I have a couple of old electric forklifts that I use occaisionally in my shop. One is a little walk behind unit that uses 2, 6V golf cart batteres. The other is a full size forklift that has a 36V, 750AH battery. The batteries in both are old, and have close to 0 capacity. (To use the bit forklift, we actually have the charger mounted up on the guard rack above the driver, and pretty much have to have the charger plugged in for 30 minutes before using the lift, and also plugged in WHILE using the lift. i.e. there is a 2nd person managing the extension cord when the lift is in use.)
So, I need to replace these batteries. I don't like Lead-acid batteries for these machines, as they often sit unused for months. When I do need them, I generally only need them for 15-30 minutes to move something around the shop. I don't know the actual peak current draw on either lift. (kinda hard to measure, especially now with crappy batteries.) So I'm thinking of using some smaller LiIon cells to get approximately the correct voltage. For the 36V pack, a set of 5 Leaf Modules may work (35V-42v) at 60Ah. I hope they can handle the peack current demand. Not sure what to use on the smaller 12v unit though. Suggestions? (for either) Note: on the full size forklift, I'll probably replace the 2000 lb battery with a stack of steel plates to keep the weight - needed to balance heavy loads. -- Bobcats and Cougars, oh my! http://john.casadelgato.com/Pets _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
