Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

Fork truck help needed

(1/3) > >>

John Stevenson:
We have some clever guys and gals on this forum and many have big boys toys so here goes.

Got this Komatsu fork truck, battery / electric and it runs on 48 volts from 24 2V cells.
Charger is a Varta  but I've googles it and can't find any reference to fork truck chargers.

When I plug it in and switch on it reads L43 on the display which with time goes down as I was told that's how it works and has done in the past although i have only had this machine 3 months or so.

At the moment the battery indicator on the truck is flashing red so bunged it on change today and it got down to L25 last but one time I looked.
Just before knock off I went to switch it off and it was reading H 0 [ zero ] Uncoupled it and plugged the truck back in but still reading flashing red on the battery meter.

The batteries haven't seemed bad on this so suspect the charger.
4 toggle switches on the front with no idea what they are for but it only reads the L display in one mode so left it in that mode.

Anyone got any experience of these chargers ?

Second question.
I still have a 48v charger off the old truck which had the exact same batteries as seeing as it only charges the batteries off the truck as it were can't see why this charger won't work ?
Problem is it's the wrong stab in fitting if that's the correct term. Fitting is clearly marked + and - and the + cable has a bit of red tape round it but whilst pi$$ing about getting this fitting off so did the tape, so now got two heavy black leads.

Ok no sweat, stick a meter on the end and switch on ? 

No don't work, these must need to have the battery load on them before the charger will switch on. So what to do 50% chance I connect it wrong and blow the batteries.
I could climb up into the hay loft where it is, dig it out from 27496 years of accummlated junk and get the cover off in the hopes that the charger end of the cables is marked.

Any easier ways ?

Am I right in thinking that our own and famous Mr Wilson is a Fork Truck guru ?

awemawson:
John, can you put any other load on the charger leads, such as a DC motor or big rheostat to encourage it to switch on so you can positively identify their polarity ?

Years back I made up a 'dummy load' to test fork lift batteries from a roll of galvanised fencing wire wrapped on an asbestos flue and I reckon that would work as a load for your charger.

John Stevenson:
I've got next door cat locked in the workshop, will that do ?

I've got a big variac 250v in ??

awemawson:
It DC resistance is probably too low - measure it on an ordinary multimeter but I reckon it'll only be a few ohms

sparky961:
Heater elements are often a good choice for DC loads.  Watch out though, they'll heat up with use...  ;)

You can series or parallel a bunch if you can't find just one with a suitable resistance or rating.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page