1.) “Continuous state-of-health battery monitoring is too expensive.”  Have you done any research in the past 3-5 years?  If you believe a comprehensive BMS costs more than a fraction of the cost of your battery string, you have gotten quotes from the wrong battery monitoring company.  By fraction, I mean less than 40%.  Probably more in the 30% range.  Maybe less than that.  Want to know the actual percentage? Contact BatteryDAQ for a quotation.

I’m not even including the operational cost savings, and the recovery expense savings from loss of data and/or, heaven forbid, thermal runaway.

When I state in the 30% range, I’m talking solely about the investment you will make in a comprehensive BMS to monitor your entire string of batteries. If that is too expensive, stop reading.  You are not interested in properly maintaining your batteries.

2.) “I have technicians for that” or, “I don’t want to lay off any technicians”
I have never met a technician who believes their workload isn’t increasing.  Companies are constantly placing more on technician’s plates, and they accept it graciously.  Additionally, I have never had a director tell me their technicians are in danger of being laid off.  In fact, directors lament their inability to attract qualified technicians for the immense and growing duties they perform.

You know what? Touching batteries is hazardous if not done by a qualified technician, and limiting their exposure to hard to reach battery strings and freeing them up for other services seems a sound and employee-centric thing to do.

If you don’t believe your technicians would benefit from not touching batteries, stop reading. You are not interested in properly maintaining your batteries.

3.) “My (insert product here) vendor tells me they can provide battery monitoring with their (insert product here), free of charge.  Can you beat free of charge?”

If you believe a throw-in BMS will provide what you need, stop reading.  You are not interested in properly maintaining your batteries.

4.) “The BMS system never worked well”, or “The system was too hard to install”.
Now we are getting somewhere.  This may well be true and lends itself to the following question: Have you done any decent research in the past 3-5 years?

The BatteryDAQ Sentry line of continuous battery monitoring systems incorporates 20+ years of field-tested technology into a revolutionary re-design.  Sentry units are compact, robust, easy to install, and easy to understand (more on that next).  We covered affordability, now we are looking at design.  Our technology has been in use all over Asia since the mid-1990’s and is perfect for the UPS, Telecom, and Utility marketplaces.

Sentry units can be installed in any battery cabinet, whether its in a UPS cabinet, or outside telecom cabinet.  What’s more, at BatteryDAQ, we design our monitoring systems for the battery configuration, not the other way around.  In other words, we make round pegs for round holes. You are the Customer.  We make our products to fit your needs.

If you don’t want a company to be flexible with new designs, stop reading. You are not interested in maintaining your batteries.

5.) “The data is overwhelming/hard to understand” or, “We don’t have anyone specialized to interpret the data”.
Here’s a question: Have you done any decent research in the past 3-5 years?

MyBattery Platform-measurement

At BatteryDAQ, we understand there are two equally important parts to a great BMS; the hardware and the software. The hardware can be outstanding, but if no one can understand the data, the BMS is of no use.  Our Battery Analyzer software for 1 to 300 sites, or so,  works beautifully for data centers or regional telecom or utility providers.  Beyond a few hundred sites, MyBattery Platform and Geo-Map reporting are unparalleled packages that place the end user in complete control, and provide them confidence that their backup power will perform as needed, when needed.

Additionally, BatteryDAQ’s software offerings allow our Customers to go well beyond battery state-of-health. They can also use the data to compare battery manufacturers, understand real-time run times, and make important decisions regarding readiness before, during, and after an outage.

If you don’t want increased confidence in, and control of, your back up battery power, stop reading.  You are not interested in maintaining your batteries.

6.) “We are considering not monitoring our back up batteries at all”
Makes sense…NOT! Yes, you may save a lot of time and money, and maybe overlap and redundancy may limit damage to important data and Customer service.  So, in addition to the main question of have you done any decent research over the past 3-5 years, here is another question: Why did you even buy batteries in the first place?

I see a post-event staff meeting in your future that will not be fun, when you try to explain why so many sites failed to stay up during an outage.

If you don’t believe knowing your back up batteries will work as needed, when needed, stop reading.  You not only are not interested in maintaining your batteries, you have forgotten your core business – your Customers.

There are more reasons, but I assume you get my point.  Perhaps, the arguments presented here haven’t changed your mind at all.  If so, I’d like to know why.  I mean, I hear my Customers tell me every day why they are implementing continuous battery monitoring, but those who choose not to do so are usually very hard to reach, and don’t share a whole lot.

However, if you would like to do some decent research on continuous battery monitoring, the people of BatteryDAQ would love to learn more about your needs. After we talk, you will be in a very informed position to decide if continuous battery monitoring meets your needs and expectations.

Contact me directly at tom.shannon@batterydaq.com, or email sales@batterydaq.com.  Our toll free number is 800-455-8970.