Reconditioned forklift batteries

verdigo
verdigo Solar Expert Posts: 428 ✭✭
Just wondering what kind of luck people are having with these reconditioned forklift batteries My Interstate golf cart batteries are hanging in there with good SGs at 3 years old, but have been cycled very little as my system is interactive, feeding the grid most of the time. I cycle them once every couple of months but not deeply even then. 

Comments

  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    I'd like to know what they do to "recondition" the batteries.
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've been to IBP in St Louis, I wish I had spent more time on what they actually do, but it's pretty impressive to walk across a @300 foot warehouse with Huge traction batteries stacked 3 - 4 high on racks.
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    My battery chemical experiment was an abject failure. Today I will ask for a refund after giving the chemicals a couple weeks to work. One cell showed a significant increase in SG....out of many.
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Thank you for letting us know Softdown.

    I always feel like Grinch who stole Christmas when I keep saying these battery chemicals (and desulfators) do not usually work.

    Nice to see somebody try and verify.

    Want to try a desulfator next? :#

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    I have tried electrical desulfation many times. Have had some success in bringing back batteries that got very low and cold over the winter. Think I estimated that the procedure may add an ~year to an abused battery. Not a scientific study however.

    Desulfation will continue to draw plenty of "hopers" I am sure. The logic seems appealing.


    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Johann
    Johann Solar Expert Posts: 245 ✭✭✭
    Electrical desulfators work, at leased I think so.  Well, I used one on a run-down forklift battery at work without a charger hooked up to it. In the first 20 minutes the voltage of the battery went up and stayed up without a charger.
    We got 2 years out of that dead battery, but I never got the full capacity back. Under load, It just did not last as long per day as the other batteries with the same load.

    3 weeks ago I resurrected another 24volt 800 ah battery from the grave with the same electrical desulfator. That battery was sitting almost 1 year unattended at a corner because the equipment was bad and the battery was still in the equipment. The voltage was 0.56 volts for a 24 volt nominal battery when I tested it and when I started to revive it.
    The battery is in use now and  the desulfator is still hooked up to it. The desulfator will stay hooked up for about 2-3 month total, I will see how the battery looks like after 2 month.

    I am not a battery guy and I know very little about batteries, but I think that those desulfators may actual work.
    If a battery / battery plate is damaged or if they have physical damage like broken or corroded plates or if they have an internal short, chemicals or those electrical desulfators will not work. Most folks just can not undo this kind of damage.