forklift battery based system

Discussion in 'Off Grid Living' started by oil pan 4, Sep 4, 2018.


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  1. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    For $160 I got a new daka 24v, 255ah warehouse tug battery, it's too small at 561lb and not really 36 volt enough to be a real forklift battery.
    But chemistry and construction are the same.
    Some air force retard ordered the wrong battery for their forklift or tug and another airforce retard was like "let's hide our screwup by sending it to the scrap yard".
    Otherwise it's about a $1,000 battery.

    That's about 6.1kwh of battery, or about 3 kwh useable at a 6 hour discharge rate which means 42 amps of steady discharge, which is fairly substantial.


    I don't have any other 24v accessories besides a 24v 7 amp floor scrubber charger I bought last year at the same scrap yard for $3.
    I can hook my transformer tig or my alternator welder up to it to charge it since that 7 amp floor scrubber charger will barely float charge it. But at best that's a bad idea.

    I think I will pair it with a 24v 1,500w or 2,000w 120v pure sine inverter.

    Later on this may become my 24v water pump battery for the well house.
    Then give this battery it's own charge controller and solar panels.

    I have my 120v, 105 amp transformer tig on it charging it now.
    Turned all the way up its putting 30 amps out to the battery.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 4, 2018
    Mountainman, duane, BenP and 2 others like this.
  2. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    To bad we are so far apart... I would pay Good Bucks for such a good Battery... but the shipping would kill any deal even if it was free....
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  3. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    Yeah I'm in sunny, hurricane free, typhoon free, snow free 51 weeks of the year new Mexico.

    Oh yeah and those who don't know by back story everything is always for sale.
    If you are relatively close to 88101 and need it more than I do drop me a line.
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  4. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    Proof of life:
    1536104796506356376580.

    I have brought it up to float voltage at 28.8v at 20 amps with my welder.
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  5. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    I suggest for now you purchase a 24v Battery Charger.
    You will damage the battery with the welder charger system.
    Also purchase a Hydrometer, level sticks and battery thermometer and learn the "how to use the basic tools" to know exactly what the corrected charge is

    Finish rate is listed at 13 Amps, 20 Amps will damage that battery, heat and excess amperage kills batteries.
     
    Mountainman and sec_monkey like this.
  6. BenP

    BenP Monkey++

    Great find!
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  7. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Fork truck batteries are built to take punishment, vibration, discharge, rapid recharge, etc, and with a little care will last a long time. Degrade over time, but work well in my limited experience with them in fork lift trucks. Set up for charge, discharge, percent of charge, battery draw, etc, was all selected by the manufacturer and in our case they did it very well for a complete system. Not cheap, but no odor, no oxygen used, no dangerous explosive gases or liquids, weight helps stabilize the lift, works out very well.
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  8. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    I used welder just to get battery up to full power.
    I turned it off after it reached 29v at 17 amps. I only charged it for 2hr at most.
    I think the last time it was charged was at the deka warehouse.
    This isn't how I'm planning to charge it regularly.

    Forklift batteries are tough. The ones where I work regularly charge at 0.2 to 0.25 of C.
    Which for this battery means up to 64 amps.
    The only piece of machinery that could put out that much power is my alternator welder.
     
  9. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Paid a little attention to charger on fork truck battery, it plays all sorts of games in charge cycle, de sulfur charge, monitoring battery temps, etc and is not cheap. Using their charger, the batteries last, don't know just what happens, but can't knock success.
     
    sec_monkey and HK_User like this.
  10. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    _
     
    HK_User likes this.
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