Batteries are used for many purposes. The largest number of batteries in place are the sealed batteries used in Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) attached to critical loads worldwide. The reason there are so many UPS’ and batteries is the universal need to keep company’s computers, data centers, medical equipment, instrumentation, and phones operating when utility power fails. Since companies make a large investment in UPS’ and generator systems they want to know and need to know the condition of their batteries at any given point in time. The battery is the weak link in the system and since there are multiple batteries in every UPS, it would be wise to keep an eye on them on a continual basis. It is impractical to have a technician on site full time, but not for a “virtual technician”. If there was a way to continually monitor each battery in a system, no matter the system’s size, complexity or location, most forward thinking operations, facilities, and IT managers would welcome the opportunity to have a large burden taken off their back. It would allow them to focus on other issues.
    Up to now there have been hardware and software systems available to monitor batteries locally. They can even be monitored remotely, but the burden to do so has always been on you, the customer. Most battery monitoring systems are expensive and the more costly systems require a complex and costly installation. Initially they become the new “toy” to help operations, but sooner or later they become another dreaded task. Who wants to watch a battery? Most of the time it’s just sitting there looking back. The time it needs to be watched is when it’s called upon to provide power. This is usually in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend. Even when a scheduled load test is conducted, the load used is a simulated load that is not the same as the non-linear load (your computer room). Every battery cannot be measured at the same point in time unless you have the same number of technicians with meters connected to every battery.
   The best way to test a battery is to have a monitoring system connected to each battery and collect data during an outage. This is a real life test. Every battery is tested at the same time with the load it is supposed to be supporting. When this system is connected to a remote call center and tied to a service contract for immediate response, the customer will have the assurance that any potential problem will not only be identified before it becomes a catastrophe, but a service response will be initiated before too much time has lapsed.
    By the way; another key benefit of the remote monitoring services is the knowledge of what battery has failed or needs attention. In most cases when a service call is initiated, the service engineer dispatched has to visit the site to first determine the problem, order the correct number of batteries in that system, and return at a later date to replace. Two visits and disruptions for you. With our remote service and the optional full service contract in place, there will be a service report generated for the field service engineer before he leaves for the site. He will arrive with the correct model and number of batteries. He will also know exactly which batteries in the string need to be replaced. The time to repair will be drastically reduced which means your system is up and running when he leaves rather than a week later.