Skyjack 6832 battery powered terrain scissor lift

[azshadeguy]

I have a 2008 sj6832 I know the batteries are weak. When I picked it up it would drive but very slowly.
I charged it up when it was on the trailer and drove it about half way to the back yard and it quit. I charged it up again and made it to the back yard. Charged it overnight and got it fully charged. Now it wont move or steer. It will go up and the
powered platform extender works. After I fully charged the batteries It tried to move but it seems that the brakes were locked. Then it quit responding to the joystick. It still goes up and down. Any suggestions?

 

[Delmer]

New batteries? Did you check the water level in the old ones? Check the connections? Charging, resting 24 hours or more after charging, and operating voltages?

You have the answer staring you straight in the face, don't be stupid and tear into the wiring or joystick.

You might not need to replace the batteries with identical ones, just keep the voltage the same and it will usually work. That is, you can usually substitute some used good batteries and get something like this to work. It won't have the working time, or the battery life that proper deep cycle batteries will have, which is fine if you don't use it to it's limits.

 

[azshadeguy]

, don't be stupid and tear into the wiring or joystick. /QUOTE]
How did you know that's what I would do . I did take the control box apart and tested the switch that makes it drive .
Any way I found out it won't move without the power platform extended. It has to be all the way retracted.
Now then it will move. Sometimes though the brakes will lock up. If I move the platform it will release the brakes

 

[azshadeguy]

This thing is weird. Some times it will lock up the brakes. Some times nothing will happen when I try to drive.
If I activate the platform or raise it it will reset and will work for a few times

 

[Delmer]

You got me. I think I'd still run a volt meter to see what the battery voltage is doing when you're operating it. if that's fine, then hook up a different volt meter to the brake release and see what voltage that is getting when they lock up. Divide your problem, and follow it until you find the source.

Actually sounds like you may have a bad platform position switch, or misadjustment of it's position. Or a bad wire if the lift is supposed to move regardless of platform position, and there IS NO platform position switch.

 

[MarshallPowerGen]

You have a meter? Even if the onboard charger says they're full, it can be a false positive since it's only maintaining the surface charge, but you need to check how the voltage maintains when you unplug it (if it takes a steep dive instantly).

A quick and dirty test is hook your meter to each battery and operate the platform up and see how far it drops. Good 6v batteries are usually around 1v drop raising, if one is off from the rest it'll drain the others.

Bad batteries will cause all kinds of weird issues. Check them out first and can go from there.

 

[azshadeguy]

batt 1- 6.25 v to 4.76 v
batt 2- 6.18 v to 4.78 v
batt 3- 6.16 v to 4.30 v
batt 4- 6.17 v to 4.38 v

These are the readings I got as I raised the platform

 

[MarshallPowerGen]

Is this from fully charged?
24.76vdc is a low starting point, and dropping to 18.22vdc immediately when you operate it is a big drop. You definitely need batteries, which might solve the issues you're having, or at worst give you a starting point if they don't.

 

[azshadeguy]

I am going to get new batteries.
I found a platform position switch on the power platform. The platform does not always touch it when retracted. Looks like an easy adjustment. I can make it work by pushing the switch with my hand. So thanks for all the help
One more thing while moving the lift yesterday. The ground is not level and one of the tires was off the ground and the tire was just spinning and the lift was not moving This is a 2 wheel drive so with one wheel off the ground the other wheel should have been moving the lift.
This machine is a 2008 and only has 72 hours of use

 

[MarshallPowerGen]

The ground is not level and one of the tires was off the ground and the tire was just spinning and the lift was not moving This is a 2 wheel drive so with one wheel off the ground the other wheel should have been moving the lift.

Pretty sure these operate like an open differential where the power is put to the wheel not getting traction. Had a couple of the 2wd electric Genies just float and spin when we hit a mix of hard pack and soft snow. End up having to rock them (or have someone hang off of the floating corner) to get them to grip and move.

 

[willie59]

I agree with MarshallPower, per battery, if you're dropping from a nominal 6V range to the 4V range just raising the platform, you're batteries are suspect.

 

[southernman13]

A better test for the batteries is put the meter on them and deadhead the steer function either direction. This will put a good load on them. Low voltage will make all kinds of things happen. You need to replace them with the correct size. This is part of the counterweight.