When an organization’s critical services are powered by the mains, having battery backups is crucial. There’s no warning when mains go down, which means that if a backup isn’t in place, services will go down. The worst thing? The service breakdown is only reported hours after it has manifested. All too often this means expensive call outs for standby maintenance crews to fix an issue that could have been solved by a backup. But what if the backup battery fails or is out of power? For many companies, there’s also no warning for this situation either. When companies rely on a backup battery to support mains power, they also need to be supporting the backup battery. Enter Internet of Things (IoT) technology in the form of remote battery backup monitoring. With increased visibility levels thanks to IoT connectivity, firms can ensure they have a clear view of their backup battery systems.
REMOTELY MONITOR BACKUP BATTERY LEVELS WITH IOT DEVICES
With remote backup battery monitoring, companies can reduce the risk of power and service loss, conduct remote diagnostics and remove unnecessary maintenance crews. The remote wireless device is flexible enough to be installed on a range of batteries in a number of different industry situations. And because the device ships pre-connected to the network, installation is very straightforward. Once active, the device will instantly send an alert to a cloud-based dashboard whenever a defect is detected. The cloud, in turn, will send out notifications to engineers in email or SMS format.
CONNECTIVITY THROUGH THE WORLD’S LEADING IOT NETWORK
All of this is made possible by the Sigfox network, the world’s leading IoT connectivity solution. The remote devices ship with a connection to Sigfox already active. This halves installation times and means that no technical knowledge is required. Sigfox’s Low Power Area Wide Network (LPWAN) means that devices don’t require Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or any other connectivity network. It also means that the devices will work around the globe in any region of any country that Sigfox supports. By sending small messages at regular but not too frequent intervals, the Sigfox network strikes the perfect balance between cost-effectiveness and performance. As a result, ongoing subscription costs are low, and battery performance is second to none.
COMPANIES CAN ACHIEVE BACKUP POWER VISIBILITY LIKE NEVER BEFORE
With backup battery monitoring devices in place, maintenance teams can finally get an overview of the batteries they manage. Time wasted on standby is a thing of the past now that devices send alerts as soon as an issue is detected. With alerts sent directly to phones and emails, swift action can be planned before complete service breakdown occurs. In theory, assuming regular maintenance, backup battery failure should become a thing of the past thanks to these monitoring devices.
MAINTENANCE TEAMS ARE PROACTIVE AND OPTIMIZED
When failures occur, technicians can also use the online dashboard to carry out remote diagnosis work to identify the issue. All of the data they need is sent directly to the online dashboard. This makes on site repairs much faster and also much cheaper. The device allows technicians to be proactive as well as reactive. If they see that a battery is losing power, they can take steps to fix the problem before the battery is required to power a key service. With remote monitoring in place, schedule maintenance becomes the priority rather than an afterthought. But that’s not all that can be managed remotely. The devices themselves can also be monitored remotely to ensure functionality, while the battery life of the devices is so predictable that battery replacement can be scheduled far in advance.
