Service manual

2023 Service Manual V1.0
11
11-5
BATTERY SYSTEM
BATTERY CABLES & TERMINALS
The battery cable connections must remain tight and corrosion free. In the event that the
battery cables or terminals become corroded follow accepted battery safety precautions,
disassemble and clean the terminals with a baking soda and water solution and a wire
brush, making sure not to get any INSIDE the battery. Once the terminals and cables are
clean and dry, inspect them thoroughly for any damage or signs of arcing or over-heating.
Replace and damaged cables, terminals or batteries. Reassemble the cables and batteries
and coat terminals and connections with a battery terminal protectant.
IMPORTANT NOTE! Make sure to apply the protectant AFTER the batteries and cables
are reassembled and tightened. Putting protectant on before assembly and tightening can
lead to a fire.
BATTERY TESTING
As a battery pack ages, the batteries will slowly loose their ability to accept and hold a
charge. This will usually be noticed by a decrease in run time of the machine. Neglected
batteries will “wear out” much faster than well-maintained batteries but give you similar
symptoms when they do fail. The proper way to check a battery pack’s condition is with a
battery discharge unit. To use the discharge unit make sure the batteries are maintained
properly and fully charged. Attach the discharge unit to the machines battery pack and turn
the machine on. Record your results and compare them to your battery’s rated capacity.
This will let you know how much capacity your battery pack has left. If you find through the
battery discharge meter that you have reduced capacity you can test each individual bat-
tery to find out if you have one bad battery or multiple bad batteries. To test each battery
you have 2 options, a hydrometer test or a load test.
Hydrometer test:
Use a hydrometer on each cell in the battery pack to check it’s specific gravity.
HYDROMETERS
There are 3 types of hydrometers typically available.
We do not recommend the floating ball type as they
are not very accurate and give minimal information
regarding the batteries condition. The traditional
“float type” hydrometer and the “EZ Red” or dial type
hydrometer give a numeric reading of each battery
cell’s state of charge.
FLOAT TYPE DIAL TYPE