DC Velocity - August 2013

air and blow it over batteries and associat-
ed electrical components.

The best method of preventing humidi-ty-related corrosion is a simple one: keeping the battery tops as clean and dry as possible. Rubenzer of Storage Battery Systems also recommends fully insulated, bolt-on cables, which are less susceptible to mois-ture-related corrosion. Be sure, too, to keep high-frequency chargers away from wet or washdown areas, he says.

▪ “Parasitic” loads. Some integral devices and optional features, such as heaters, fans, and GPS, get their power from the same batteries that power the lift truck. While the energy draw of any one device may be low, a battery under such constant “parasitic” loads may require a refresh charge more frequently to counteract the higher battery self-discharge rate, says Sanders. This will negatively affect performance and life. To reduce or eliminate the need for refresh charges, be sure to use a battery with enough capacity to handle the total demand for an entire shift.

▪ Outdated chargers. Technological advances mean that today’s lift trucks— and the demands they place on batteries— are different from those of a decade ago. Yet many people who regularly update their forklifts have 10- or 15-year-old chargers, notes Amato. “Some of the outputs of those chargers have not kept up with the requirements of today’s battery,” he says. He recommends verifying that existing chargers are adequate for your current battery applications.

▪ Pushing loads, driving uphill, and heavy lifting. Regularly driving up inclines, pushing loads (long frowned upon by lift truck manufacturers), and high lifting of heavy loads can quickly drain batteries while placing physical strain on trucks. There is no adverse effect on battery service life, but the kilowatt-hour consumption is higher and the battery should be sized accordingly, Rubenzer says. If those activities occur daily, consider using the highest ampere-hour-capacity battery available, he adds.

THE POWER OF PREVENTION Lift truck batteries are designed to work for five years, or 1,500 to 1,800 cycles, assuming they are used and maintained correctly, says Vanasse. “If a battery doesn’t

last that long, then it’s probably your own fault,” he observes. That’s why the experts we consulted for this article agree that regular preventive maintenance (PM) is a must for maximizing battery life and performance.

Even fleet managers who scrupulously follow a PM schedule for their lift trucks may not do the same for batteries. But batteries are costly and they’re critical to an operation’s productivity, so there should be a regular PM schedule in place to make sure they’re getting cleaned, equalized, and watered appropriately, says PowerDesigners.

For many fleets, the most effective
way to do that is to use a battery
monitoring system that collects
data, issues alerts, and creates
reports on such things as cycles,
equalization, watering, tempera-
ture, and state of charge. “In the
past, you wouldn’t recognize a
problem with a battery until it was
too late,” says Spaar. “You could go a
year or more before seeing a fall-off
in performance. With the informa-
tion systems available now, you can
know the same day when somebody
didn’t water properly or overdis-
charged.”
In Vanasse’s view, monitoring
systems are invaluable tools for
both battery and fleet management.
“If you don’t measure and make use
of that data, you can’t improve any-
thing,” he says. Put that informa-
tion together with a preventive
maintenance program, and fleet
managers can take a much more
active role in extending the life of
their batteries. ;

Editor’s note: For a list of some providers of lift truck batteries and related products, go to www.dcveloci- ty.com/articles/20130722-battery- room-confidential/.