Advance acoustic Adhancer 56316001(W32-C), Service Manual

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FORM NO. 56043111 - Adhancer
™
- 47
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
BATTERY MAINTENANCE WET CELL BATTERIES
Proper maintenance of electric vehicle batteries can greatly extend their life. Well-maintained batteries may last up to three years, but failure after one year is
common if maintenance has been poor.
There are three simple rules for good battery maintenance:
Maintain Proper Electrolyte Level (Weekly) - Use distilled water in batteries whenever possible. If batteries are discharged, add just enough water to cover the
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plates in each cell. If batteries are fully-charged, fi ll each cell to the bottom of the fi ller tube. Do not over fi ll the batteries! Do not add acid to batteries!
Keep the Batteries Charged (Weekly) - Batteries should be charged each time that a machine is used for more than one hour. Machine operators should open
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the battery compartment cover for charging to avoid a concentrated buildup of hydrogen gas. Operators should follow the instructions provided with their speci fi c
battery charger to determine how long the batteries should be charged. Even when a machine is stored, the batteries should be charged once a month to prevent
the batteries from “sulfating”. Almost all battery caps are vented, so there’s no need to loosen or remove them for charging.
Keep the Batteries Clean (Monthly) - Use a damp cloth to wipe dirt from the top of the batteries. Battery terminals must be clean and tight. If the tops of the
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batteries are wet after charging, the batteries have probably been over fi lled or overcharged. Note : If there is acid on the batteries, wash the tops of the batteries
with a solution of two tablespoons of baking soda to one quart/liter of water.
BATTERY TESTING
A battery problem is usually recognized by the machine operator as a decrease in the machine’s running time. This condition is usually caused by one or more “dead
cells” in the battery system - that is, one or more cells that are putting out less voltage than the other cells.
Note: Always charge batteries before testing.
There are two ways to fi nd a dead cell:
Use a hydrometer to check the speci fi c gravity (or “state of charge”) of the fl uid in each cell. A dead cell is one that reads 50 points (or more) lower than the other
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cells.
Use a voltmeter to check the voltage of each battery with the scrub and drive motors running. The battery with the dead cell will read 1 or 2 volts lower than the
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other batteries in the system.
If the batteries in the machine are more than one year old, it’s usually best to replace the whole set rather than replacing just one battery.