Maintaining your forklift battery is an essential practice if you want to lower your business expenses and improve productivity. However, if you aren’t sure where to begin, you should know that the process for maintaining a forklift’s battery only requires three primary steps. With this in mind, here is a quick guide to maintaining your forklift battery.
Perform Equalization Charges on Your Battery
The more you use a battery, the more a battery cell loses its capacity to hold an electric charge. Your battery won’t operate as efficiently if one of the cells can’t hold a full charge, which is why you will give your battery equalization charges to prolong its working life.
Equalization charges ensure that all the cells in a battery have the ability to hold a full charge. For example, since a normal recharge cycle will be about eight hours for an average forklift battery, you can charge your battery for an additional three or more hours at a lower stream of power to make sure that all the cells have an even charge.
Water Your Forklift Battery
Depending on your machine’s forklift battery, you may need to water it so that the electrolyte mixture isn’t too acidic. When it’s too acidic, the mixture will corrode the connection points on your battery, causing lasting damage.
To make sure that you water your battery the correct amount, keep the water level a half-inch below where the battery cap opening is located. Also, only pour deionized or distilled water, so there aren’t any impurities in the water you pour onto your battery.
Wash Out the Battery Case
Residue from the battery acid will build up on your battery, which is why cleaning off the battery case is a critical component of maintaining your forklift battery. When the battery acid mixes with the lead posts and the steel enclosure, it creates a conductive circuit that emits a small discharge.
This will cause your battery to go through its charge cycles more frequently, which wears it out more quickly. Also, the battery acid corrodes the terminals, and this damage could lead to electrical problems with the forklift itself.
For this reason, you will want to spot clean the tops of your battery cells with an acid-neutralizing de-greaser once per month and the rest of the battery once every three to six months, depending on how often you use it. Otherwise, you will need to start looking for electric forklift batteries for sale to replace your damaged item.
Overall, if you want to protect your forklift battery from damage, you must maintain it properly. Be sure to look back at this quick guide to maintaining your forklift battery if you need any pointers on how to take care of your battery.
