Winter servicing
During long winter months, vehicle batteries have a lot to deal with. When the temperature drops, along with it can go the battery’s power output, its ability to accept a charge, and the load increases due to the increased use of lights and internal heating.
Battery failure is a common problem for many vehicles during the winter, and for commercial vehicles that could create a huge business disruption. During the winter month’s it’s essential to look after vehicle batteries, and this time of year offers workshops an opportunity for plenty of business.
Looking after a battery is not just about re-charging a vehicle’s battery from time to time. By using a Traction MPL Battery Charger you can actually condition a vehicle's battery – increasing its life expectancy and reducing the risk of these winter issues – through its patented de-sulphation process.
What is sulphation?
When a battery is left in a discharged condition, continually undercharged, or the electrolyte level is below the top of the plates, some of the soft lead sulphate re-crystallizes into hard lead sulphate. The hard lead sulphate cannot be reconverted during subsequent recharging process. This creation of hard crystals is commonly called permanent "sulphation". It accounts for approximately 85% of the lead-acid battery failures that are not used weekly. The longer period over which sulphation occurs, the larger and harder the lead sulphate crystals become. These crystals lessen a battery's power capacity and ability to be recharged. Batteries naturally self-discharge 1% to 60% per month while not in use and sulphation will begin occurring when the State-of-Charge (SoC) drops below 100%.
How does the Traction MPL battery charger help?
Most chargers need to "see" more than eight volts in the battery when connected to recognize that a battery is present and to start the charging process but the MPL will recognize a battery with only one volt. This means that the MPL charger will attempt to recover and charge a battery that is completely flat whereas other chargers would not be able to start charging at all. At the start of each charge, the MPL charger tests the battery to determine if it is deeply discharged or if sulphation has occurred, and the correct recovery algorithm is automatically applied.
After the deep discharge test, the constant current charge provides the fastest possible return of energy to the battery. Even deeply discharged batteries can be recovered in this way. After the completion of charging, the MPL charger switches to the standby or float mode, which compensates for self-discharge and holds the battery at peak charge, ready for use.
Using the MPL can dramatically improve the performance of batteries that have been stored, helping customers to reducing warranty costs, and improving customer satisfaction with garage servicing.