OT-Batteries for Electric Forklift

Hello Everyone

I have a Daewoo BC25S electric lift truck. The batteries were about gone when I bought it but it served it's purpose at the time.

If practical, I would like to replace the batteries with eight 12V deep cycle batteries or even four if it would work. I will only be using the truck occasionally and for short periods of time.

I am concerned about the discharge rate of the smaller batteries. Do any of you have any experience with this sort of thing.

Thank you for your help and advice.

Grits

First- you have not stated what the truck had in it as to size,ie, amp hr. capacity, voltage, second - the weight you are going to lose as it is your counterweight and third- what charger do you have to charge it now? Till you are done buying multiple batteries you might be better off buying a good used battery from some one you consider reputable in the business. just my .02 cents.

bigais said:

- the weight you are going to lose as it is your counterweight

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FWIW, that model needs 3000 lbs min battery (or battery + stacked up steel plates) to maintain it's 5,000 lb lift capacity. A good used battery in the size will probably cost in the $2,500 range...new $6,300

Milacron

Grits said:

If practical, I would like to replace the batteries with eight 12V deep cycle batteries or even four if it would work. I will only be using the truck occasionally and for short periods of time.

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I tried this on a small 24V stand up and it didn't work very well. I used two deep cycle batteries and the thing moved around and picked OK, but not for very long and it just didn't have any guts at all. I'd get stuck on the smallest obstruction. Speculating here but I think the problem is that even the deep cycle batteries have much higher internal resistance than a real industrial battery, you get too much voltage drop as soon as you put it in gear.

Alan

More Info Tomorrow

Thank you,

As you can see from my post, electric lift trucks are not my specialty. The lift will not be used for anything over 3,000 lbs. I would use either steel plates or concrete to add weight.

I will have more info tomorrow.

Thank you,

Grits

I have done this with a forklift that size and used 8 scrap 160 Ah 6V deep cycle batteries (golf cart) and it was just adequate, for weight I built the battery box out of 3/4" plate. Keep an eye out in the local scrap yard I have seen many a good battery end up there because the forklift became obsolete and the whole machine was sent to scrap.

I currently use 16 batteries and the machine will climb my driveway with a load., the batteries and box weigh 1600lb.

Are there any large warehouses in your area? Go visit a couple and look for electric forklifts. If they have them find the maintenance supervisor and find out who services their batteries.

The guy I use services several of the large warehouses and always can make me a deal on a re-conditioned battery. I am going on 5 years use with the last one I bought from him. It was less than $800.00 for a 48v cut down to 36v for my Yale 6k.

Walter A.

The large 6 volt batteries that power floor scrubbers will power your lift. The industrial users switch them out when they will not work for a whole night shift. Check with scrubber dealers and/or large floor cleaning contractors. They usually discard these batteries at recycle centers. If you only use your lift for an hour or two a day, you will be pleased. Regards, Clark

Walter A said:

The guy I use services several of the large warehouses and always can make me a deal on a re-conditioned battery. I am going on 5 years use with the last one I bought from him. It was less than $800.00 for a 48v cut down to 36v for my Yale 6k.

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That is meaningless without stating exactly when "the last one I bought from him" was. The last reconditioned 3,200 lb battery I bought was in 2004 and cost $650. But since 2004, lead has gone thru the roof and now the same battery from the same guy is $2,500 !

Interestingly, while lead has gone way up... it has not gone up 3.8X. All I can figure is now that new industrial batteries have gone up higher than the value of the forklift itself, the demand for good used batteries has gone up, thus forcing up the prices of used ones beyond their lead price increase justification.

Right On

You hit the nail on the head Milacron. To add to my thefts, I had 2 1/2 miles of wire stolen from seven center pivot irrigation systems. The weak dollar and the demand for lead and copper has shot the prices through the roof. Just about all other commodities have drastically risen in price.

If anyone handloads their own shotshells, check out the price of bag of lead shot. Lead and copper are major components in bullets and our military is using quite a bit of both now.

Grits

These two products worked for my "dead" 36v FL battery. $100 worth of Battery Equalizer chemical and the a 36v Battery Minder Charger/Desulfator did the trick. Heck, the small Battery Minder charges the battery to 100% in about 7-10 days from a state of 80-85%.
Battery Equaliser Doubles Battery Life - for Auto, Boat, Golf Cart, Motorcycle, Solar, Truck, RV, Forklift, Floor Cleaner and all Lead Acid Batteries
All | Battery Chargers by BatteryMINDers.com

Have you trtied desulfering your old batteries first?

That would be my recommendation buy an electronic desulfering device look on ebay or other places. I would try this first then if not successful in say one or two days and or recharges You can also go the chemical mag chloride type method.

And if that still doesn't do it get rid of your acid and go with a simple alkaline and water mixture. As all this is dirt cheap compared to buying new or used batteries! This can easily double or triple the life of your currant lead acid batteries.

Or better yet if you are in the Colorado area call me and I will come out evaluate your batteries and usage discuss your options. If there are no dead cells in your batteries we can bring them back to life or to almost new condition in little or no time or just a few hours or days.

Sincerely
Jim D.

I wonder what kind of batteries the electric/hybred cars are using. I am sure they make more electric cars in a year then forklifts so maybe the batteries are standardized and therefore cheaper.
Bill D.

Prius: they are made of many little batteries all tied together in a one case. here is one on ebay. used is probably tired and not good for high drain/charge rates.
I understand the tesla cars use laptop computer batteries tied together. over 1000 in each car!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-0...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20bd02314d

Bill D said:

I wonder what kind of batteries the electric/hybred cars are using. I am sure they make more electric cars in a year then forklifts so maybe the batteries are standardized and therefore cheaper.
Bill D.

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No idea of the cost, but a Toyota Prius uses a nickel metal hydride battery and has an operating voltage up to 650V DC. I'd imagine others are in the same range, and far outside the voltage typical of electric forklifts.

I just went through the same with my 3000lb 36v forklift. It was a struggle going up my driveway from the street onto the sidewalk and then into the building from the driveway. I called the battery place who's sticker was on the battery box to see about reconditioning it. When I explained that I only use it periodically and for fairly short periods of time she suggested I use three industrial 12v batteries. They cost me about $900 while a new battery would have been well over $3500. I did have to buy a new charger as the one that came with the forklift was too powerful for the old battery and had probably contributed to killing it and would kill the new 12v batteries as well. A used charger cost me another $1000. The battery guys put a bunch of scrap iron in the battery box to help make up the difference in weight but I am still about 200lb underweight which has not been a problem yet but I do have some steel that comes in every now and again that I will either have to split the bundle or add some extra weight. The forklift has more power now than it ever has I no longer get stuck if the rear wheel drops off the driveway onto the grass and I have yet to run the battery out even though I am running it longer without charging than I ever did before. I have only had the new batteries for about 3 months so I will have to see if they stand up.