ROBIS pays for itself within six months

Rotronics has been working with the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Services since December 2017. The workshop management team had, for some time, been looking for better ways to manage battery maintenance within a workshop programme at their Gloucester workshop. The group previously did not have any form of effective battery management programme in place, apart from a simple battery tester.

They were aware that the Police workshop had been using a Midtronics battery tester as part of their workshop maintenance to identify faulty batteries and wanted to explore how this may help them better diagnose battery defects.

Whilst the workshop had traditional 24V battery chargers in use, they did not form any part of a routine maintenance process or procedure and, as a result, balanced charging was not a consideration within their maintenance procedures.

 Battery warranty claims were not effective, with most claims not being accepted by their battery supplier.

In December 2017, the Rotronics team visited the Gloucester site, to demonstrate and provide an overview of the Rotronics Battery Management programme, equipment was left on trial to enable workshop staff to evaluate it and offer feedback as to how it was used.

A follow-up visit was made in January 2018 and further training was given to the team. With extremely positive feedback, the trial continued, to enable extended usage of the equipment.

In March 2018, the Rotronics team received the order to supply a full workshop programme supporting the team, including ROBIS, and they have been using the equipment as part of their everyday routine maintenance and feel they are getting real benefit from its use. 

• Battery sets are receiving a regular “balanced charge”.
• Defective batteries, that would have previously gone unnoticed, are being identified and replaced before a vehicle defect occurs.
• The warranty claims process is much more effective, with faulty batteries covered under warranty now being accepted and credited by their battery provider, through providing a printout of the faulty battery to support the claims process.
• A total of 11 batteries (at a cost of £1,760) have been successfully claimed to date, without the use of the Rotronics EXP1000 FHD, these claims would have been lost.
• The return on investment calculation will result in the equipment paying for itself, within the first six months of use

Workshop Supervisor Adam Fowles says “Our technicians think the equipment is fantastic and find it easy to use and integrate into our planned maintenance procedures. It’s really made a difference in helping us to identify and better manage battery defects within the fleet, so much so we have already secured 11 warranty claim credits, that would have been rejected if we hadn’t been using the tester.”

The data below highlights the number of tests recorded on ROBIS during the start of the programme and how, through pro-active testing and charging, we can already see the positive impact pro-active charging is having on battery performance as the number of battery sets in balance continues to rise month-on-month.

• A total of 269 batteries were tested during the period.
• 105 individual vehicles were tested.
• 23% of all batteries tested required charging.
• 10% of those batteries tested required replacement.

Latest Technologies

Rotronics is the UK partner for Midtronics and CTEK and offers customers top-of-the-range technologies. The Midtronics ChargeXpress Pro 50/2 intelligent charge mode combines charge acceptance with battery conditioning, for optimal and safe charging. With its unique twin output, the unit delivers fast controlled and balanced charging to both 12V batteries in the set, or alternatively can be used on two separate 12V vehicles at the same time.

• Simple one button operation.
• Spark and reverse polarity protection.
• 50Amp power supply, for diagnostic programming.
• Single or twin output modes.
• Individual selectable charge routines for Flooded, AGM and GEL batteries (Delivering optimum efficient charging).

The CTEK MXTS 40 is suitable for both 12V and 24V vehicle workshop and showroom charging, is simple to use and provides selectable constant voltage settings supporting vehicle diagnostic programming. In addition to the eight-step charge progress display, it provides clear readouts of charge parameters including current, voltage and amps charged.

• 40A/12V and 20A/24V output.
• Electronically safe multi step rapid charging.
• Selectable constant voltage power supply to ECUs.
• Temperature compensation and battery reconditioning functions.
• Heavy duty detachable charge cables and clamps.

The CTEK MXTS 70/50 is both a high-current power supply for memory flashing and workshop charger, developed for both 12V and 24V lead acid batteries and offers the latest in CTEK charging technology.

• Selectable modes for optimal battery size adaptation.
• Selectable power supply program for constant voltage output of 50A.
• Patented desulphation function.
• Reconditioning function to restore stratified and deeply discharged batteries.
• Temperature sensor for optimized charging.

The PROPOWER1500 is the latest generation of Hybrid/ultra capacitor Power Packs and delivers the very latest in technology and performance, combining Lithium and ultra-capacitor technologies. It is lightweight with superior power, designed to outlast any other power pack performance. Charging the power pack is both fast and easy, and can be done in three ways:

1. 1. Via the vehicle’s flat battery, as a jump start. 
2. 2. Using the 12V DC cigarette lighter cable. 
3. 3. Via the power pack’s internal back up lithium battery. 

For more information on Rotronics and the battery management programmes, go to www.rotronicsbms.com and call Ken Clark on 0121 526 8185. You can also email info@rotronicsbms.com.

Rotronics is part of Rubery Owen www.ruberyowen.com, a company at the forefront of automotive component technology since the birth of the motor car and has been synonymous with quality and enterprise over the years.