What actually happens during the charge cycle of the forklift battery or traction battery?
Very simply put, the industrial battery charger takes AC power from the utility company, changes it to DC power, controls the DC power going into the battery, reverses the electro chemical process that occurred during the discharge cycle. The charger forces the acid that has penetrated into the plates during discharge back out into the electrolyte. There is a strong misconception that an oversized charger will simply recharge the battery properly in a shorter time period. A battery is designed to absorb a charge at a controlled rate. If it is charged at a faster rate, the energy that it cannot absorb is converted into heat. Cell temperatures rise, and the battery, in effect, “cooks in it’s own juices”. If the charger is not large enough to reverse the electro chemical reaction in the battery within the allotted time, some of the acid will remain in the plates. The battery will not perform in accordance with it’s ampere-hour rating capacity. More serious is the permanent loss of capacit
