How to Lengthen the Life of Your Forklift Battery

Your forklift’s battery lifespan primarily depends on how well you maintain it. Therefore, to save yourself a lot of time, money and headache, you should make it a point to stay on top of preventative maintenance so you can stretch out your battery’s useful life as long as possible.

Here are a few tips to help you lengthen the life of your forklift battery in Jefferson, WI.

Maintenance steps to take

One of the most important aspects of battery maintenance to stay on top of is sulfonation. This is an issue that occurs more often than you might expect, and is actually the leading cause of premature death in forklift batteries.

This is a circumstance in which sulfuric acid crystals will attach themselves to the lead plates and reduce the ability of the battery to hold a charge. If you see these crystals starting to build up, you should make an appointment with a battery specialist to have them removed before they become too significant of a problem.

Maintain a proper charge

The charge of the battery is another issue for you to keep an eye on. You should make sure batteries never fall below a 20 percent charge. At that point, the electrical components in the battery will begin to run hotter, which can result in some serious problems, such as slower hydraulics and traction and potentially a burned-out motor.

Between shifts, make sure batteries are getting charged up and that they aren’t used until the charge is completed. It’s not enough just to charge the battery for a short time—frequent short charges will drain the battery life, because the battery’s life can be measured in part by the number of total charges it receives. Too many short charges will result in the battery losing its efficiency over time.

Keep an eye on water levels

The water level in the forklift battery should also be properly maintained. Never allow the level to get so low that the plates are left exposed to air. If the materials on the plates dry out, then the plates will get brittle and potentially be subjected to damage. As needed, add distilled water into the batteries, and make sure to avoid overfilling the reservoirs. This should be a standard maintenance practice—inspecting water levels in the batteries should be one of the regular aspects of forklift battery maintenance that you perform.

If you hope to get the most effectiveness and efficiency out of your forklift batteries for years to come, it is incumbent upon you and your staff to perform these regular forklift battery maintenance tasks. Otherwise, you will find yourself needing to make repairs and replacements at a much faster rate than necessary, causing excessive downtime and wasting a lot of money that you could otherwise put into other areas of your operations.

If you’re interested in learning more about the steps you can take to lengthen the life of a forklift battery, contact the team at Remis Power Systems Inc. today. We’ll be happy to help you increase your forklift battery life in Jefferson, WI!

Categorised in: Forklift Batteries

This post was written by Writer