August 29th 2008.

Lead-acid battery technology hasn't changed that much in many years, but refinements continue to be made.

If you're looking at the last few years, the changes we have seen in battery technology are more about manufacturers
tweaking their batteries in their processes - mostly the chemical and manufacturing processes. In recent times, battery
manufacturers have been investigating different alloys, like silver, or tin, to strengthen their batteries' plates or give them
properties that will make them last longer. For the same reason, the separators between the positive and negative plates
have been improved.

One technology that some manufacturers are using is an absorbent glass mat (AGM) in which electrolytes (sulphuric acid)
are absorbed into a fibreglass mat. AGM batteries are often used in high performance vehicles, because the improvement
does come at a cost. AGM batteries can be impacted even more heavily by temperature than traditional batteries but that
may actually be an advantage in Canada. These AGM batteries really like cold weather, but you have to be careful how fast
you charge them. They are much more sensitive to being charged properly than the old batteries, but in a colder environment,
they can take an enormous charge very quickly.

Extremes of heat and cold aren't the only strains on todays' batteries and electrical systems. The growing number of accessories
that rely on a reliable and constant electrical supply is growing by the day. Entertainment systems, global positioning systems to
name just two, are creating pressure to develop bigger and better alternators and other improvements such as brushless,
digitally controlled alternators to better handle the enormous demands that modern cars place on their electrical supply.

Some alternators are hooked up to the CPU these days and although not every car manufacturer has climbed onto that
bandwagon yet, the trend is obvious.

In Europe, digitally controlled alternators have been popular for several years. The advantage is that the "check engine" light
now monitors the alternator and makes our diagnosis that much easier.

With older cars, one of the problems is the lack of an automatic battery shut off system. While a lot of newer cars will have a
20 minute shut down system if there's an excessive battery drain, once the keys are removed, too many drivers often leave
on systems that cause an electrical drain down, such as rear window defrosters and cell phone chargers that kill batteries
in a hurry.

New devices are often back-installed into older cars that aren't properly designed to handle the new electrical system strains.  

For this reason. it's very important these days to test a battery charging system whenever a car is in for service, perhaps
during regular oil changes, as drains on the battery happen frequently.

These days, a great many drivers simply don't drive far enough to meet their batteries charging needs.
Retirement people who only drive a few kilometres a week and then only on specific days, are the problem candidates for
battery failures.

You don't really want to deal with a battery failure when you're all dressed up and on your way out to a fancy dress ball
(or something). There's really no reason for a driver not to know the condition of their battery, since they should be asking
for this small and quick service job to be done at least four times a year.

A garage will not generally do it unless asked, because the resultant small increase in the total invoice cost can cause
problems with some customers. Trying to predict the failure of electrical components is similar to trying to predict the day
on which your TV set is going to fail. It simply can't be done. But testing from time to time, WILL detect deteriorating conditions
that will eventually lead to failure.

In the Fall, we do a lot of such testing and the tow ins in January are almost always clients whose electrical system had
problems back in October.

I told you so, though, doesn't really cut it with a client who had to wait several hours for a tow, even though it is really his or her fault
for not listening.