Watering your forklift battery is an important step to your forklift maintenance routine. If you put in too little water, you run the risk of overheating your battery— add too much water and the water could overflow during the charging cycle.
Proper watering methods are vital to keep forklift batteries working throughout their full life expectancy. However, this type of forklift battery maintenance can start to become a heavy expensive if your forklift battery becomes damaged from over or under-watering. That’s why investing in a Hawker WATER LESS Battery may be a suitable solution for your warehouse budget.
Here are 3 benefits using a water less forklift battery provides to your forklift operations.
#1 Solid Performance
Reducing your forklift battery maintenance doesn’t mean you have to compromise on performance. The Hawker WATER LESS Battery requires no additional counterweight, can be maintained on a quarterly preventative maintenance plan, and provides the full performance of a flooded battery:
- Full capacity: The water less forklift battery offers full 85, 100, and 125 amp hour (AH) capacities.
- Long life cycle: A water less forklift battery maintains an estimated cycle life of 1,500-2,000 cycles based on one cycle per day and a depth of discharge (DoD) of 80%.
- Application: Waterless forklift batteries can be used for both medium and heavy applications.
#2 Reduced Expenses
Using a water less forklift battery is the preferred solution for customers wanting to reduce watering issues and maintenance costs without needing to sacrifice forklift batteries run time or life cycles. Valve-regulated forklift batteries, though environmentally friendly, cost you extra in terms of reduced life cycle, lost capacity, and higher initial cost–in addition to needing a special charger.
Hawker WATER LESS batteries are made with grid metallurgy, special water-saving sleeve separator material, and vent caps designed to minimize water loss. This results in water less forklift batteries requiring watering only 4 to 6 times per year, instead of the weekly and bi-weekly watering for standard forklift batteries.
With far less waterings, this reduces the risk of over/under watering regular forklift batteries that could lead to acid leaks and sulfate buildup—two things that greatly reduce a battery’s useful life. In fact, it’s estimated that customers save almost 90% or more on their watering expenses with water less forklift batteries.
#3 Reduced Forklift Battery Maintenance
Forklift battery maintenance and charging mistakes can deal a heavy blow to your warehouse budget. Besides actively monitoring the next time a forklift battery needs to be watered, you also have to be aware of the amount of charge cycles being performed and that you don’t plug in a charger into a battery with an inappropriate charging voltage.
All these mistakes cost you time and money, and puts employee safety at risk. With a Hawker WATER LESS Battery:
- There is less gassing: One of the hazards in overcharging forklift batteries is excessive gassing. Some gassing naturally occurs when charging, but an overcharged lead acid battery can overheat the electrolyte solution, increasing the pressure inside the battery that could potentially lead to an explosion. Waterless forklift batteries start gassing later in the charge cycle and does not gas as heavy to mix the acid with electrolyte. Even if your battery is watered before the scheduled charging interval, the battery’s performance will not be affected.
- No special charger is required: Unlike other standard forklift batteries, water less forklift batteries do not need a special charger. They can go through a full-charge cycle using any standard industrial charger.
- You receive a better maintenance plan: Poor preventative maintenance strategies and charging mistakes increase downtime and add unnecessary, expensive repair costs to your warehouse budget. When you use a water less forklift battery, your Hawker dealer can arrange a comprehensive, programmed maintenance agreement, which can even include watering your batteries.
A water less forklift battery is your best solution to reduce your annual cost of ownership on forklift batteries. Hawker WATER LESS batteries are economical to own, environmentally friendly, deliver more capacity, and have a longer life cycle.
Southern States Enterprises is a proud partner of Hawker Power Source. Their level of performance and reliability are unmatched in the motive power industry. If you are looking to purchase a Hawker WATER LESS Battery, or are interested in our other industrial battery models and charging accessories, speak to one of our trained motive power representatives today!
