February 2019

FEBRUARY 2019 AFTERMARKET 49 www.aftermarketonline.net charging up and sending the customer on their way. You need to know what is going on with the battery so you can give an accurate diagnosis when the customer comes in so you can provide the appropriate service. Helen Goldingay, HELLA’s Senior Head of Marketing and Communications, observes: “HELLA’s Intelligent Battery Sensor (IBS) gives precise and on-demand current, voltage and temperature measurements. This information allows for precise ‘state of charge’ and ‘state of health’ calculations. the product, as well as its ability to provide the long term durability and exceptional starting performance epitomised by the brand. “The icing on this significant increase is an unrivalled warranty structure that means that even the entry level Classic series comes with a three-year pledge. Move up to Premium, which features matching OE specification and calcium plate technology and the term increases to four years. However, those relying on Supreme, which exceeds OE specification and is the ideal solution for high performing diesel engines or electrically laden applications, can benefit from five years of motoring peace-of-mind.” Stop/Start You also need to have the right kind of battery for the vehicle. Laura comments: “With the massive growth in vehicles fitted with a Stop/Start function, which is predicted to be more than 90% of the cars manufactured next year, Lucas naturally has enhanced flooded battery (EFB) – suitable for smaller capacity engines with conventional a Stop/Start equipped vehicles – and absorbed glass mat (AGM) – for large capacity, high demand applications – batteries in its considerable range.” Laura adds: “These too come with extensive warranty coverage and prove that with Lucas, the independent sector has the complete solution for all its battery requirements.” Precise Getting the most out of today’s batteries is not just be a case of installing a new unit and assuming it will work because it is new, or “At the heart of a Stop/Start system is an AGM or EFB battery, which will make around 350,000 engine starts during its life, against 30,000 for a traditional starter/lighting/ignition (SLI) battery. It is only through an IBS device and via the vehicle’s battery management system that Stop/Start batteries can be regulated to provide the necessary power to restart the engine, while minimising their demand on the alternator, which is how these systems both reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.” Above: NOCO genius G15000 in use NOCO Genius G15000 The G15000 is a portable automatic battery charger and maintainer for both 12V and 24V lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries. This is suitable for charging a wide range of vehicles including cars, off-road vehicles and CVs and charges lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries up to 400 amp- hours. It can also recover deeply discharged batteries down to 2-volts. It monitors battery activity for safe and efficient charging without any overcharge and complete with a built-in battery desulfator to rejuvenate underperforming and sulfated batteries. The G15000 also comes equipped with an integrated JumpCharge engine start mode for jump starting dead batteries, and includes diagnostics indication for damaged batteries. no.co/ ECOBAT Battery Technologies (EBT) In addition to VARTA, ECOBAT Battery Technologies (EBT) also offers the iconic Lucas brand as well batteries from its Numax brand. Batteries available across the ranges include both the enhanced flooded battery (EFB) type– suitable for smaller capacity engines with conventional start-stop equipped vehicles – and the absorbed glass mat (AGM) type– suitable for large capacity, high demand applications. These all come with extensive warranty coverage, which covers three years for the Classic range, four years for the Premium range and five years for the Supreme range www.ecobat.tech