BTECH Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Why should I monitor my batteries? I already have a quarterly maintenance contract with my UPS or Battery Service Provider.

Answer: Your quarterly maintenance contract is not adequately protecting you. Batteries are inherently unpredictable and can fail in as little as two weeks, at any time in their life cycle. Monitoring protects your investment and your profits by making sure failures do not occur between service intervals.

Question: How does Battery Monitoring help me?

Answer: For the first time, you can detect impending battery failures before your backup system is affected! You will know in advance which batteries should be replaced and have the time to act accordingly.

Question: How Does Battery Monitoring Work?

Answer: The technique is actually very simple! BTECH places a sensing wiring harness over each of your batteries. Over this harness, we measure each individual battery cell voltage, impedance and temperature, plus current and voltage during a discharge. The data is stored in the monitoring system controller and analyzed with BTECH's software. The system can alert you of alarm conditions via e-mail, cell phone text message or your facility management system. By trending of the battery cell impedance from the baseline measurement when it was new, it is possible to correlate the impedance rise with the end of its service life.

Question: Doesn't my UPS or battery charger already monitor my batteries?

Answer: Your UPS or Charger cannot detect developing problems - your UPS system is at risk long before its alarms are tripped. UPS systems only monitor conditions on the whole battery bus, not individual battery health, and cannot detect failures in advance.

Question: Doesn't your system just add to my costs?

Answer: The battery monitoring system will reduce costs and save money. If the BTECH system eliminates just one battery system failure; you will save many thousands of dollars in potential lost revenue, data and productivity. The BTECH system will also allow you to prevent or reduce un-planned emergency visits, unnecessary testing (disruptive load bank testing etc.) and extra maintenance visits.

Question: Why should I install a Monitoring System if we can buy new batteries for just a small amount more?

Answer: Up to 3% of batteries fail during the warranty period, and you need some way to pick out the weak cells quickly before they affect your new system. Installing a new battery system does not reduce the risk of battery failure. A warranty is not the same as a performance guarantee.

Question: How does your system compare with other monitoring systems?

Answer: With unique, patented technology now and the largest installed base, BTECH is by far the world's leader. With over 4000 systems installed, we have the proven experience that's second to none. Download our Competitive Advantages sheet here and review our unique Technology.

Answers to Your Technical Questions

Question: Do you have any standard measurement data that can compare with S5's impedance data?

Answer: No, we do not have any independent measurement data on battery impedance. But what we have done is to verify our readings to several shunts of known resistance. The shunt value is known and we take a reading of the battery impedance and then we add the known shunt resistance in series with the battery. We then know that if our readings are correct the impedance should increase exactly by the known value of the shunt. We have verified this and by this method are within 0.5% accurate. Additionally, our measurements have been verified to be accurate with hand-held devices.

Question: What is the accuracy of measurements of impedance, voltage, and current of the battery?

Answer: The impedance accuracy is +/- 0.5% of full-scale impedance. (Full-scale impedance is a function of the load plate current that is used for a particular installation). The voltage accuracy is +/- 0.02 volts from 1 to 15 volts. The current accuracy is dependent on the type of sensor being used. The shunt will give +/- 0.2% of full-scale accuracy and the C.T. will be +/-2% of full-scale accuracy.

Question: We can use TCP/IP to access the remote sites. However, our office is equipped with VPN only. Any solution?

Answer: Most VPN solutions utilize TCP/IP by providing a tunnel for TCP/IP over TCP/IP so your office probably runs on TCP/IP. You can check with your IT staff or check what protocol your computer is setup to use in the Controller under Network Connections.

Question: All the measuring instruments undergo regular calibrations. What about with S5?

Answer: The units will be recalibrated during annual PM inspections. Calibrations are checked against actual readings with a simple voltmeter. A hand held current clamp can also be used and for impedance the method described in question #1 can be used to verify the readings.

Question: If a battery is determined bad by S5, how can we be sure that it really is bad? Is this a silly question?

Answer: Many technical papers have been written about impedance being a leading indicator of VRLA battery failure. The BTECH method is to remove the failing battery from the string before it is bad enough to affect the system's reliability. Please see this web page (www.cdtechno.com/custserv/pdf/7271.pdf) for a general discussion of battery impedance vs. capacity and VRLA maintenance requirements.

Question: Where does the criterion come from that a battery is gone dead when the internal impedance of a battery is over 120% of the initial impedance?

Answer: The assumption is made that the behavior of any battery that has a high impedance value is unpredictable. If you look at the graphs in the "Complete Guide" you can see that in general, once a battery's impedance starts to rise, it keeps rising until some point at which the battery could fail open. Because batteries have many failure modes and their failure points are determined somewhat by the load placed on them, it is impossible to state exactly at which point the battery has "gone dead".

Question: If we don't have initial impedance data of batteries (often, manufacturers do not release the initial impedance), is there any means to calculate or test the initial impedance data?

Answer: There is no way to calculate the initial impedance values. The way to start in this case is to measure the initial impedance from the actual batteries and use this is the baseline measurement. The monitor can be commanded to perform a set of impedance measurements when the battery is newly installed which will then be stored in memory as the initial impedance measurements.

Question: I have a portable impedance test unit, why should I buy your system?

Answer: A portable impedance test unit looks at the battery system as a snapshot in time. The BTECH BVS® watches a number of parameters and can send alarms 24/7 in addition to performing consistent measurements on a weekly basis without human intervention.

Question: How long should it take me to review the data?

Answer: It will take approx. 10 to 15 minutes per week per Battery Monitoring System to analyze and review the collected data.

Question: Why should I sign up for BTECH's NEVERFAIL Partnership Program?

Answer: It shifts the responsibility of reviewing and acting on the data from you to BTECH. We collect and analyze the battery measurement data and inform when action needs to be taken. Plus, we make sure your systems are in working order by including a yearly on-site visit.

Question: Each time I look at the voltage data from a unit it has significantly changed. Why?

Answer: Put a meter on that unit and observe the readings. The unit may be so bad that it is floating along with the bus. On a 12vdc unit, it can change by up to 5vdc and, as a result, the reported vdc can look a lot different from read to read!

Question: Can the Battery Monitoring System fix bad batteries?

Answer: No, it will only indicate units that may need to be replaced in advance of them failing.

Question: How often should the Battery Monitoring System be programmed to collect data?

Answer: The default standard is once per week for unit voltage and impedance, which is sufficient to prevent problems, although the system can be set to perform this reading daily. Temperature, bus voltage, discharge current and power supply to BVS® are monitored 24/7.