how do you charge a 24v system?

[The motor guy]

The charger went out on my scissor lift which has four 6v batteries connected in series. I want to charge them just using a standard 6v charger. Now with that being said, I have two questions:
1. Do I have to unhook them and charge them all separately?
2. Is unhooking them any different than a regular 12v battery? Do you just remove one cable at a time? negative first, then the positive side of the cable? Or do you unhook all the negative sides, then do the positives?

 

[97prizm]

Looks like you really need at least a 12v charger or a 24v charger for optimal results. I did find this online.
Yes, It's Possible. You will need a circuit[DC-DC Converter] in between, which will boost the voltage and then charge the battery in controlled manner.

 

[mk378]

A lift truck should have a plug that disconnects the battery pack from the rest of the machine. Unplug that first.

1. No, you can connect the charger clips to one battery individually, while it is still also connected in the series string. If you only have one charger, charge that battery fully then connect to the next one. Remove both charger clips before connecting them to the next battery so that you don't inadvertently expose the charger to more than its design voltage.

You can also charge them two at a time with a 12 volt charger. Use the first and the last set. For the first charge the minus of the charger will be on the wire that goes to minus of the truck, and plus of the charger to the jumper between the second and third batteries (the middle of the pack). Then disconnect both clips and run the second charge with plus of the charger on the same terminal as the wire that goes to plus of the truck, and minus of the charger to the jumper in the middle.

I have one of the 12/24 volt chargers that is commonly sold on Amazon for about $30 and it works really well on 24 volts. At only 5 amps it will take a considerable time to recharge from completely flat though.

2. When taking the pack apart to change all the batteries you can do that in any order but be careful not to cause a short circuit with your tools. Take pictures and/or notes of the physical arrangement and connection before starting.

 

[SHOZ]

.................

 

[The motor guy]

MK, that sounds confusing to me. Ok, so the positive of one battery goes to the negative of another. This is what confuses me. I'm just going to unhook them and charge them separately couples hours at a time for each one. SO, with that being said, can I just unhook one entire cable at a time? So unhook the negative first on one battery, then the positive side of that cable, then move onto the next cable and so on and so forth until all of them are unhooked?

Thanks, I'm only familiar with 12v batteries that are hooked in parallel. Not 6v batteries in series and I don't like it when they go boom. lol

 

[SHOZ]

You don't have to unhook any cables.

 

[Rmay635703]

If you have a string of 4x 6 volt batteries or a string of 2x 12 volt batteries…

If each 12 volt battery has accessible posts get a pair of preferably identical 12 volt chargers. And charge each battery individually with its own charger at the same time.

If you are dense buy a $3.99 harbor freight volt meter and check the voltage between the different posts so you don’t reverse connect or attach too many batteries/volts to your charger.


Yes you will have to share the middle post between the 2 chargers if you leave the bus bars in.

I like the 40 amp black and decker chargers for this and I’ve done it for decades.

Just remember that your onboard charger is likely a lot faster meaning it could take days to charge.

And if you don’t want to use individual chargers for each battery you will need a Schumacher 12/24/36/48/72 multi volt battery charger

 

[slacktide_bitog]

two 12V in series?

 

[Dave9]

Here's a crazy idea. Fix the charger or replace it. Life is too short for whatever disconnect and individual battery charging you'd have to do otherwise.

I know nothing of your charger, but I can tell you that the odds are that unless it saw a mains voltage surge, that the more probable fault is a transistor on the output. Someone with the background, and a multimeter, checking it, can figure this out.

 

[The motor guy]

You don't have to unhook any cables.

Can't I just hook it to one battery and let the charge spread to the other 3?

 

[eljefino]

Can't I just hook it to one battery and let the charge spread to the other 3?

No.

Go do some basic reading on "series" and "parallel" connections.

That said, fix the charger, you're dangerously underinformed, and it's dangerous what you're working with. The official charger will have safeguards you need, and will treat the batteries better than the janky stuff you're coming up with.

 

[Nick1994]

If you have a 6V charger, you'll have to unhook them and charge separately. However, it will probably take a long time to charge each one so be prepared.

If you were to hook up a couple in parallel and change, your charger may not have enough cowbell.

What's the model of your scissor lift/charger?

 

[Tomioka]

It probably has a DeltaQ charger built in that likes to take a dump. I'd use a forklift charger (w/ voltage autodetect) instead.

 

[The motor guy]

I'm thinking the charger may be acting up because it looks like it's got some corrosion on the wires where the ring terminals are, which is why I wanted to unhook them all. They had them wrapped with electrical tape. Keep in mind thus was a rental unit I bought, so it sat outside. Bet that's why the onboard charger runs for 30 minutes then continously restarts.

 

[The motor guy]

It probably has a DeltaQ charger built in that likes to take a dump. I'd use a forklift charger (w/ voltage autodetect) instead.

It's a skyjack 3219 with the skyjack on board charger. I'm just trying to charge them individually with a schumacher manual charger. 161827 is the number for the onboard charger

 

[SHOZ]

One 6v charger and 4-6v batteries. It will take awhile to charge all 4.

You can hook them in parallel to charge all 4 at once providing the charger is up to the amp output load. But they will charge unevenly so the last 20% should be done induvial batteries.

 

[The motor guy]

One 6v charger and 4-6v batteries. It will take awhile to charge all 4.

You can hook them in parallel to charge all 4 at once providing the charger is up to the amp output load. But they will charge unevenly so the last 20% should be done induvial batteries.

It's just a 6amp charger. I'd prefer to just charge each one for a couple hours, then move onto the next one. Give it enough charge to move it into my shop where I have power, then I'll work on changing out these corroded ring terminals, which I bet is the reason why the onboard charger runs for 20-30 minutes then restarts. It's just a hunch, though. I'm probably wasting my time and need a new charger.

 

[Chris142]

I recommend that you disconnect them all and charge 1 at a time. That's the safest way given the conditions

 

[The motor guy]

I recommend that you disconnect them all and charge 1 at a time. That's the safest way given the conditions

That's what I've done.

 

[meep]

my friend just bought a used lift with the same 4 series battery configuration. Chances are one battery is weaker than the rest. the big charger will have to kick on and off, that’s how they work. some of the batteries are topping off while others still need more. You can try to charge them individually and it will help but you’ll still be limping along.