart charger set to gel already. Is it worth it to charge them individually( for the first time since probably 4 months or more )OR charging both at the same time is ok? how many hours?

The readings as it is I took say
battery A 11.7 v
battery B10.09v
touching A+ and B- when connected shows 22.7volts

Then battery A is around 90% discharged.
And battery B is totally absolutely dead beyond the 100% discharged point.
Its possible that if they have been this way for a long time that they are completely knackered...
That does NOT mean that they cannot be charged. Just that they will likely have a fraction of the original capability.

Charge each one INDIVIDUALLY.
ANYTHING can "charge" them in a fashion. Even that mobility charger or that victron.
But to stand a real chance of rescuing the batteries you want to do the following:
Ideally you would charge each one individually at a fixed 13.8V set on a power supply, and at a max of say 2A. And do so for 7 days. Thats because the cells will all be at different state of charge. And be sulfated. A normal charge algo will make them worse!
The problem is that your victron cant really do that. And its standard gel charge algorythm is no good anyway. So it would need setting correctly as a custom profile if it can actually do a 12V battery and not just 24V. And its detailed.


So a question...
Do you have an adjustable power supply so that you can set between 13.6 to 13.8 Volts. And a Maximum current of say 2 or 3A?
Or ANYTHING that puts out about 13.7V?

3) I marked where the terminals are going to be sure to reconnect them the same way but I wanted to show you the way they arrived . It is different from what I have seen so far (the place the connectors go and there are 5 cables not 4 ). I would like to know if it is a safe way what the previous user did. Because I could always use the anderson connectors from another chair if it is advised to avoid using this 5 wires pattern of linking the batteries together.

I have no idea where your 5 wires go...
All that matters is that you connect 2 batteries in SERIES for 24V and that this 24V goes to the chair...

Ok thanks

I have no power supply only the victron and another charger that is made for agm voltages from what I remember of old post I made.
I guess I ll have for now to content myself with charging them individually with victron and will see how much life they can hold .

When I will charge them individually, do I need to disconnect all the wires to do it or it does not matter ?.I would leave them as is just making sure the charger end is on pos and neg of a same battery. give if charge time, do the other one then the road test.

Thanks

Can't you fit the batteries from your other powerchair?

Connect to one battery. Both terminals.
Set a CUSTOM USER profile. Ignore all the sky is falling warnings it tries to scare you with at every step. Bully it.
Set your victron to do as low amps as it allows.
Set to CV voltage of 14V not more.
Set to terminate after as close to 8 hours CV as it allows or longer. 12 is better.
Set float to 13.8V and I think it has 2 different float levels? Indefinitely.
Set it to never "recondition" or restart all over again...
Dont set to "automatic" charge time or termination...

Set it to the correct temp compensation.

Which is at the bottom here:
To compensate for battery temperature not at 20°C, subtract 0.005 V/cell for each 1°C above 20°C; add
0.005 V/cell for each 1°C under 20°C.

So on ONE battery that would be 6 cells, and remember its a minus figure.

Be VERY sure that victron isnt thinking its charging 2 batts (24V.)

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/MK1.pdf




All in all thats the best you can do.

Yes i can fit them it is just that Ouf stuff just added to my load including a landlord legal situation and teeth issue to manage and snow is arriving surprisingly early this years so I have not much time for action at the moment to move them and move them again , a bit complicated to explain and I admit I should have bought a backup chair earlier but was a bit negligent on that.

I realise I might even have to cut corners and just charge them both at the same time with the custom gel setting already in the victron for (my good batteries) to save me time to be able to do the road test without playing with the settings and rereading the manual etc. Surprising day today.. I have to go with priorities but the road test is also one of them so I might have to do the road test with the batteries it came with quicky and see how long I can roll with them even though I would have prefered to take the path Burgerman just suggested to get the most life back into them.
Thanks have nice evening