How to Get More Life From Your Forklift Batteries

Featured Forklifts Electric Rider Forklifts Forklift Service

Back to Blog

When you get down to it, for Indiana businesses forklifts are your business. They keep your day to day operations running smoothly; if your forklift are slowed down, your business is slowed down.

Likewise, your forklift batteries are your forklifts. They keep your forklifts running smoothly, and if the batteries are underperforming, your forklifts are underperforming.

Here are a few things you can do to get the most out of your electric forklift batteries, increasing both their lifespan and performance.

Know When To Charge And When Not To Charge

If your business is like most others, you probably charge your batteries overnight. That’s good, keep it up! You want to get the most work out of every charge cycle, but you don’t want to leave any battery low for a long period of time as it can cause sulphation. Charging after 8-10 hours of work keeps you in a happy medium there, but should you ever be charging at other times, say during the lunch break?

The answer is no, never charge your forklift battery during midday breaks. Forklift batteries have a limited number of charge cycles in their lifetime, and charging “when you get a chance” (also called opportunity charging), reduces the lifespan of your battery.

Know When To Water Your Battery

Watering your battery is essential to maintaining the proper acid levels and maintaining ionization in your forklift battery. For most forklift batteries, you should be watering about once every 5-10 charges. Be sure to water only after the battery is completely charged, as topping off before a charge can likely cause the water to heat up and overflow from the battery.

Invest in Newer Battery Chargers

The life cycle of your forklift battery starts and ends with your charger. Newer battery chargers are more effective at preventing overheating during a charge. That means less wear and tear on a battery every single night, and can add years onto the lifetime of the battery. Look into replacing your old chargers with newer, high-frequency or “smart” chargers to extend your battery life, even if you're using a used forklift.

Keep Your Batteries Cool

Overheating is one of the main causes of underperformance from forklift batteries, whether that’s in shorter lifespans or decreased voltage during work. Be sure that your batteries are always well-ventilated, both when their charging overnight and when they’re in use.

Get More Lift From Your Forklifts

Looking for other ways to improve your forklift performance? Turn to Tynan today for help from our certified experts.

Extend the lift of your forklift battery with these tips.

Related Articles

© Copyright 2018, Hyster Theme. All rights reserved.