Anyone ever scrap a forklift battery charger?

Picked up a Hobart Accucharger last week. Its a 36v forklift battery charger and man is it heavy - close to 300lbs.

If it works I'm going to sell it intact on ebay or CL, but I started to think - this thing must have a huge transformer inside?

One way to find out would be to remove the cover and look.

battery chargers are almost as good as welders for copper yield

I've never opened one up, but we have a bunch at work and i would guarantee that the copper yield would be pretty good. The charger cord alone is prob like 1 or 2/0 cable. Find out if it works first though like you said...but if it doesn't, you still have a decent upside with it. Nice find.

we scrapped a little pull around one about 2 foot tall a while back sears i think it was, the transformer was a little smaller than a dryer motor really heavy i just wished i had seen the hatchet video

Been trying to find a parts schematic with no luck. If it doesn't power up I'll have to tear it open. I've never done a welder/charger/large motor before.

Ironpirate take it up on your roof and drop it on the concrete repeat till it pops open and you will find out jk. Tear that mothersucker apart and find out whats in worst case is its not what you think it is hopefully you didn't pay much for it though. I heard there might be gold inside of them.

theres gold in everything we just gotta learn how to find it

the "gold" in there will definitely be the copper

Out of curiosity, I checked yesterday and it is 2/0 cable coming from the charger. As far as the inside, I would imagine a pretty good sized transformer just because of the amount of power this thing supplies (among several other things). However, the real reason I'm posting once again is that I'm pretty sure that it has a capacitor in it....and a substantial one at that! 36v 420a is not something you want to come near. So.....if you test it and find that it doesn't work, let it sit for a few weeks before attempting to tear into that sucker.

we picked up about a dozen a couple years back and just sold them out right as electric motors

I also got a pair of Lestronic golf cart chargers. Had to go online for the diagnostics manual as I've never used one before. The first one I tested wouldn't power on, but turns out they have a timing circuit built into the transformer that delays the charging cycle for several seconds once it detects battery voltage. Kind of an idiot proof thing.

The manual shows how to bypass the timer to test the system and voila! it works. Going to resell this one, but the transformer inside is at least 30lbs for reference.

Going to work on the forklift charger tomorrow.

working for electric forklift company i do these on a daily basis

Originally Posted by wescrapmetal

working for electric forklift company i do these on a daily basis

Some info with this post??? ;-)

have 3 to do so im gonna take some pictures the ones i have right now are only small 24v ones tho

Cool wes! Pics are always nice.

Originally Posted by skylinejackjr

Be careful saying that around here. You just might end up needing some serious eye wash!!

LMAO! I sincerely hope no one would read too much into that on a scrap forum, although nothing would surprise me nowadays....I digress....and addendum to post, pics "of the dismantling, breaking down and maximizing scrap of the battery charger" would be nice.