Battery management system for vehicle lifts

A vehicle lift system comprising:

• two or more portable lifts, each lift comprising—
• a power system for actuating said lift, wherein said power system comprises a hydraulic pump,
• a control system for controlling said power system,
• a height sensor,
• one or more batteries for providing electrical power to said power system, and
• a battery management system (BMS) configured to monitor data about said one or more batteries and to send the data to said control system, wherein said data includes voltages and current draws for said one or more batteries, wherein said BMS is configured to monitor voltages and current draws during charging and discharging of said one or more batteries when said one or more batteries are electrically connected to said hydraulic pump,
• wherein said two or more portable lifts are configured to be wirelessly synchronized to provide a coordinated lifting operation of a vehicle, wherein said two or more portable lifts are configured to maintain the vehicle in a substantially level orientation during the coordinated lifting operation,
• wherein upon performing the coordinated lifting operation, each lift is configured to determine, via the respective height sensor, a new height of the lift,
• wherein said control systems of said two or more portable lifts are configured to transmit data about their respective one or more batteries to each other,
• wherein said control systems of said two or more portable lifts are configured to determine, via said BMSs of said lifts, whether said one or more batteries of each lift has sufficient electrical power remaining to lower said vehicle from the new height after performing the coordinated lifting operation.

A method of using a vehicle lift system to raise a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing two or more lifts, each lift comprising—
• a power system for actuating said lift, wherein said power system comprises a hydraulic pump,
• a control system for controlling said power system,
• a height sensor,
• one or more batteries for providing electrical power to said power system, and
• a battery management system (BMS) configured to monitor data about said one or more batteries and send said data to said control system, wherein said BMS is configured to monitor voltages and current draws during charging and discharging of said one or more batteries when said one or more batteries are electrically connected to said hydraulic pump,
• wherein said control systems of said two or more lifts are configured to transmit data about their respective one or more batteries to each other;
• wirelessly synchronizing the two or more lifts,
• receiving an input indicative of an instruction to raise said vehicle;
• determining, via said BMSs of the lifts, whether said one or more batteries of each lift has sufficient electrical power remaining to lift said vehicle;
• and
• raising said vehicle by vertically actuating each of said lifts, wherein the two or more portable lifts are configured to maintain the vehicle in a substantially level orientation during said raising step;
• upon performing said raising step, determining, via the height sensors, a new height of the lifts;
• and
• determining, via the BMSs of the lifts, whether the one or more batteries of each lift has sufficient electrical power remaining to lower the vehicle after performing the coordinated lifting operation.