Getting your head round battery support in the workshop

Today’s automotive workshops are facing up to a number of challenges. The current economic climate doesn’t help but even so, a lot of the issues that workshops frequently come up against have been around for a while. 

Our sales teams at CTEK recently asked workshops in six different countries what they thought were their biggest challenges and they all came back with similar responses. Not surprisingly, top of the list was having to work to very tight margins, so costs like investment in new tools and equipment must always be thoroughly justified. And in an industry where vehicle technology gets ever more complex and sophisticated, workshops often find it challenging just to keep up-to-date.  

They’re also time poor so they can’t afford to have their equipment fail, because that will have a severe impact on getting the work completed. If a job goes over the allocated time and outside of the original quote, that can only mean lost revenue for the workshop. 

One particular area of concern is battery maintenance and support. It’s not just a case of charging the battery up, getting the vehicle on the lift and then carrying on with whatever work needs to be done – sometimes it’s more complicated than that. 

Nowadays, we’re all driving around in mobile supercomputers. The modern onboard ECUs have a lot of work to do that we often just take for granted. Even comfort systems as basic as courtesy lights, electric windows or seat adjustment all need power and that puts a lot of strain on the battery, which can quickly run flat without the driver even knowing it. Lockdown has seen a lot of vehicles standing unused for weeks or even months and during that time, the battery is still trying to provide power to background tasks such as the CAN bus system, alarm systems, immobilisers and even the electronic clock. If the battery starts to discharge, a ‘quick run round the block’ just won’t get it back up to full power. 

All of which brings us to another startling fact: our research has shown that nearly half the vehicles going into workshops have battery issues that can cause expensive problems when the vehicle is being worked on.  

Nearly all maintenance work is undertaken with the ignition on, but without the engine running. If the technician is reprogramming the ECUs or running diagnostics, it’s essential that the vehicle’s sensitive electrical systems get a constant ‘clean’ voltage. But if the vehicle’s own battery is the only source of power, there’s always the danger that its voltage will drop. If that happens even by as little as 1 volt, lengthy diagnostic programs could fail and will need to be started again.  

A voltage drop can also create ‘ghost’ faults which can happen if the CAN bus system starts shutting down non essential functions because it thinks the battery is failing. If the technician doesn’t realise that an error code for one of these functions has been generated purely because of the low voltage, they could spend hours trying to find a fault that really isn’t there. And this will carry on until the low voltage issue is resolved. 

Worse still, the voltage drop could actually damage the ECUs beyond recovery and the workshop might then be liable for a very expensive replacement out of their own pockets. 

Another problem is ‘derating’. Conventional battery support units and chargers generate a lot of heat if they’re used over long periods of time. As a safety precaution, some of these units will reduce the voltage output – or ‘derate’ – at high temperatures which can also disrupt the diagnostic process. 

So how can these problems be avoided?  

Over the years, CTEK has been developing a range of 12V and 24V professional workshop battery support equipment that not only charges and maintains vehicle batteries, but, more importantly, provides technicians with the tools they need to undertake diagnostics, fault finding, vehicle re-programming and other repairs safely to avoid any possible damage to the vehicle’s ECUs and other sensitive electronics. 

They work by attaching the support unit to the battery terminals in the usual way and switching it to ‘Supply’ mode. It then automatically makes sure that the battery is kept above the minimum diagnostic voltage threshold at all times and, depending on which one of our battery support units is being used, it’ll deliver constant support to the battery. These chargers also react extremely quickly to sudden spikes in power so the precise voltage and amperage are always delivered and maintained. 

And with some vehicle manufacturers and workshops specifying higher minimum service voltages, chargers like CTEK’s MXTS 40 and PRO120 have selectable constant voltages so the output voltage can be matched exactly to the manufacturer’s specifications.  

As part of the overall feedback, most of the workshops highlighted the need for more education and training on the importance of battery support. In 2019, we opened the CTEK PoWeR Center, our state of the art training and product development facility, which is also home to our SKILLBASE program.  

By signing up to SKILLBASE, our professional customers can get a thorough understanding of battery support and maintenance through tailored training programmes delivered by CTEK’s own experienced technical experts. 

We’re also looking at ways to develop and adapt our product guides, point-of-sale materials and the professional sections of our website so technical information is readily available, easy to access and clearly explained. 

What was apparent from the feedback we got from the workshops was that, while the importance of battery charging and maintenance is generally understood, there is still some lack of knowledge about what battery support is and how it sits as an important part of the servicing process. 

By giving workshops access to professional, reliable battery support equipment and additional help through expert training, their people will get the physical and educational tools they need to become safer and more efficient battery support technicians. Armed with this technical knowledge and expertise, they can build on the reputation of their workshop and make it an even more profitable business.