I think I learned just enough to ruin a good battery. I need more education. I am in possession of three 36 volt forklift batteries hoping to have enough good cells to make two batteries for two forklifts. They are identical but have never even seen a forklift battery before. I work professionally on high pressure boiler systems and hvac systems including cryogenic cooling for space applications (coatings on electronic boards). Trying to help a friend. I am keeping very well ventilated including fresh air continuous over open battery cells.

There is a problem with those deep cells when used in a static situation of stratification, where the acid concentrates at the bottom of the cell and the water at the top so the cells start to only hold part charge. You need to regularly run equalization charges where the cell bubbles vigorously but even then there is stratification I found that every six months or so it is a good idea to pick the batteries up and lay them over gently to one side then the other to keep the acid mixed. Much better to get cells which are more even in depth height and width.

Once I had succes with a sulfated motorcycle battery, it took no charge even after 14 days (still 2v) ! I told an Hongarian and he told me to add AKUVIT and so I did,and a few days later the same charge ( 0.5 A) it ended at 6.8V ! After two years this battery is still in working order. I think you can only buy AKUVIT in Hungary !

Thank you for great videos!

Hi the Connector at 4:14 is has corrosion ingress due to the rubber sheath being penetrated by a volt meter test probe (hence the hole).

I have a forklift battery that was at 7v (supposed to be 36v) because the battery was left plugged in for over 2 years. (wasn't me this time, lol) I started charging it up 6 cells at a time about a week ago. All cells were below .5v but they were all even. It's gonna need a little work but the forklift drives again. It was parked because the front hydraulics don't move, so I still have to figure that out.

Andy are you using the 6v or 12v setting on your charger for this set up? Assume 6v then taking this down using the variac?

I always just tighten the terminals enough that you can't move the cable . I mean if you really tried you could. especially if you move it the way the bolt loosens. there's no need to torque them down really tight. it only gives trouble later if you do. I'm thinking about maybe a reman batt. for my off grid home. I have up to 80 amps charging capability . at 24v I'm thinking maybe a pallet jack batt. or a fork lift batt. and parallel half the cells. question do you think balance charging helps de sulfate the plates ? I just don't know how good a reman batt can be. if its going to last a year or 10 years. every thing shuts off at 9.5-10.5 times 2 . so 19-21 volts but I try for 22-23v shut off. plus I have a small hydro set up. don't know what its going to do yet. potentially up to 25 amps. for now. I hope to double that about 2x. great info. thanks

Hello Andy, I have a question. I bought a forklift battery, 80v 775ah from a 2017 Jungheinrich truck. They read 2,06v when I bought it. I charged it up 12 and 12v with car charger, took over a week. Took the best cells, after resting for a week with no charge, those who read over 2,12v and had specific gravity over 1250. I put them in a 48v pack and connected to a solar system 8 × 280w with EAsun inverter. I called Jungheinrich and asked how much to charge voltage/cell, they said 2,70. My solar charger have max 58,4v, thats only about 2,45v/cell After discharging my battery to about 50% (1200specific gravity) for testing capacity some cloudy day came, and it didnt charge very well for a couple of days, then i connected it to the grid because I wanted to avoid sulfation. After some hours with charging with 58,4 v and 30a, the charger showed full on the display. I measured the specific gravity, and it was very uneven, some were 1200 and some were almost 1250. What is the best thing to do now? Love your videos, greetings from Norway

Hello Andy, The Variac is connected to the charger, why can't you connect the charger directly? Is it because of unstable Voltage or current? Some of my forklift cells are undercharged and i need to charge as you did separately. I am finding it hard to locate a 2.3v+ Charger that can be used to charge the acid batteries can you point me in the right direction, please? I am assuming you use the Variac to set the Voltage to 5v as you indicated and the charger seems to indicate only Ampage?

Hi, can you provide with the link for the video about the strength of acid in forklift batteries, you have so many videos. Thanks! Carlos

Near me, Scrapyard's want around £500 for an old forklift battery. It doesn't seam worth the cost

Good day Andy, I have a 200amp tall tubular battery 12v I only use them for a year than I saw the cell gauge in the batteries are down I want ahead and take all electrolyte out of the batteries instead of me adding a distilled water in it pls I don't know what to do help me

Hi Andy. Just wondering how to size the battery bank. If i were to want up to 6kW and retain the mAh rating how many mAh would i need in total? Can i draw up to 10% of the batteries mAh and still expect to get close to the rating? I would not draw 6kW continuously but i would like it to be no sweat for the battery bank when i am so as to avoid running the battery down quickly during those moments.

Hi Andy , my cells are the slim and very tall type , i have no idea of the AH of the cells as there are no markings of the pack , i tried using my 12 volt charger and a variac on 2 cells at a time , my old charger is a 12/24 and puts out a lot of amps when connected to 2 of the cells at a time even at 5 volts when on 12 volts , what would you recommend as a safe current going into the 2 cells at a time ? or should i try doing 4 at a time maybe to lower the current ? . cheers

.Hello Andy, do you have a book and do you have a book and do you have a book and if so, which one is it, which one is it? Thank you

Hi, your book 'wind and solar electricity' p124 shows a 2V drop tester. As far as I can find out in UK these were made by Durite who will not be making any more and they are out of stock. Do you know of any other source of these testers? Great book by the way!

Hier hat meine Batterie 1.200 auf Rot und die ganze Säure, die ich brauche

48v pack of lead acid Battery .we will be able to use epsom salt.beacause gravity is too low

Couldn’t use epoxy resin to seal the gap

I had a Bt cargo C3E ,48 V truck,15 yr old,1500 hr done . Recently, it had produced some error code 47 D4 47 1A It had just 3 Brandt new Cells replaced 2 weeks We have put in in full charge , [ 51v ] after that, on the dash board , it shows full charge . As soon as , we start using it 2 mins , it cut out .that 47.1A + 47.D4 came up,it drop to 46.4 V,but the dash board .it still show full charge !