Not too many years ago, it was understood that forklift batteries were to be charged for 8 hours, cooled for 8 hours, & discharged for 8 hours. With the emergence of Fast Charge and Opportunity Charging technologies, a new paradigm is emerging.

Fast charge Battery technology is based on the idea that you can return 80% of the energy into a battery over 6 hours for a standard charger, 2 to 4 hours for an opportunity charger, and 1 to 2 hours for a fast charger. If you have lunch breaks and time between workers shifts to plug in your forklift, you can return close to the same amount of energy back into the battery as you take out, during these fast charge breaks.

This creates new challenges for fast charge batteries. Transferring energy creates heat. The higher the transfer rate equals higher heat. And heat can cook a battery. The newest charging technologies, including high frequency chargers, have sophisticated control systems that allow for the management of the heat buildup in the battery, thus reducing the possibility of harming your battery.

Green Battery Charging

Fast Charging of industrial batteries is poised to become a main stream charging technology due to the operational savings and the increased productivity and safety that this technology offers. These products will help you meet and exceed your “Green Project” expectations by reducing your companies Carbon Footprint while increasing your battery utilization and consuming less energy.

Presently there are three charging regimens that can be employed to charge a battery, namely conventional, opportunity and fast charging.

Conventional Charging:

With conventional charging, a battery is charged at a rate of 16-18A/100Ahrs and it takes an average of 8-10 to fully charge a battery. Resting or “cooling” the battery for an additional 8 hours then it is used over a shift. This practice typically occurs once a day. Conventional charging is ideal for single shift operations.

Call the Fast Charge Battery experts ~ 303.298.0522