AMD interviews TecMate CEO and Chief Technical Officer Martin Human about a problem that can affect many motorcycle dealers and custom builders...
Correctly preparing and activating a new battery is essential - it guarantees that the battery will perform at full power from the get go and have the best chance of delivering the long service life the manufacturer says it should give.
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| OptiMate PRO, a time and money saver for any powersport dealer wanting to deliver great service and battery performance to their customer |
However, due to time pressure and other issues it is a process that's often overlooked; simply put, a customer buying a new battery at the parts counter is usually anxious to get his vehicle going, or the happy rider about to pull away on the bike he's just collected wants to get going the moment the sale is through. For those customers "come back tomorrow while I finish preparing the battery" just does not work.
Martin Human, the brains behind the OptiMate battery maintenance and diagnostics programme, told AMD...
"The problem with badly prepared batteries is that they will work to begin with, because problems don't emerge until months or even a year later. For dealers poor battery preparation is a potentially expensive gamble - in financial and reputational terms - if it has to be replaced within the warranty period.
"Even with battery acid at full strength when fresh, poor preparation brings the new battery only to 70-80% of deliverable power. Some cells may be at a lower voltage than others, due to some plates within those cells not yet fully interacting with the just-received acid", Martin continued.
He explained that the final 20-30% of power is achieved with controlled charging that gently activates the full surface of each lead plate and thus brings each of the 6 cells to equal voltage. This is the problem that the specifications of his TecMate OptiMate PRO-S (single bank) and OptiMate PRO-4 (4 bank) are designed to deal with - to do this automatically, and quickly with only one hour of charging.
"It’s easy and does not take a lot of time. All the dealer or battery buyer has to do is fill the battery with acid as normal per manufacturer’s recommendations, wait 30-45 minutes for the acid to settle, then select 'NEW' on the OptiMate PRO, hook up the battery and walk away.
"One hour later that new battery is good to go, ready to deliver full power and well prepared to last well past its warranty period - that can be 100% guaranteed if maintained by an OptiMate consumer charger".
OptiMate PRO also revives new batteries that have lost their charge due to being in storage for 3 months or longer, and can also automatically save a sulphated battery that has been discharged down to as little as 1 Volt.
"Once again it is a simple procedure", says Martin. "Simply select 2A or 4A for batteries larger than 10 Amp-hours, hook the battery up and let the OptiMate PRO do the rest.
"We use what we call an 'AmpMatic' micro-processor, and this automatically adjusts the charge voltage and current to match the connected battery’s size and condition. It saves, charges and equalises the cells within the battery, then tests and indicates to the dealer how well the battery recovered".
TECMATE
www.tecmate-int.com