Q: What’s changed in battery testers?
A: I’ll assume you know nothing about batteries or battery testers. Don’t be insulted. I thought I knew a little something about modern batteries and battery testers before I researched this column. Turns out I knew next to nothing.
The lesson: technology sometimes changes much faster than you realize, so never assume and keep learning.
Today’s battery doesn’t look much different than the battery in the ‘72 Chevy I worked on as a teen in my parents’ driveway. In fact, they still use the same basic lead acid science invented by French physicist Gaston Planté in 1859. But there have been many, many major advances over the past 150 years to where we are with today’s flooded, absorbed glass mat (AGM) and gel batteries, and battery testing technology.
For example, when I was a teenager a battery tester looked like a turkey baster with different colored floating balls inside. This hydrometer basically tests the density of the acid in a battery.
You probably still sell hydrometers. It’s a cheap tool and still a valid test.
But hydrometers are used infrequently today: they’re messy, time-consuming, and aren’t very effective on AGM or gel batteries, says Jim O’Hare, director of marketing at Clore Automotive.
And it’s problematic to get at the cells on a sealed battery, says Luke Tucker of EZ-Red, maker of the model SP101 hydrometer. “But, it will let you know if you have a fully charged battery or not. Also it will point out a bad cell if one of the cells shows a significantly different reading than the others.”
A hydrometer is a great tool if you’re going to fix a battery. But the labor cost of fixing a battery usually makes it more practical to replace a battery, says O’Hare.
Today, the tester of choice in most technicians toolboxes is a digital battery tester. The technology behind the digital tester was created in the late 1960s by a researcher at University of Minnesota, says Dan Cox, technical support manager at Midtronics.
Depending on the manufacturer, digital testers use electrical resistance or conductance and special algorithms to determine the status of a battery’s life.
Enough history lesson. Time for a sales lesson...
Q: How can I sell more digital battery testers?
A: First, realize that just because your customer has a digital battery tester doesn’t mean they don’t need a new tester. Whether you’re selling a technician or a shop owner/manager, check out if their current tester has the newest features (see Briefing on different types of battery testers sidebar).
Many technicians have older testers that work fine on traditional flooded batteries, but not on today’s AMG, spiral or gel batteries. And there are lots of these “newer” batteries on the road.
“[There are] nearly 40 million vehicles on the road today in North America equipped with an AGM battery,” says Gary Mackey, Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing, Associated Equipment Corp. “Technicians need to be trained on charging and testing this new battery technology. These batteries have been in some vehicles since 1999.”
So, to sell your customers a new tester, you just need to point out how your newest models can test almost every battery coming into their work bay. I say almost every battery because the high-voltage batteries in hybrid and electric vehicles require a whole different type of testing equipment that I’d need a whole column to cover.
The typical shop can benefit from advanced testing and printing capabilities to fully diagnose problems and prevent comebacks. (Repeat business is great. Comebacks are not.)
Winter months are a big time for your customer to make battery sales. So bone-up on your battery testing products and do a strong promotional push in the months ahead. Understanding what’s in your product line is key to increasing sales. The more you can tell, the more you can sell.
