The forklift battery might be the most important piece of equipment in your entire warehouse. Without proper forklift battery maintenance and battery fleet management, your forklifts won’t operate at their top performance or efficiency, bringing down your overall warehouse efficiency in the process.
One of the best ways to ensure your forklift batteries are working to the best of their capacity? Taking the proper procedures and forklift battery management steps to ensure their lifespans are as long as possible.
Ideally, each of your warehouse’s forklift batteries should have a lifespan of approximately 6,000 hours — or about 1,500 charge cycles. To make sure your forklift batteries last this long, follow these three tips:
Charge the batteries correctly every time
All personnel should be aware of the importance of placing a forklift battery on a full eight-hour charge after each day of use. Keep fast charges — which are around 30 minutes — to a minimum, as these can cause the battery’s lifespan to decrease. And remember — batteries should never be operated below a 20% charge, as this can lead to overheating and damage to both the battery and the forklift!
Remember the importance of forklift battery watering
All forklift batteries must be watered after each full charge to restore electrolytes to the battery and prevent it from overheating while in use. Personnel must only use distilled water free of any minerals when watering forklift batteries, and they should only fill the water up to the perforated line inside the battery.
Regularly perform the forklift battery washing procedure
About once a year, each forklift battery should be washed to keep it free of debris and buildup. This buildup, which is a sulfuric substance that cakes around the battery’s plugs, hinders the battery from being charged and from holding onto that charge. Because of this, forklift battery washing is vital.
Have any other questions for us regarding forklift battery washing and other procedures? Ask us by leaving a comment below. Learn more about this topic here. Good references here.
