How can battery testing save money?
Accurate battery performance testing allows extending the service life of batteries beyond customary replacement intervals, with confidence that the batteries will perform as required.
Compared to a fixed replacement schedule, and $20,000 for a new 24 - cell battery, plus $20,000 installation and disposal costs - savings with periodic testing are $4,000 or more, per string, in a four - year period. Savings will mount for larger installations.
Projected cumulative savings, per 24-cell battery string, including the cost of annual BATTERY EKG testing, over replacing all batteries on a fixed, 5-year schedule:
| Observed Average Battery Life | At 4 Years | At 8 Years | At 12 Years |
| 5 years | $4,384 * | $15,456 * | $24,778 * |
| 10 years | $12,025 | $28,424 | $45,122 |
* By extending the service life of good batteries, and replacing failed batteries. Savings will be greater with battery manufacturer pro-rated warranty credits.
Consider a maintenance program in which every battery is replaced every five years (based on an observed, average five year battery life), to insure battery reliability.
This should provide the most reliable batteries, and at the lowest cost CORRECT?
A five year average battery life is defined as having half of the batteries fail (fall below 80% of initial capacity) in five years.
Reliable? No Simply replacing all such batteries every five years will give inadequate reliability. Half already will have failed.
Now, suppose that the replacement interval is much shorter than the average life. For a ten year battery, a smaller percentage would be expected to fail within the first five years. By replacing all batteries then, you "should" obtain sufficient reliability.
Lowest Cost? No This increases the life-cycle cost of the batteries, because good batteries are thrown away, needlessly...
See plot of: Number of failed batteries vs. year installed
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What about battery testing? Battery testing could provide the practical solution to the trade-off between reliability and cost - provided that testing were both accurate, and economical.
Five year life: testing improves reliability and saves money, by identifying bad batteries, keeping good batteries in service, and maximizing the benefit of pro-rated battery warranties.
Ten year life: savings realized by testing are considerable; only bad batteries need to be replaced, extending the service life.
Without periodic battery testing, to know the capacity or average life of the batteries is to only play a guessing game.
Why needlessly replace expensive batteries, that are performing within requirements, and still be uncertain about actual battery performance?
Replacing batteries on a fixed schedule is not the route to the least expensive or most reliable backup power. The route to the least expensive, most reliable backup power is through accurate, periodic battery testing.
Plot of: How testing moderates fiscal year expenses
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Plot
of: How testing reduces cumulative expenses
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