Adaptive Charging: The Inefficiencies of Continuous Float Charging (Part 1 of 4)

This article originally appeared in the 2Q17 edition of Battery Power Magazine. The article is published on our blog in 4 parts. You can access the full article here.

The accelerating growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications require continuous investment in telecommunications networks to provide the connectivity for millions of new devices. As more devices connect to the Internet, service outages become more impactful to the people and businesses that rely on IoT applications. Safeguarding telecom networks from power outages is the Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) battery. Stationary VRLAs are ubiquitously used at broadband, wireless and cable sites, and millions are in service across the country. Unfortunately, almost all of these batteries, and thus the sites that depend on them, are vulnerable to a reliability-damaging standard: float charging. While float charging will maintain batteries at full charge, it can have a damaging impact on the service life of the battery, which introduces risk and increases maintenance costs. There is a better way to charge batteries, Adaptive Charging, that mitigates the degrading effects of float charge, extending battery life and reducing maintenance costs.

It’s Time to Upgrade Legacy Alarms:

Capital dollars are any telco’s most prized resource, but there is another resource that is increasingly scarce within telecommunications companies large and small: technician man-hours.

Powering your network vision (Reality Check)

This article originally appeared on RCR Wireless' website on June 13th, 2017. To read the original article, click here.

The internet is now the “reason for being” for most wireless and wireline service providers. Indeed, wireless and wireline networks are becoming the internet (homage to Eric Schmidt’s original vision of the network becoming the computer). These broadband networks are increasingly looking and working less like “telecom” networks and more like wide-area IT networks as switches give way to routers and lots and lots of “things” get connected to them. And, of course, none of the internet infrastructure works if it is not powered, which calls to mind yet another critical but distinct network – the power distribution infrastructure of the power utility. Despite being regulated by the same PUC commissioners, planning between and among carriers and power utilities is pretty much non-existent.   Their network planning sessions are disconnected, parallel discussions that need to be more integrated if we are to ensure that the Internet is always powered on.

This week Business Development Manager Alex Rawitz joined The Maker Bayou Radio Show, a weekly radio show and podcast where IDIYA Labs discusses the Maker Revolution, Science, Technology, Education, and other cool topics. This week's subject was Batteries, and the discussion covered the future of battery technology and what that will mean for our lives in a connected world. 

Listen to the podcast here: https://www.blubrry.com/makerbayou/23737209/maker-bayou-ep-10-all-about-batteries/

Servato CEO Chris Mangum in AGL Magazine

AGL Magazine's annual Backup Power issue is out this May, and Servato CEO Chris Mangum has contributed a headline piece. In this article he describes how improving backup power is not just an opportunity to improve site reliability and prevent downtime, but also a great way to contribute to sustainability goals.

To read the full article in AGL Magazine, click here.

Servato is VERY excited to be exhibiting at the UTC Telecom & Technology 2017 May 8-12. In addition to participating as a vendor at the Walker & Associates booth, Servato has been selected as part of of a special group of vendors to demonstrate cutting edge "smart" technologies. Here's a full description of how we'll be a part of Smart Systems for Smarter Communities: 

This article was originally published on T&D World. To read the original article, click here.

The Spring 2017 Issue of Battery Power Online Goes Deep into Adaptive Charging for Standby Batteries

In this article, written by Servato Business Development Manager Alex Rawitz, the benefits of Adaptive Charging compared to industry standard float are explained. Among the many benefits, the article describes:

• Battery life extension through the elimination of over-charging
• Improved battery data for better analytics and trend analysis
• Healthier batteries for more reliable backup power

Want to see the full article?

• Download the article from Servato
• View the Article at Battery Power Online

Article: Inside the Race to Build the Battery of Tomorrow

The article appeared in Wired on February 22, 2017.

“A battery will do for the electricity supply chain what refrigeration did to our food supply chain”

At Servato, we're aware of how "unsexy" battery technology is, but we also know how essential it is to enabling our modern age of electrionics and connectivity. This article provides a great outline of the scientific hunt for better batteries and what better batteries would mean for the world. It's worth reading if batteries are your business or your hobby.

How Servato can Predict Battery Failure Months in Advance and Improve Reliability for Active Battery Management Customers:

If you knew that a battery was going to fail months in adavnce you could replace it before an outage exposed it. However, you would want to be sure that the battery was really on its way to failure instead of replacing a good battery, so how can you be sure?

• Servato uses over five million hours of battery data to inform its predictive analytics.
• Using patented technology to perform advanced tests automatically, Servato gathers battery data that other monitoring equipment cannot.

Check out a couple examples of Servato's predictive analytics: