# 875 ah 24 volt forlift batteries



## dolinick (Feb 4, 2009)

I just brought home 2 1500 pound 24 volt forlkift batteries. Yes, I overloaded my poor pick up truck. I want to know how I can charge and or test them or refurbush them and put them to use. I am assuming they need distilled water added. I can see some of the cells appear to be low.

If these things can be made to hold a charge I think they may be perfect for my "off-grid" wind and solar powered cabin in the country. I currently only have a few 12 volt deep cycle marine type batteries and they won't run much more than a couple of lights and a radio.

The other use for these batteries if they are any good would be to mount them in my Taylor Dun electric truck. The thing is rated to carry 3000 pounds so I think I might be able to load one or both of these monsters in the middle of the truck.

I need to know an inexpensive way to charge these as well. If they were wired together in series could I simply use a 48 volt golf cart charger?

Dan


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

dolinick said:


> If they were wired together in series could I simply use a 48 volt golf cart charger?


Hi Dan,

At work our 36V forklift charger bit the dust. We've been using a golf cart charger for it. Not the best thing to do. Stresses the charger and takes a long time to charge and I'm guessing doesn't do a proper equalize on the big battery, but does work.

Charging the two 24s in series requires them to be equally discharged. Since they are flooded, if you overchage and lose h2o, you can always add it. Or, they probably have open tops where you can get to the cell connects. You could use a 12 volt charger on 6 cells.

Regards,

major


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## dolinick (Feb 4, 2009)

I went ahead and connected my 12 volt charger to the first six cells. It is set to the 6 amp rate. My charger also has a 2 amp rate and a 6 volt setting. It seems to be generating a lot of current and the wires are getting warm. This seems normal but I am not sure my little charger can take it.

I was wondering if I manage to charge both banks of six cells then if I split the connection between the two sides if I can or should use this 875 ah industrial battery in my 12 volt wind power system. I am hoping to improve my wind turbine and or add solar panels to the system soon.

Dan


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## aeroscott (Jan 5, 2008)

if you get good voltage but little capacity , I've found the + plates corroded away . you can rebuild by taking them apart and using - plates (2 sets of negative per cell). lots of work and you end up with one battery from two . the amp hours will be a little less then original . but these batteries are very long lasting and coast over 2000.00 .


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

To charge lead-acid batteries properly you really need a charger capable of delivering at least the C/10 rate in amps... so, either find a 90A charger or consign these batteries to a miserable life.

Depending on what you paid for the batteries in the first place, scrapping might not be such a bad option... The current price for drained lead-acid batteries (scrap metal category: RAINS) seems to be around $0.20 per pound.


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## TheAtomicAss (Feb 19, 2009)

dolinick said:


> I went ahead and connected my 12 volt charger to the first six cells. It is set to the 6 amp rate. My charger also has a 2 amp rate and a 6 volt setting. It seems to be generating a lot of current and the wires are getting warm. This seems normal but I am not sure my little charger can take it.


If the charger can take it for an hour without burning up at the hottest point of the day, (assuming you're garage is like mine, non-climate controlled), it'll take the abuse long term.

You'll probably have to leave it charging for about a week, though.


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## dolinick (Feb 4, 2009)

Well I have had six of the cells in one of my two forklift batteries hooked up to my 6 amp charger for a few days now. I filled the cells with water it took about a quart or more per cell. I don't know if that means they were dry or not because I don't know the capacity of the reservoir.

I don't have a good volt meter at the moment so I disconnected the charger and connected a 100watt inverter and plugged in a lamp. It worked so I know they have held some charge. The little charger still shows in the red or a high amount of current. I suppose I'll keep charging it for a few more days then switch to the other six cells in the battery.

oh, the battery is sitting on my front porch at the moment. It has been cool and rainy for a few days now. The charger feels warm to the touch but not hot. 

I only need 12 volts anyway so I suppose converting these if they have bad + plates would work well.

It seems like one or both could power that little electric truck (originally 36 volts) but I was thinking with my charge controller they might be well suited to use as a battery bank in my little cabin. I've been using a couple of 12 volt deep cycle (marine type) battieries connected to a wind turbine. It doesn't produce many amps though and the breeze isn't strong enough half the time to even turn the wind turbine.

The controller is supposed to be capable of an equalization stage as well.

Dan


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