subject: What Should I Look For In A Battery Lift? [print this page] When your forklift fleet isn't working, you are losing money. A high quality battery lift allows you install a freshly charged battery into a forklift with a minimum of downtime. However all lifts aren't created equal and you need to be sure to get the best product for the cost.
Ergonomic Design
Batteries are heavy, deceptively so since they are so dense. Workers trying to remove dead batteries from a forklift or install new ones run the risk of straining their backs or suffering other work-related injuries. A battery lift allows workers to manipulate the weight more easily and reduces the chance of injury.
The lift itself should be designed along good ergonomic principles. A badly designed battery lift simply replaces one source of potential injury with another. Workers shouldn't have to bend or twist to use them. In a large fleet, a worker might have to replace batteries many times per day and a seemingly harmless movement could easily lead to injuries when repeated day after day. The whole point is for the machine, not the worker, to take the strain.
Safety First
How secure are the batteries on the lift? As workers transport the batteries to and from storage, can the batteries shift? If batteries are free to bang against the structure of the battery lift or against each other, they may become damaged. Remember great weight means great momentum even at slow speeds, and there is a lot of force generated when a battery shifts. A damaged battery might have to be replaced.
Although shifting in the lift is bad, it's worse if the battery slides off the lift onto the floor or into a wall. Damage to the battery or the building structure is the smallest problem. A loose battery could easily injure a worker leading to lost production hours or even a lawsuit. The safety of your employees and your company is too important to trust to a cheaply made battery lift.
Invest In Quality Products
In our throwaway society of plastic parts and disposable electronics, quality construction is still important for many devices. A poorly constructed battery lift is not only a safety risk but is also a poor investment. These cheap lifts fall apart quickly and must be replaced long before a quality lift would be, ultimately costing your company more money.
The warranty says a lot about the company's faith in its products. Most of the components of the battery lift should be covered for one year or longer. Shorter warranties on wearable parts such as chains or wiring is acceptable, but if you have only a 90-day warranty on components such as welded parts you should be skeptical of the quality of the product.
A good battery lift saves your organization money by getting forklifts back on the line in less time. If you stick with a reliable manufacturer, your lift will give many years of service.
