Month: July 2020
Chargers for electric lift truck batteries range from the fairly simple to quite complex, but their purpose is the same: charge a battery of a specific size in an 8-hour shift. The 8-hour charging cycle is a universal standard, but many chargers will accommodate a larger ampere-hour capacity than their nominal rating if allowed to […]
Interest is high in reducing battery maintenance time? This is reflected in some forklift owners’ interest in the newly available sealed “maintenance-free” style batteries. These batteries are finding customers despite factors such as very limited field experience for this technology in deep-cycle industrial use, high cost, and a requirement for special chargers that take hours […]
Time to reach into the “Nobody ever told me that!” file, to share some answers to common questions about industrial fork lift batteries. You may find a few surprises here. “Why is that big forklift battery only 36 (or 24, or 48, etc.) volts?” Of course, I insist that there are no silly questions, but […]
Continued! Q: My auto control charger will not turn on if I plug in my completely dead battery. Why? A: The charger is looking for a battery voltage that tells it that the right battery is plugged in. As a safety feature, most auto controls will not, for example, allow a 36-volt charger to start […]
Get answers now. Should I make sure to completely discharge my battery prior to recharge? Not necessarily. Lead acid electric vehicle batteries (known as “deep cycle types”) are immune to the “memory effect” seen with nickel cadmium rechargeable batteries used in familiar appliances. Nickel cadmium cells benefit from frequent full discharge (to the point of […]
Conventional lead acid batteries contain a liquid “electrolyte” which is a mixture of sulfuric acid and water. Each cell in a battery resides within its own vented container (known as a “jar”), ensuring that the active material contained in the battery plates is continuously bathed in electrolyte while small amounts of oxygen and hydrogen gas […]
When an electric forklift is not performing as it should, a number of possible causes need to be explored. The battery/charger package is definitely a good place to start troubleshooting, as any problem here shows up quickly in the behavior of the forklift. If a forklift has shown a gradual decline in its ability to […]
If a battery acted as a simple “storage tank” for pure electrical energy, we could dispense with the effects of temperature on operation in a few words. The lead-acid industrial battery, the type commonly in use for the last 90 years, is much more complex than a fuel tank, however. These batteries are built of […]
A lead–acid battery does not reveal its state of charge through voltage readings alone. Because battery voltage varies depending on charging or load current flow, measurements with a voltmeter tell you very little about the state of the battery except under very specific conditions. Under most circumstances, specific gravity measurement of the battery’s water and […]
If used batteries of recent vintage are widely available, the decision to replace an electric forklift battery becomes a little tougher. It’s a nice position to be in, though, since it includes the opportunity to save large amounts of money. You can make a wiser battery decision with access to the batteries we see out […]