'C' or 'D' Type Motor Rated Breakers

All our lifts designed and manufactured for use in Domestic Garages and Workshops are supplied with a 2.2KW Single Phase Electric Motor to drive the Hydraulic Pump.

The vast majority of car lifts do not employ a "Soft-Start" mechanism to mitigate surge currents when the "UP" button is first pressed.

The power supply to your workshop will have fuses or circuit breakers (often called miniature circuit breakers, MCBs), which are rated in Amps for a given voltage. A circuit breaker is a resettable electro-mechanical switch that automatically trips if the current through it exceeds a preset threshold. Because its core component is a thermal or magnetic operated device it can accept an overcurrent situation for a pre-determined length of time. Most modern domestic premises will have "Resistive",  'A' or 'B' type circuit breakers installed, these will trip quite rapidly in an overcurrent situation. 

As Car Lifts are industrial items they will draw overcurrent at start up for somewhat longer than average Domestic equipment, for this reason a motor rated circuit breaker should be installed throughout the circuit that feeds the workshop:  an "Inductive" 'C' or  'D' rated breaker will be necessary to ensure that the board doesn't trip every time the lift is used!

All electrical work should follow the safety standards in BS 7671 (the 'wiring regulations') which can be found on the British Standards Institute (BSI) website. 

All Strongman Tools Single Phase Lifts must employ a suitable 16A Motor Rated Breaker in the supply.

Rubber Lifting Blocks

Rubber Lifting Blocks are used to protect the underside of a vehicle when it is raised, wheels-free, on either a Scissor Lift, 2-Post Lift or the Jacking Beam of a 4 Post Lift.

Following incidents of lift failure and occasions when vehicles have fallen from 2-Post Lifts the Health & Safety Executive reinforce what manufacturers have been saying all along - namely

This instruction must be followed to avoid damage to Car Lifts: 

• A Scissor Lift must ideally be raised at least 150mm off the ground before taking full vehicle load load.

• Only use the rubber blocks supplied with, or recommended by the manufacturer, with the lift

Never use wooden blocks between the bed of a car lift and the chassis or sill of the vehicle being raised.

We supply 30mm blocks for use with Sports Cars and other particularly low vehicles.

Hydraulic Oil

The single most important factor in determining the best choice of hydraulic fluid to use is viscosity, otherwise known as the fluid's weight. Viscosity is also most often expressed as the fluids ISO number or grade. 

It is recommended that a proper hydraulic fluid is used as these fluids do not contain harmful additives that can cause damage to components, and are designed to work within a specific temperature range. 

Higher viscosity hydraulic fluid tend to reduce the system's operating temperature by increasing the volumetric efficiency of the pump. If the viscosity is too high, however, this will cause poor mechanical efficiency by increasing friction during start-up which may lead to cavitation. 

Finding the right ISO grade that balances the benefits of volumetric efficiency against the drawbacks of mechanical efficiency is the key to a good long term oil choice. Ultimately the manufacturer of the equipment will specify the most apt oil for their machinery.

We recommend ISO 32 as a year round hydraulic oil suitable for all our Vehicle Lifts that employ a 2.2KW motor to drive the pump. Our equipment typically operates at 25 Mpa.

In hotter climates, or during prolonged periods of hot weather, consideration of the use of ISO 46 grade oil may be given.

Engineering and Technical Support

We're pleased to provide users with information, hints and tips on the use and maintenance of their Strongman Tools Vehicle Lifts.

Please call us on 01926 453047 or visit www.strongmantools.co.uk or www.strongmandirect.co.uk for further information