Electric hive lifter Kaptarlift® TOP

01 · GRIP

One button to clamp, another to release

You set the jaws once to the width of your boxes, 1.5 cm off each side, and lock that setting with a wing nut. After that, at each hive you just press CLOSE: the actuator clamps with 1,200 N and a long beep tells you it has finished. OPEN releases the hive, and if the electrical system fails, an emergency cable releases the jaws by hand.

The FlexiGrip jaws, with 165 × 85 mm rubber faces, open from 38 to 58 cm and pivot to grip the hive on uneven ground, up to 20° out of level. They go one third of the way down the box from the top, so the hive does not pitch.

02 · MOVING HIVES

At dawn or dusk, with light to see where you grip

A hive is moved with its foragers inside: first thing in the morning or as evening falls, with the entrance closed and the stack strapped, because the jaws hold one box and the strap is what keeps the others together. That is exactly when light is short: the two upper lights illuminate the jaws and the lower one, the ground in front of the wheels.

03 · FROM APIARY TO VEHICLE

A motor to drive, a motor to lift

Travel is powered by a 400 W motor with a differential on both wheels, up to 6.5 km/h, with electronic reverse. Lifting is done by a 120 W motor driving the chain, which raises the hive from 0 to 107 cm in 11 seconds at full load.

Those 107 cm are measured from the ground to the fork, so the bed of the trailer or van has to sit below that. With the hive at that height, the lifter gets itself up onto the bed with the hive still gripped: it rests on the platform and the lift motor raises the wheels; once up, you turn it and set the hive down in its place. Fully raised it can tip over: always lift while stationary and with nobody underneath. The auxiliary fork takes up to 60 kg.

04 · BATTERY

Four hours of work, and the battery charges at home

The 24 V, 20 Ah lithium battery comes out and is charged separately, in about 6 hours, with the original charger. It gives about 4 hours of work moving and lifting hives, and the manufacturer rates it at around 400 cycles. Out of season it must be charged at least every three months: left uncharged for longer, it can be damaged for good. Store the machine somewhere dry, with the chain and rail greased.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Measure the side you will grip the box by: it has to be between 38 and 58 cm. Wooden Langstroth and Dadant boxes can be gripped on any side; some polystyrene boxes exceed 58 cm on the long side and are gripped on the short one. If you need more, the AWD opens up to 70 cm. The rubber bears vertically against the walls: if your boxes have handles or protruding rims right there, as some migratory hives do, send us a photo with measurements before ordering. The lifter is 73 cm wide and made to order.

▶ SEE IT IN ACTION