Improve Genset Availability By Detecting Bad Batteries Early

Failure to start is the most significant avoidable cause of diesel generator malfunction. Over 80% of failures to start are caused by battery problems. Genset customers invest significant amounts of money purchasing and maintaining generators. Yet the Achilles heel of these large, costly machines is a commodity product little changed since its invention in the late 1800s. Today most gensets do not include any means to detect that the starting battery has deteriorated, and may not be fit to start the engine. Genset failure can cause large economic losses and, in some cases, loss of life. End-users have tolerated this situation because there has been no practical, cost-effective battery failure detection system. The low-cost, practical battery failure detection proposal made in this paper would, if deployed, significantly reduce the number of genset start failures and associated business risk. Eliminating the leading cause of genset failure would likely improve customer satisfaction with gensets overall, and with the companies that supply them.