Tool Up for Winter with Strident!
Heading into the end of the year it's best practise to service equipment before they are put away for the winter.
The Strident range of mobility focused tools and consumables are designed to assist essential mobility maintenance tasks required at this time of the year.
Contact us now to find out more about our mobility focused tools and consumables range!
New Additions to our Mobility Tyres & Tubes Range
We have new additions to our range of Tyres and Tubes!
6 reasons to choose Strident:
- Fast, efficient despatch and delivery
- Friendly, knowledgeable sales team
- Competitive prices across the range
- Solid, PU and air tyres
- High quality tyres and tubes
- Every growing product range
With over 70 sizes of tyres and tubes in stock, call us now to place your order or visit our traction page to find out more!
How to keep your mobility scooter in top condition
Use Ambersil Cleaning Products
As with all things you buy and use on a day to day basis, the best way to keep them in working order and tip-top condition is to ensure they are properly cleaned and maintained.
Mobility scooters and equipment are no exception to this.
It goes without saying that if you don’t look after your mobility equipment properly, it’s life is going to be cut shorter than expected - just like a car would if you never had it serviced. For this reason, we are happy to announce that we are now offering Ambersil products.
About Ambersil
Ambersil has been manufacturing products for over 60 years. The Ambersil brand provides engineers and maintenance professionals with exceptional product quality and performance, whilst maximising value for money. At the same time, they are committed to maintaining extremely high environmental excellence. They are a great example of a business that prevents pollution, ensures compliance with all applicable environmental legislation and delivering continual improvement.
What Ambersil products are available at Strident?
Amberclens Anti – Static Foaming Cleaner
This product is primarily used to remove grime and heavy soiling on any hard surfaced, upholstery, plastic shrouding or even tyres. It works to gently lift out grime without damaging any material. It is particularly effective as a post-maintenance cleaner for removing finger marks and oil residues and the anti-Static formulation inhibits dust attraction.
Ambersil 40+ Multi Purpose Maintenance Oil
This Ambersil product is an excellent lubricant, penetrant and even acts as an anti-corrosion coating, which works to prevent flash rusting on steel and as a moisture displacer in high humidity environments.
Ambersil Engineer Wipes
The Ambersil Engineer Wipes are very high quality, yet extremely low lint dry wipes leaving minimal cloth fibres during cleaning. They can be used in conjunction with all Ambersil solvents, cleaners and lubricants.
Ambersil Self Adhesive Sticker & Label Remover
There’s nothing more annoying than pesky stickers and labels that simply won’t be moved. The Ambersil Label Remover has an optimum blend of citrus and hydrocarbon oils which quickly releases self-adhesive labels and stickers. It neutralises the adhesive, thereby facilitating clean and easy removal. Use in conjunction with Amberclens for the clean – stick free restoration.
Ambersil Multi-Purpose White Spray Grease – 500ml
It’s important to keep your mobility scooter components well greased and lubricated. Ambersil multi-purpose white grease is easily applied since it’s an aerosol and provides good penetration for even coverage and protection.
Ambersil Tough Wipes – 100 Tub
The Ambersil tough wipes are the ultimate hand and hard surface wipes that come in two convenient quantities, a tub with 100 wipes and a smaller, resealable pouch with 30 wipes.
They are high absorbency, dual sided hand wipes over-layered with a polymer web for all the deep cleaning power of pumice in a handy wipe. The types of soling types they are most effective at cleaning are:
- Adhesives
- Grease
- Oil
- Tar
- Silicone
- Resins
- Paints
Contains anti-pathogen agents highly effective against common bacteria and viruses.
No contamination or lasting fragrance from heavy perfumes.
Ambertron Ultra-Pure Contact Cleaner – 400ml
The Ambersil Ultrapure formulation is perfect for critical maintenance. It works to remove light oils and contamination safely, without damaging your mobility scooter. It’s safe chemical make-up mean that it has excellent compatibility with other materials. It’s safe to use on plastics, rubber, composites, metal and painted surfaces.
Do you have any questions about maintaining your mobility scooter?
If you’re looking to maintain your mobility scooter to the highest standard, then look nowhere else other than Ambersil.
If you have any questions about the Ambersil products on our site, or about maintaining your mobility scooter in general, one of our team will be able to help you. Simply call us on +44(0)1362 300102 or get in touch with us using our contact form.
National Battery Day 2019 - Celebrating the Unsung Hero
When Alessandro Volta invented the first ever battery all the way back in 1800, I’m sure he had no idea that in 2019, more and more products would start to become battery-powered, as opposed to using fossil fuel.
One thing’s for sure: he definitely didn’t know that on February 18th every year, we would be celebrating National Battery Day.
Although we are all most likely carrying around numerous battery-powered devices with us such as phones, watches, laptops, and tablets, we never seem to think about what the world might be like if batteries didn’t exist. As such, we’re calling the battery ‘the unsung hero’ on this year's national battery day.
Batteries play a significant role in the mobility and healthcare sectors, allowing disabled, injured, or elderly people to have the freedom of movement that any able-bodied person would have. The battery that sits within their mobility scooter power chair or other device makes this free movement possible.
How can you celebrate National Battery Day?
National Battery Day is the perfect opportunity to check that your batteries are in working order.
If you are the user of mobility equipment, make contact with your retailer and ask them to check your batteries health to ensure peak performance and longevity. If you are a mobility shop, check out the Strident tester to ensure you give your clients consistently reliable test results.
In the same way, you take care of your heart which is at the centre of your being, take care of your equipment’s battery as these are at the heart of your mobility and independence.
Your body requires sleep to re-energise, so also a battery requires charging. Without a consistent charge current, your battery’s lifetime will be drastically reduced. A regular charger check is recommended to ensure your batteries get the best chance of life.
Remember: National battery day 18th February
If you find that the test returns poor results, then it might be time to replace your old battery. Using your mobility scooter with an unreliable can result in sudden failure and may leave you caught out when you least expect it.
If you’re looking for a reliable battery, take a look at our catalogue to find the best one for you. If you’re unsure which one best suits your mobility scooter then call us on 01362 300102 so we can assist you in finding the right one.
What are we doing for National Battery Day?
This year, for National Battery Day, we are giving away a free box of Industrial AA batteries with every mobility order received on National Battery Day.
If you have any questions about the offer, please give us a call on 01362 300102 and we’ll be able to assist you.
2018 Holiday Period Closing Dates
Thank you from everybody at Strident for your support in 2018 and we look forward to working with you in 2019!
Our opening times over the holiday period are:
How long do mobility scooter batteries last?
As useful as it would be for batteries to last forever, mobility scooter batteries and indeed ALL batteries will eventually stop working. Did you know, however, that the root cause of battery failure is usually human error? In particular, the number one battery killer is incorrect charging.
"Very few batteries die a natural death, they are murdered"
- Philadelphia scientific.
This means that we have to start our blog article by saying that there is no simple answer to the actual question ‘how long do mobility scooter batteries last’. Strident’s batteries, for example, have been manufactured with a 10-year design life - but our blog explains why we don’t shout about that too much because it is the equivalent of a car manufacturer publishing a miles-per-gallon figure that no-one experiences in real life.
The reality is that the lifespan of your battery depends on numerous factors, such as:
- frequency of use
- range used
- terrain travelled over
- the combined weight of mobility scooter and rider
- charging regime
- charger used
But the top factor, by far, remains the charging regime and equipment used - and so we can at least help you to identify how you can maximise the lifespan of your power chair or mobility scooter battery.
The main cause of battery death - incorrect charging
Poor charging management, whether that’s overcharging or undercharging, is the main reasons for battery failure. This is because a great deal of mobility scooter users are not told about, or don’t fully appreciate, the impact poor charging management can have on your mobility scooter battery.
Before we get into how you charge your batteries the right way, let’s take a look at the effects of overcharging and undercharging your battery can have.
Overcharging mobility scooter batteries
A common question we get asked is, can mobility scooter batteries be overcharged?
The simple answer to this is yes.
Whilst it is much more difficult to overcharge a battery than undercharge one, the consequences can be more serious. Overcharging typically only occurs in three situations.
- The charger is broken or severely worn, so it does not switch itself off when it reaches maximum capacity.
- The charger is too big (higher power than needed) resulting in the battery receiving too much charge and, essentially, you end up ‘frying it’.
- You’re using a ‘cheap’ low-quality charger that is not delivering the correct charge or failing to monitor the battery state thus allowing charging of the battery past its limit.
Whilst there are fewer ways to overcharge, the consequences are much more severe. Overcharging mobility scooter batteries has a much more sudden impact than undercharging does. If you significantly overcharge a battery for 2-3 hours then there is a high chance you will cause irreparable damage to the battery plates - even a new battery - in a very short space of time.
Undercharging mobility scooter batteries
Let’s flip the above and answer the question, can mobility scooter batteries be undercharged?
The same answer applies here - yes! It is possible to undercharge your battery.
It’s much more common and actually very easy to undercharge your mobility scooter battery (and sometimes not even know you’re doing anything wrong). The consequence, technically, is that the lack of charging fails to break down the sulphates within the battery and so doesn’t condition the battery in an optimum way.
Undercharging can happen in a few different ways:
- Not charging your mobility scooter overnight after every use. This results in a build-up of sulphate which prevents the battery from reaching 100% capacity (although it may still say this on the scooter battery gauge).
- Using a cheap or faulty charger. This can result in a smaller amount of charge actually feeding the battery, which means that the battery will run flat quicker.
- Leaving your mobility scooter uncharged and unused for long periods of time. For example, if you don’t use your scooter throughout the winter months. You should still fully charge your battery around every 6 weeks.
Undercharging mobility scooter batteries causes a much slower failure than overcharging does. But, every time you undercharge your scooter, you are shortening the lifespan of your battery, even if you are not completely ruining it.
Top Tip: Making sure you are using the correct charger could reduce the total spend on batteries over the life of a mobility scooter.
Trying to use your mobility scooter with little or no charge
First of all, you should try to avoid letting your mobility scooter battery run completely flat. Aside from potentially being stranded with no means of transport, it can cause serious damage to your battery.
Due to this potential damage, most mobility scooters now have a lower power limit at which point the power will cut-out. This is usually somewhere around 9.6 volts on a typical mobility scooter battery.
Do be careful that, if you were to completely drain your battery, you might find that if you left your mobility scooter for 30 minutes that your its battery gauge may miraculously show some charge and the battery may even come to life again. This is because that whilst they’re not being used, the battery is actually self-charging. But do please be aware, using your scooter in this reduced state will further damage the battery life.
Top Tip: Avoid draining the battery on your mobility scooter and don’t be tempted to think ‘there is a little bit of charge left’. Both can ultimately shorten battery life.
To provide you with a better understanding of how the internal components of a battery work, we've put together a short video pointing out the features of a Strident battery.
How to charge mobility scooter batteries (the right way)
Remembering our main question about ‘how long do mobility scooter batteries last’ - we return again to the question of whether you are charging your mobility scooter batteries correctly to get the most from them.
Here’s a step by step process of charging your battery the right way.
- Get a quality and intelligent charger. This provides a stepped charging process that will safely charge your mobility scooter battery and actually improve its longevity.
- When you get your new battery, fully charge it in case it has been sitting in storage for a while.
- After you’re finished with your mobility scooter for the day, even if you have only used a relatively small amount of battery power, put it on charge and leave it overnight. This avoids leaving the battery in what is termed a ‘neutral state’.
- If you’re not using your mobility scooter for a time, ensure you still charge it every 6 weeks if connected, or 3-4 months if disconnected from the mobility scooter.
Whilst this might sound slightly unexpected, the advice is that you should also change your charger every few years. Whilst there may be no moving parts in a charger, there are still electronic components that wear out such as transistors and capacitors. A single faulty component can easily lead to overcharging or undercharging.
The video below shows you how Strident's three-stage chargers work.
Are expensive batteries better?
Once again, the answer is related to usage. Treat an expensive battery badly and it might fail as quickly as a standard one. However, treat a standard or expensive battery the same and there is a very high likelihood that the expensive batteries will last longer even though they carry that higher price tag. These batteries will have higher quality components that last longer - e.g. the battery plates - and there will be a higher quality manufacturing process.
Cheap batteries:
You may have stumbled across some cheaper batteries, which, on the outside, look exactly the same as a more expensive battery. They may even show the same charge capacity in a brand new state. But, when you look at the internal components of the battery, however, there is often a clear difference in the quality and quantity of lead being used.
You should be careful when buying a new battery since, when tested, cheap and more expensive batteries may return the same results. Take a closer look at the specifications and ask your mobility dealer to explain the differences in performance and life expectancy of the battery.
Taking extra care with a purchase is important as it is actually a few months down the line when you would notice a difference in performance. If you were to test two batteries, one cheaper with less, low-quality lead, and one more expensive with thicker plates and lots of high-quality lead, you would see that, over time, the cheaper battery has less and less capacity compared to the more expensive one.
Top Tip: If you want to make a long-term purchase decision for a higher quality battery, your slightly more expensive battery can actually save you more money over time. As long as you look after it!
Can testing batteries incorrectly have an effect on battery life?
The main issue in testers damaging batteries again comes down to overcharging. In some cases, it has been known for people to test mobility scooter batteries with standard automotive battery chargers that run ‘drop tests’.
A drop test works by suddenly drawing a large surge of power from a battery (as if you were trying to crank a car engine). This method works fine for cars since car batteries have a larger capacity, but smaller mobility scooter batteries designed for a steady delivery of power over a course of time can be damaged by drop tests.
Top Tip: Testers for mobility scooter batteries should be conducting a discharge test to measure ‘current control’, so be sure to always use a proper mobility scooter battery tester.
If you want any advice on how to care for your battery and keep it in tip-top condition, we’d be more than happy to have a quick conversation with you.
If you’re looking for a new, high-quality, battery for your mobility scooter, take a look at our range of Strident batteries in our brochure.
Trade Days 2018 Exhibitors - Strident Mobility Batteries, Chargers, Testers and Tyres - Stand TB30
Are you planning to come and see the Trade Days 2018 Exhibitors this October? Then we would like to extend an invitation to all our existing distributors to visit stand TB30 and see our latest range of mobility products.
We would also welcome meeting any distributors visiting Trade Days 2018 who are looking for a reliable source of high performing mobility batteries, chargers, testers and tyres. You’ll discover not only class leading products but how we support your business - from finding the right solution for clients, through to end-of-product-life environmental support.
Where to find us at Trade Days 2018 - Stand TB30
You will find our stand about one-third of the way down the central-left-hand aisle of the show next to the main cafe. So when you are thinking of a refreshment break, do come and see us on your way.
What’s on display at Strident’s Trade Days Stand?
We have both products and accessories to talk about at the show - all designed to make owning and looking after mobility products just that bit easier. We are also keen to talk about our service and the operational things that matter to our distributors.
Key service elements to discuss:
- Same day dispatch of products up to 3.30pm
- 15 years experience helping distributors with product selection and care
- ISO 9001 Quality Standard and ISO 14002 Environmental Standard
- Easy warranty process
Key products and Accessories to review:
- Extensive battery range for most mobility-related and health equipment applications
- Chargers with our 3-stage charging cycle technology for maximising battery life
- Testers that provide a safe means of determining battery life including USB data collection
- Integrated chargers and testers to keep equipment to a minimum
- Cleaners for everyday use and tasks such as removing labels
- Lubricants to keep mobility devices working in an optimum way...
Air vs Solid tyres for mobility scooters - choosing what’s best for each type of user
As most will know, there are two main types of mobility scooter tyres, air (pneumatic) and solid. In this blog, we’ll be looking at the key differences between the two and how that helps to know which of the two is best for each user of mobility scooters.
What directs the choice between air or solid tyres for mobility scooters?
When it comes down to it, the choice between air or solid tyres is all down to the pattern of use and the user themselves. While a small number of mobility scooter brands only support one type of tyre, for the most part, there will be an option on what to use.
How to know what type of tyre is best for a mobility scooter user
There are lots of differences between air and solid tyres, but it’s usually quite easy to understand what the best for is for each person.
- The quality of the ride -Air tyres provide a much smoother ride than solid tyres; this is due to the natural shock absorption that you get from air tyres. Solid tyres for mobility scooters have reduced natural shock absorption so the ride will be a little bumpier.
- Durability -Solid tyres tend to be more durable and last longer than air tyres. This is because there are a lot fewer variables that can affect your tyres. For instance, you can’t under- or over-inflate solid tyres, and you’re not at risk of punctures with solid tyres.
- The combined weight of the mobility scooter and user -Some mobility scooters are surprisingly heavy and, when combined with the weight of the user, this will have an impact on the longevity of your tyres. Weight tends to impact solid tyres and can damage them more than a high-quality pneumatic tyre.
- What terrain you’re travelling on - The terrain driven on is one of the biggest factors that will help decide on whether air or solid mobility scooter tyres are best. If the user lives in town then surfaces tend to be smooth, and air tyres are fine. If the user travels across rough ground, like gravel surfaces, or where there may be glass in public areas, a solid tyre may be the better choice.
- Price -Air tyres are cheaper than solid mobility scooter tyres. However, as some of the points above highlight, it may not always be best to opt for the cheaper option, e.g. the cost of repairing 2-3 punctures would outweigh the cost saving made on an air tyre.
Summary of what each tyre is best for
Air mobility scooter tyres are best suited to smooth, tarmacked surfaces, where there is minimal risk of tyre damage. On smooth, flat, surfaces, air tyres will offer a more comfortable ride and can provide longer ranges due to less tyre friction.
Solid tyres for mobility scooters are a must for recreational users. If a mobility scooter is often on gravel paths and in rural areas, then air tyres will carry a risk of a puncture. Also, solid tyres for mobility scooters tend to have more friction on the surface so in rural areas you will have better grip.
What can happen if you choose the wrong type of tyre?
If you happen to choose the type of tyre that's not best suited to your needs, then you will either be decreasing the potential lifespan of your tyres or may not be maximising the overall performance of your mobility scooter.
Here’s an example to show you what kind of impact that choosing the wrong type of tyre can have.
A regular pub-goer opted for air tyres on his mobility scooter, without actually thinking of the potential risks that are in and around a pub… the main one being broken glass! As a result, the owner kept getting punctures. If the user had opted for solid tyres, in the beginning, there would have been no risk of a puncture. So do choose wisely!
If you’re struggling to decide what tyres are best for a particular type of mobility scooter or a specific pattern of use, we would be happy to talk you through the choices and find out what is best.
If you’re looking to source good quality air and solid tyres, then make sure you look at our Strident tyre brochure.
What makes a great mobility scooter tyre? See our short animation.
At Strident we have a wide range of hard-wearing, reliable, mobility tyres to suit many of today’s equipment needs. We hold large stocks of tyres for mobility scooters in both solid and pneumatic which have many benefits which are listed below and can be seen in the video below.
When searching for a great mobility scooter tyre as about the following:
- Designed for longevity. If you have ever had to choose tyres for a car then you'll know that some are cheap and cheerful whilst others are designed for longevity. Look for a tyre that is designed to last.
- Quality Assured. The tyres of your mobility scooter or powered wheelchair are crucial to their operation. Ask what quality approval scheme any tyres that you are being recommended come under.
- Durable Rubber: If tyre rubber is too hard there is a potential safety risk as the level of traction may be lower when on the move. Take a good look at any tyres and touch them to see if the rubber is flexible and 'tacky'.
- Comfortable Ride: If you get all of the above product features with a tyre purchase, then you have every chance of enjoying a comfortable and safe ride.
If you are looking for a great quality tyre or want to find out more about the benefits of Strident Traction Mobility Tyres then please do visit our Traction product page.
We've also got a recent blog on how the state of your mobility scooter tyres can affect the performance of your scooter battery. Read that article by clicking here.