Why the αBat ?

Professional service

• It certifies the quality of the products you are selling
• Ensures your products and service meet your customer’s expectations
• Eliminates malfunctions due to the battery
• Will repay your investment
• It distinguishes an empty battery from a defective battery

Battery capacity

• Returns a reading as a percentage of the nominal capacity
• Without sufficient capacity, a battery may not be able to provide a normal day’s use.
• Capacity will vary upon the age and quality of the battery.

Charger quality

• Records charger regime (and charge factor)
• Detects overcharge
• Causing overheating and gel dry-out, …
• Detects undercharge
• Causing sulphation, …

Applications

• Service (Mobility, Golf, Cleaning, EV, AWP, …)
• Quality control
• Goods inwards/outwards inspection
• Routine control

Power testing

• It discharges the battery by converting the electric energy to heat
• It records voltage and current over time
• Using proprietary algorithms the machine detects and reports battery behavior and quality (bad cell, needs charging, …)
• Eliminates system malfunctions due to the battery
• The AlfaBat does not use impedance testing
• This technique is suitable only for stationary applications

Capacity test

Passed (%)

After the end of a capacity test, the AlfaBat shows „Passed“ if the battery delivered more capacity then setted with the parameter Pass / Fail. By default this parameter is set to 60%.

Failed (%)

After the end of a capacity test, the AlfaBat shows „Failed“ if the battery delivered less capacity then setted with the parameter Pass / Fail. By default this parameter is set to 60%.

BadCell (%)

A lead acid battery consists of different cells of 2V (for example: a 12V battery consists of 6 cells of 2V), which are serial connected. Due to production error, age, … a cell can get broken. Without load it looks like the cell is ok, but with a load on the battery the voltage drops after a time with 2V. This kind of events points to a Bad Cell.
The AlfaBat has an algorithm for detection of a Bad Cell. BadCell is shown on the display after the ending of a capacity if a Bad Cell in a battery is detected (only before 25% capacity reached).

Recharge (%)

A capacity test is automatically ended if the voltage drops under a certain level before 2% capacity is reached. This parameter is to avoid testing of a discharged battery. If you’re sure the battery is fully charged, then the battery is broke.

Capacity (%)

This information is shown on the display after the ending of a capacity test if a preselected capacity is reached. This value can be adjusted with parameter Max Discharge.

ShutDown (%)

This information is shown on the display after read out of the results when the device is disconnected during test. The results of this test cannot be used to classify the battery as bad.

End User (%)

Able to end a capacity test. If a user does so, the message above is indicated on the AlfaBat. The results of this test cannot be used to classify the battery as bad.

Charger test

Capacity (Ah)

After the ending of a charger test, the capacity, which the charger has delivered, is shown on the display in ampere-hour.

Cycle test

Cycle Initial Charge (Ah)
Before the start of the first cycle, the battery will be charged initially. This is needed for starting the first cycle with a fully charged battery. This is shown on the display with ‚Mode000 Charge‘.

Cycle Discharge (%)
A cycle starts always with a capacity test. The results of these tests are the same as a normal capacity test. This is shown on the display with ‚Mode001 Discharg‘.

Cycle Charge (Charge Factor)
A cycle ends always with charging. During these tests the AlfaBat measures how many energy is charged into the battery. The charge factor must be between 1.10 and 1.25. When the charge factor is below 1.10, the battery will get undercharged with capacity loss in time. When higher then 1.25, the battery will age much faster. Remark: for systems with acid circulation systems the charge factor can be between 1.05 and 1.10.
This mode is shown on the display with ‚Mode001 Charge‘.

Remark
Not every charger is suitable to perform a cycle test on a battery. Here’s a list of possible problems:

The charger goes in stop after the first charge and must be restarted with the ON/OFF button before the charger can charge again.
The charger is not able to charge 100% discharged batteries many cycles. This has declining capacity as result after a few cycles. If the charger is not suitable for charging 100% discharged batteries, you can’t classify the battery as bad if capacity is declining. It is also not possible to classify the charger as bad, because the charger could be designed for charging batteries, which are discharged for max 80%.

Record test

Record finished
This message is shown on the display after the ending of a record test. The results can be transferred to the computer. During a record test, only data is recorded (no calculations).