first you need to know the recommended specific gravity of you battery cells since some manufacturers are higher than others.
once the acid is adjusted you will need to determine the amount of draw needed for your battery.

example 18-85-23 model battery
23 minus 1 = 22 then divide by 2 = 11
85 x 11=935 Ah capacity
935 divided by 6 = 155 amps of draw needed for a 6 hr test
The 6 hour capacity test is actually 4 hrs and 45 mins
take static voltage reading at 8 am and then start the 155 amp draw on the battery take readings again at 9, 10, 11 12, 12:30 and 12:45 any cell below 1.70 v is considered bad.

177 minutes = 2.95 hours
2.95 hours X 80 amps = 236 amp hours

That's the capacity of your battery now. Check what is stamped on the battery to see what it was when new. Most 3000 pound forklifts with 36 volt batteries are about 600-700, so your battery is not so good and probably only run the forklift for 2 hours.

What Raul told me is that there is not convenient to get battery refreshed because of sooner you will have to get a new one and, most of the times trying to do so is just to get an economic customer advantage.

meanwhile what I do tell you is tha we are in battery busniess and we had a list of customer we catch along time.

I really appreciate your information about part number of items required to get it done.


Thank you all,

Luis

hi,
TVH number for the drill bit (called a "reamer") is 106TA8984. you can contact TVH at wwwDOTtvhDOTbe and you may find it worthwhile to look at their full line of battery servicing equipment if you are in the business of servicing batteries. don't forget personal protective equipment like neoprene gloves and apron, face shield, ventilation equipment and emergency shower and eyewash station to protect you from accidental contact with acid!

hi,
since raul replied to you i n spanish i can't know whether i am repeating information he has already shared, but I can tell you that the special drilling bit is available from SMH parts (www.smhco.com) i believe you need an account to buy parts from them if you do not have an authorised dealer in your area. I try to avoid battery repairs myself, preferring to call in an o/s supplier. If you want to hang on a bit I will get the make model and serial number of the electronic tester we have and the part number of the post drill bit from SMH or TVH if I can find it.

Luis, en las baterias lo mejor no es "repararlas" o "volverlas a la vida", este tipo de practicas solo es para sacar dinero a los clientes que creen que es lo mejor por hacer en las baterias, cuando al final deberas comprar una nueva en poco tiempo, y para ese entonces lo que gastaste en "reparacion" es lo que aumento la nueva, por lo que tendras que hacer doble gasto inecesariamente, es decir el precio del plomo sube muy facil y por consiguiente el de la bateria, por lo que siempre es mejor comprar una nueva que darle un "levanton" a la que se tiene y te durara "bien" a lo mucho de 3 a 6 meses. lo que hacen la mayoria al "reparar" la bateria es drenarle el acido y volver a meterle "nuevo" pero con una densidad mayor a la que requiere.
los que abren las celdas lo unico que hacen es reemplazar los aislantes pero quedando en entredicho lo bien que pudieran quedad, y en el mejor de los casos no habra problemas en un año y medio
en el peor no duraran mas de una semana pero la constante siempre es, que desechan la bateria y se compran una nueva.

si tu deseo es comprar lo necesario para arreglar baterias, te recomiendo que vayas con algun distribuidor de montacargas , cualquiera de ellos te podra vender lo necesario para esas tareas o ir a Enersys ahi en Mty. y ellos te podran asesorar con la compra o venta de el herramental para ese tipo de negocio.

saludos.

Hi,

First of all thaks for your orientation about it, I would like to tell that we are in battery business at the first starting business we had someone to do battery test, now, time has changed and myself must to perform it. I can drive this topic in two sections theorical and practical ones.

Theorical one -

What I do know is that battery discharge must reach 80% of nominal voltage in order to avoid battery damage, i.e. 36 V battery will be 28.8 VCD between positive and negative pole, which means 1.6 VCD in each cell. good point you make me remarkable is to take voltage and SG readings to get a battery cells reference ( I will do further).

From your lines I understood that cells are damage if they reach 1.6 VCD along battery deliver power which means any cell above it will work fine.

Questions:

1. what to do about Amps will drain the forklift in an operational condition vs. battery power to expect the worling time in a battery tested? or what is the way to calculated it?

2. i.e. I charged fully a battery and then I discharged it using a electronic discharger , after 177.44 minutes draining 80 Amps(constant current draining) it stopped. what to do in order to know the battery lasting time in a operational condition if the machine is not a constant current device?

Note: Battery dicharger we have will stop automatically at 240 minutes or when cells reached 1.75 VCD.

Hands on -

in a scheme I had to have to change a cell -
1. Do you know where I can find the driller bit for posts? also, we will need the cable terminal molds which will attach in the cell post, do you know where to get them? do we need to make them in a machinary shop? if we so, Do you know the molds specs to go to the shop with it?

All above is what I got when a battery thechnician worked with us.

Let me know what we will go next to get batterry well tested and/or try to get them back in working life.

Kind regards,

Luis

When I do a field battery test, I count the number of cells and write them down on a piece of paper in a column. I remove every plastic jumper cover. This is so when I test with a meter, that i will be sure to break through any corrosion to get to the metal. I make three more columns on the paper, which are: state of charge (V), loaded volts (V), and specific gravity. I start with measuring latent voltage across the cell to which the positive cable is connected (cell 1) and work my way along the jumper path towards the negative cable. I take SG readings in the same fashion, noting each reading in the column. Then I take loaded voltage readings by deadheading the lift until the voltage reading stabilises, then recording that voltage.

I prefer a fully charged and rested battery to measure just under 2.2V, SG to read 1.260/1.270, and loaded voltage to drop to about 2 or just under 2V. An older or tired battery can have slightly lower readings, but what you want to watch for is consistency across all cells. If you have a few bad apples in an otherwise strong battery, by all means go ahead and replace them. However, if you cant get even the good cells up past 1.9V after a charge and it drops to like 1.6 under load, any new cells you put in it will just burn up; time to retire the whole assembly.

A more advanced method of testing a battery involves use of an electronic load tester that will take the battery through a whole cycle and tell you how it performs through that cycle. this will tell you whether you have a good 6 hr battery or if you can only get 4 hrs or less out of a full charge. These testers are extremely expensive and only practical to buy if you are in the battery business.

Luis - my suggestion to you is leave the battery testing & repairs to the battery & charger dealers who are trained to do this type of work. You will only get yourself in to a lot of trouble trying to save a few pesos & end up destroying a possible good or at least salvegable battery and waste a lot of time & more many more neuvo pesos doing it. Leave it to to the experts - it really doesn't cost that much.
For example, if you do not correctly acid balance the electrolyte in the cell you will destroy the cell, or cells, if the connector are not installed properly you will destroy the cells. Also to check the batteries health it takes about three days to do it properly. Don't think this forum would be a good place to get training on how to do it - too many liability issues w/over the internet training especially with an item that has acid & can blow up.