How to Reconditioning Forklift Batteries

How To Recondition Forklift Batteries

“Learn how to bring forklift batteries back to life again.”

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Table of Contents Copyright ................................................................................................................................... 2 EZbatteryReconditioning.com Terms & Legal Disclaimer ........................................................... 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 Safety Precautions ..................................................................................................................... 9 Step 1 – Figure Out The Operating Voltage Of The Forklift Battery ...........................................11 Step 2 - Check if the Overall Battery Voltage Equals The Operating/Rated Voltage ..................12 Step 3 – Test Each Individual Battery Cell (1st way) ..................................................................14 Step 4 – Test Each Individual Battery Cell (2nd way) .................................................................16 Step 5 – Use a Hydrometer and Read The Gravity of Each Cell ...............................................19 Step 6 – Decide If The Forklift Battery Can Be Reconditioned Or Not .......................................22 Step 7 – Discharge The Battery and Prepare It For Reconditioning ..........................................23 Step 8 – Remove The Battery From The Forklift .......................................................................25 Step 9 – Remove Water Filler Caps and Fill Cells With Distilled Water (and optional Epsom salt) .................................................................................................................................................26 Optional But Recommended: Add a distilled water/Epsom salt solution to each cell instead of just distilled water ..................................................................................................................28 Step 10 – Put The Cell Water Filler Caps Back On And Remove The Terminal Covers ............31 Step 11 – Apply Baking Soda To The Battery and Battery Terminals ........................................32 Step 12 – Wet the Baking Soda ................................................................................................33 Step 13 – Scrub The Battery Terminals ....................................................................................34 Step 14 – Spray Off The Residue..............................................................................................35 Step 15 – Dry Off The Battery With a Rag.................................................................................36 Step 16 – Recharge The Battery ...............................................................................................37 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................38

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Introduction Forklift batteries are the large, heavy duty, and expensive batteries that power forklifts and pallet-jacks. Forklift batteries are also one of the best kept secrets in the renewable energy field because they make an incredible battery bank for offgrid and solar applications.

Forklift batteries, like car batteries, are lead-acid batteries. But unlike car batteries, they’re deep-cycle batteries, which is another reason they’re great for off-grid and solar applications.

Servicing and reconditioning forklift batteries is similar to servicing and reconditioning 12 volt automotive batteries but forklift batteries are larger, heavier, and require a couple extra reconditioning steps. A forklift battery also has multiple two volt cells connected together that make up the forklift battery. So when we recondition forklift batteries it’s almost like we are reconditioning each individual two volt cell in the forklift battery.

Forklift batteries must be stored in a fully charged state. They also require charging at least every 30 days to prevent sulfation. But unfortunately, forklift batteries take a while to recharge and most people that use these batteries do not follow proper charging practices; therefore, forklift batteries are typically in pretty bad shape when we first get called in to service them. Most people also don’t fill the batteries with distilled water regularly and they don’t clean the

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corrosion from the terminals – so most forklift batteries are also dried out and the terminals have corrosion all over them. For all of these reasons, many forklift batteries die well before their full lifespan.

So in this guide you will learn how to reverse these issues and recondition forklift batteries back to good working condition again. This information is incredibly valuable because forklift batteries cost thousands of dollars and just reconditioning and reusing one of these saves a lot of money.

Another benefit of learning forklift battery reconditioning is businesses with forklifts pay big bucks to people who can recondition and service their forklift batteries regularly. This saves businesses a lot of money because it greatly increases the lifespan of these expensive batteries. And while every business that uses a lot of forklift batteries needs a battery reconditioning/servicing person to regularly come in to service their batteries - not many people are in the battery reconditioning business. So there is a lot of opportunity here! You can learn more about this in our battery business guide if you’re interested.

Reconditioning forklift batteries comes down to proper cleaning, replacing fluids, and removing sulfation. You’ll only need simple tools and equipment for this job – most of which you may already own. Everything else can be found at local hardware stores and online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon. When we reference a specific part in this guide, we also link to where you can find that part online for your convenience.

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Safety Precautions Before we begin, we want to note a few safety precautions you must take while working on forklift batteries. As we already mentioned, forklift batteries are leadacid batteries and as the name suggests, a lead acid battery contains lead and acid. The plates inside the battery are created using lead and the liquid portion in the battery is nothing but a weak solution of sulfuric acid. Due to relatively low concentrations of sulfuric acid, the solution is considered weak. However, just because it is considered a “weak” sulfuric acid solution; this doesn’t mean it can’t harm you – because it can and you should use the following precautions when dealing with this solution and lead-acid batteries in general.

Your skin may burn if it touches the acid solution and if it’s spilled on your clothes, it will damage them. Because of this, you have to be extremely careful when dealing with lead acid batteries – especially when you open them up like we will be doing.

For the safety of your skin and clothes, you must wear gloves and a rubber apron.

You should also wear safety glasses at all times. The safety glasses that you should use must possess both front and side protection. In fact, we recommend taking it one step further and wearing a full-face shield.

You should work on the batteries in a well ventilated area. You must also avoid smoking around lead acid batteries, especially while you are charging them. It’s possible that an explosion could occur if the gas produced during charging gets in contact with the flames or the sparks of what you are smoking.

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That all sounds scary but in all the years or reconditioning forklift batteries we’ve never had any accident. Just be very careful and use common sense. If you’re not comfortable doing something or don’t understand it, don’t do it.

So now that you know how to stay safe when working with forklift batteries, let’s begin!...

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Step 1 – Figure Out The Operating Voltage Of The Forklift Battery The first thing we will do when reconditioning a forklift battery is take note of the operating voltage (i.e. rated voltage) of the battery. We are not actually testing what the current voltage of the battery is in this step; rather, we’re just looking up what the labeled voltage of the battery is so we know what we’re working with.

If the operating voltage is not written somewhere on the battery, you can count the water filler caps on the forklift battery and then multiply that number by two volts each. So that means: • 12 caps equals a 24 volt battery • 18 caps equals a 36 volt battery • 24 caps equals a 48 volt battery The forklift battery in the following example has 18 caps so it is a 36 volt forklift battery.

Description: The 18 caps on our forklift tell us it's a 36 volt battery

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Step 2 - Check if the Overall Battery Voltage Equals The Operating/Rated Voltage Next, take your multimeter and plug the black probe into COM and the red probe into mAVΩ. Then set the multimeter dial to DC voltage mode. Additionally, most multimeters are not auto-ranging so you will have to set the correct range for the voltage you think you will get. In our example we expect to get 36 volts; however, it’s possible for 2 volt cells to sometimes get up to 2.5 volts so we should set our multimeter to at least 45v (because 2.5v x 18 cells = 45v).

Next, place the red probe on the positive terminal of the battery and the black probe on the negative terminal of the battery and record the voltage (see the following example).

Description: Measuring the overall voltage of the forklift battery

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This reading should be about equal to the operating/rated voltage of the battery.

It’s even possible for it to be a little higher if the battery was just charged and has a surface charge that hasn’t gone away yet. But if the battery is charged and the overall voltage is lower than the rated voltage, then the battery has some cells that are weak.

In our previous example, our forklift battery is reading 32 volts, even though each cell should be 2 to 2.5 volts. That means the battery should be reading at least 36 volts. Because of this, we will test the individual cells in the next steps to see if the battery has any damaged cells. Most of the time we find that the forklift batteries we recondition don’t have a damaged/bad cell; instead, the battery has just been neglected and needs to be reconditioned (like we’ll show you how to do).

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Step 3 – Test Each Individual Battery Cell (1st way) To test each individual cell in the forklift battery, you’ll need to get out your multimeter again. This can be the same multimeter you used in the last step.

We will test each cell individually because we are looking for a bad cell. For example if all of the cells read about 2 volts but you find one cell that is 1.5 volts, it’s probably a bad/dead cell and this cell will continue to hinder the forklift batteries performance regardless of reconditioning.

So to test each cell, you can keep all of your multimeter’s settings the same as in the last step except change the range to something closer to (but higher than) 2.5 volts because the highest reading we expect to get for each cell is 2.5v.

Then touch the red probe on a cell’s positive terminal and the black probe on the negative terminal (of the same cell), like in the following example: *Note: your reading should be 2 to 2.5 volts.

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Description: Testing each forklift battery cell with a multimeter

Repeat this for each cell in the forklift battery. In our example above we will test 18 cells (so this test will be done 18 times). If all cells read at least 2v you can skip the next two steps and begin servicing and reconditioning the forklift battery.

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Step 4 – Test Each Individual Battery Cell (2nd way) If all of your cells were reading at least 2v in the last test you can skip this step (and the next step). But if not, or if you want a more accurate way to test each cell in the battery, you can also try this testing method. This method is more accurate than the last testing method and the next testing method (in the next step) is even more accurate than this one. However, these testing methods get progressively more difficult so only do these if you think it’s necessary or if you’re on the fence about a cell being dead or not.

For this next cell testing method, you’ll need your multimeter again, set to the same settings as the last step. You’ll also need some basic metal hangers that will be placed in the battery’s electrolyte liquid. The acid in the cells will eventually ruin metal. That’s why we want to use cheap clothes hanger wire instead of putting the actual multimeter probes in the electrolyte liquid.

To conduct this test, first cut a metal clothes hanger and straighten it out. The clothes hanger is then clipped to the multimeter probes. Next, remove the forklift battery’s water filler caps so you can access the inside of the battery. Many forklift batteries have a watering system connected to the water filler caps, so try and remove them all together so they’re easier to put back on later.

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To check the first cell’s voltage, place the red probe in the electrolyte liquid in one cell and place the black probe in the electrolyte liquid in the adjacent cell (like in the following example):

Description: Testing each individual cell's voltage

You should get a reading of at least 2 volts. You can see in our previous example, we are getting 2.1v. That means this cell is healthy.

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Then repeat this test for each cell in the battery. You can see us testing a different cell in the following example. Again, each cell should be at least 2 volts (possibly up to 2.5 volts).

Description: Continuing to test each individual cell's voltage in the forklift battery

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Step 5 – Use a Hydrometer and Read The Gravity of Each Cell Next we’ll show you a final way to test each battery cell in the forklift battery. This is the most accurate way to test each cell but probably the most advanced. For this step you’ll need a hydrometer. A battery hydrometer is a glass tube with a suction bulb at the end, which is used to draw up the electrolyte from inside each battery cell. Once the electrolyte is in the hydrometer tube it will give you a reading of the cell’s health by telling you what the gravity is.

Taking each cells gravity reading is a good way to check the health of each cell because when a lead-acid battery (like a forklift battery) is charged, the gravity increases because the sulfuric acid gets heavier. But as the state of charge of the battery gets lower when it’s discharged, the sulfuric acid binds to the plates and forms lead sulfate. This makes the density lower and therefore lowers the gravity.

So in this step, if we notice every cell gives us a gravity reading of over 1.2 on the hydrometer and only a single cell shows a 1.12, that means something is off and that cell is probably bad.

To conduct this hydrometer test, follow these steps: 1. Make sure the water filler caps are still off of the battery like we mentioned in the last step.

2. Take the hydrometer in your hand and squeeze the bulb prior to inserting it in the first cell.

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3. Next, place the tip of the hydrometer into one of the cells and release the bulb which will draw up some of the electrolyte liquid into the hydrometer.

Caution: During this step, you must be careful to not spill the electrolyte liquid, which can be quite dangerous.

4. After you draw up some of the liquid into the hydrometer’s tube, you will see a part inside the hydrometer begin to float.

Description: Conducting a hydrometer test

5. Hold the hydrometer steady and in a vertical position to get an accurate reading from this float. The float will have a few levels marked on it which indicate the gravity of the battery. This tells you the condition of each cell

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based on the condition of the electrolyte in the tube. Check how high the “liquid line” goes up the marks on the float to get the reading/figures.

6. After you get this reading, squeeze the bulb on the hydrometer so the liquid goes back into the cell.

7. Repeat this to test each of the forklift battery’s cells.

8. If you find out that a majority of the cells give you gravity readings of over 1.2 on the hydrometer and only a single cell shows a 1.12 or below, it will signify that the battery most likely has a bad cell.

Additionally, you can also check the condition of each cell by just looking at the level that the float sits in electrolyte fluid. Check the color according to the list below.

Floats towards the green

The cell is in good shape

Floats towards the white

The cell is in fair shape

Floats towards the red

The cell needs a charge

If you notice that the float sits much lower in the electrolyte fluid for one cell (in the “red” area) compared to all the other cells – this almost certainly means that this one cell is bad.

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Step 6 – Decide If The Forklift Battery Can Be Reconditioned Or Not Now that you have tested each cell in the forklift battery, you can decide if the battery can be reconditioned or not.

If the hydrometer readings were very low (in the white or red of the float), it is a good indicator that the battery has sulfated from poor care over the years – but this can be reversed often times with our reconditioning methods. On the other hand, if the cell tests read under two volts each, fully reconditioning the battery may be difficult.

But even if your tests indicate that the battery may not be fully restorable, it’s still worth trying our restoration techniques because they are extremely effective.

There have been many instances where we were able to get forklift batteries back to good working condition again even though we initially thought reconditioning wasn’t going to be possible. Forklift batteries are very expensive and the supplies needed for reconditioning are cheap, so in recent years we typically just go ahead and try to recondition the batteries even if we’re on the fence about a cell’s health.

However, where our previous three testing methods will really save you money is if you’re buying used forklift batteries to use yourself or so you can recondition and resell them. In this case, we advise that you do not buy an old forklift battery that has a potentially bad cell in case it’s damaged beyond repair.

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Step 7 – Discharge The Battery and Prepare It For Reconditioning Now that we’ve run through our tests and we’re ready to recondition the battery, discharge the battery to 80% of its labeled voltage. This is important, do NOT discharge that battery more than 80% of its labeled voltage.

To do this, you can simply place a load on the battery or leave the lights or electronics on in the forklift until it gets down to this 80% discharged state.

Some forklifts have monitors that tell you how low your battery is discharged. If the forklift does not have this, you can also take the battery’s voltage reading (like we taught you in Step 2) and use these figures: If you’re working with a 24 volt battery, the level of discharge and voltage are the following: • 80% discharged (almost dead): 23.52 volts • 70% discharged: 23.76 volts • 50% discharged: 24.24 volts • 30% discharged: 24.72 volts • 0% discharged (fully charged): 25.50 volts If you’re working with a 48 volt battery, the level of discharge and voltage are the following: • 80% discharged (almost dead): 47.04 volts

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• 70% discharged: 47.52 volts • 50% discharged: 48.48 volts • 30% discharged: 49.44 volts • 0% discharged (fully charged): 51.00 volts

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Step 8 – Remove The Battery From The Forklift Next, we recommend removing the forklift battery from the forklift. Check the forklift user’s manual for specific battery removal and maintenance instructions.

But keep in mind that a forklift battery can weigh up to several thousand pounds and may require heavy equipment to move. Often times industrial companies will already have the proper equipment to move the forklift batteries that you can use.

If moving the forklift battery is not practical you can technically still recondition the battery. You will just have to be a little more careful to not get residue and other things all over the forklift. Just be sure you’re in a well ventilated area and you use the precautions we talked about earlier in this guide, whether you move the battery or not.

Description: Forklift battery removed from the forklift

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Step 9 – Remove Water Filler Caps and Fill Cells With Distilled Water (and optional Epsom salt) Next, remove all of the water filler caps (if they’re not off from optional Steps 4 and 5). Some forklift batteries have automatic watering systems where the hose and caps are connected together. If this is the case, try to remove the hose and caps together so they’re easy to put back on later.

After the water filler caps are removed, look inside each opening to see if the water level is low. The water should be about a 1/2" above the top of the separators. If it’s lower than that, you will need to pour distilled water in the openings to fill each cell’s separator so there’s a 1/2” of water covering the separators.

So at this point you can either just add the distilled water OR you can do our recommended method and add a distilled water and Epsom salt solution to each cell that will help break down the sulfation in the battery. We will show you how to add just distilled water and also how to add this distilled water/Epsom salt solution to each cell in this step. You can decide which method you want to use but again, we recommend the distilled water/Epsom salt method because it works fantastic at breaking down sulfation.

First, we’ll show you how to just add distilled water to each cell.

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Pro Tip: Use a syringe to add the distilled water so you don’t make a mess and can accurately pour in the right amount of distilled water, like in the following example.

Description: Adding distilled water to each battery with a syringe

Additionally battery water typically contains a ratio of 30% sulfuric acid to 70% water. Because of this, we sometimes get asked if we recommend adding extra sulfuric acid to the battery during this step. We generally say NO to this unless the battery was actually tipped over and all the acid ran out. The reason for this is because while the water will go down in the battery; the chemicals that make the sulfuric acid are still in the battery (even if the water level is low). So when we add more distilled water in this step the sulfuric acid/water ratio should eventually fix itself.

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Optional But Recommended: Add a distilled water/Epsom salt solution to each cell instead of just distilled water Sulfation is one of the most common causes of lead acid battery failure. Over the years sulfation is caused by improper charging that results in sulfate crystal build up on the negative plates within the battery which affects the battery’s ability to properly accept a charge. However, we can add Epsom salt to the electrolyte of the forklift battery and it will help dissolve the buildup of lead sulfate on the plates. It will also boost the batteries overall performance.

We recommend you do this step now because it’s best to add the Epsom salt before we recharge the battery, and also because you can combine this step with when you add distilled water to the battery.

To add Epsom salt to the forklift battery, follow these steps: a.

Heat a half quart (16 ounces, 473 ml or two cups) of distilled water to almost 150°F (66°C). It must be hot enough to dissolve the Epsom salt.

b.

Take 250 grams or 8 to 9 ounces of Epsom salt and add it to this hot water. Now stir this solution until the Epsom salt is completely dissolved.

c.

(Optional Step) If the battery plates are fully covered with liquid and the battery has the appropriate level of electrolyte, then take away about Copyright © 2017 EZbatteryReconditioning.com · All Rights Reserved

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2.67 ounces (78.86 ml) from each cell so you can add this solution and not overfill each cell. To do this, draw up this liquid with a battery hydrometer or syringe. d.

Next, divide the half quart of Epsom salt solution into six equal parts.

Each part should be about 2.67 ounces (78.86 ml). Then add one part to each cell so each cell gets an equal amount of the solution.

Pro Tip: You can add the Epsom salt solution to the inside of the battery using a spoon and a small plastic funnel. You need to place the funnel in each of the six cells and make sure you put the same amount of Epsom salt solution into each cell. See the following example for a visual reference.

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Description: Adding a distilled water and Epsom salt solution to each forklift battery cell

e.

Then repeat the past steps and continue adding this solution to each of the forklift battery’s cells until they all have 2.67 ounces (78.86 ml) in them.

f.

After adding this 2.67 ounces (78.86 ml) solution to each cell, if the water level is still too low, add more distilled water so the plates are covered by about 1/2" of water (*Note: do not add more Epsom salt if you’ve already put in 2.67 ounces/78.86 ml).

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Step 10 – Put The Cell Water Filler Caps Back On And Remove The Terminal Covers The next step in forklift battery reconditioning is to clean the battery terminals.

To do this, we must first put the water filler caps back on the battery after we ensure the batteries are all filled to their proper levels (like we did in the last step). Then we must remove the covers over the battery terminals so the terminals are exposed. When you first take the covers off of the terminals you will probably see corrosion and the battery may be dirty like in the following example:

Description: After we remove the terminal covers, we see corrosion on the battery

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Step 11 – Apply Baking Soda To The Battery and Battery Terminals For the next step, sprinkle baking soda over the top of the forklift battery. You want most of the baking soda to be on the terminals but you can sprinkle some on top of the battery as well, like in the following example: *Note: this baking soda will help us get rid of the corrosion and clean the battery.

Description: Sprinkle baking soda over the top of the battery (adding most to the battery terminals)

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Step 12 – Wet the Baking Soda The next step is to wet the baking soda with clean water. Do not soak the baking soda or spray it off the battery. Instead create a baking soda and water solutions that we will use to help clean and neutralizes any acid on the battery in the next step.

While the baking soda should neutralize any acid on the battery, it is still important to wear protective clothing like an apron, gloves, and goggles. This will help protect against the highly corrosive battery acid and reduce risk of injury.

Description: Adding clean water to the baking soda on the forklift battery

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Step 13 – Scrub The Battery Terminals Now that we have a damp baking soda solution on the battery, we need to scrub the terminals with a soft to medium bristled brush (or a battery terminal cleaner).

This will help neutralize any acid on the battery and remove grime. If any residue remains, use dish detergent as an additional cleaning agent.

Description: Scrubbing the battery terminals with a battery terminal cleaner

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Step 14 – Spray Off The Residue The battery terminals should now be free of corrosion, so spray off the baking soda and residue with water.

Generally, we’ll just spray the battery with a hose like the following example:

Description: Spraying off the baking soda and battery residue with water

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Step 15 – Dry Off The Battery With a Rag You can then use a clean rag to dry off the top of the battery and remove any last residue.

After you do that, the battery should be clean and dry like this:

Description: Dry off the battery and remove any last residue so the battery is clean and dry

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Step 16 – Recharge The Battery After the battery is discharged, fluids are at good levels, corrosion is removed, the battery is cleaned up, the (optional) distilled water/Epsom salt solution is in the battery battling sulfation, it’s time to recharge the battery from the 80% discharged state we ran it down to earlier.

This recharging step should complete the reconditioning process and will roughly take eight hours.

Description: After reconditioning the forklift battery, it can be put back in service!

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Conclusion After you complete the last step and recharge the battery, it should be reconditioned and back to good working condition again. You can now put it back into service! Congratulations, you just saved thousands of dollars by doing this. Or if you’re the battery servicing person for a business, you just saved that business thousands of dollars and they’ll be a regular customer of yours for life!

Having An Issue After Reconditioning?

Our forklift battery reconditioning steps typically deliver dramatic results pretty quickly, but if after doing all of this you noticed the battery isn’t back to good working condition again, wait a week or two and see if it gets better. Sometimes it takes several weeks to really see the battery come back to life. The reason for this is because the steps we took to combat sulfation (like adding the Epsom salt solution) may take a while to really work on the battery and recondition it. So give it a few more weeks and you should notice your battery working great again.

Additionally, now that you’ve reconditioned the forklift battery, it’s important to properly care for it to avoid damage and to also maintain the battery for as long as possible.

Simple upkeep and care is easy and not time consuming at all – and if you’re reconditioning forklift batteries for other businesses, you can set-up monthly servicing agreements (which can be very profitable and a nice source of regular income).

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It’s important to know how and when to charge your battery. Unlike other batteries, forklift batteries last longer if they are charged as needed instead of daily. Wait to charge a forklift battery until it reaches close to the critical 80% level we discussed earlier in this guide, and then fully charge it.

An automatic charger with microprocessor control can help immensely. These help prevent improper charging and they detect when a charge is required and apply it accordingly.

Every five charges, check the water levels of your battery. The water level should be just high enough to cover the plates within the battery (about a 1/2" above the separator). A dry battery will become damaged quickly, so it is important to make sure that the water level is accurate. If you find that the water level is low, add distilled water like we showed how to do earlier in this guide. Remember though, do NOT fill the cells completely to the top, as the space at the top is needed for gas expansion during use.

Furthermore, clean batteries last longer, and any overflow from the battery should be cleaned up immediately. It is also a good idea to rinse the battery every six months or so, to help prevent residue build-up on the terminals.

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With the forklift battery reconditioning steps we covered in this guide, your old forklift battery should be reconditioned and working great again! After you recondition the battery, use the maintenance and care tips we just discussed and your forklift battery will have a very long and productive 2nd life!

Happy Battery Reconditioning, Tom Ericson and the EZ Battery Reconditioning Team

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