We’ve all seen or at least heard of a car being “jump started” when it has a flat battery. It is also a common fear that we go to start our car first thing in the morning to go to work or complete the school run only to find that we have left the dome light on or some other electrical component and the battery is now completely drained.

If these things have happened to you, they probably came as something of a surprise. The shock part of the experience is among the worst elements, in fact. Having had this experience, you may be now glad to know that one of the Pedal® system’s 20 unique features has something that could prevent from ever happening to you again.

Today’s blog is all about the Pedal® Battery Monitor feature. This simple addition to the incredible array of money-saving and value-preserving features of Pedal® could be a real game changer.

Pedal® Battery Monitor Feature

How Does Battery Monitor Work?

When you login to your Pedal® dashboard, you’ll likely find lots of important information within your “Notifications” section. One of the pods among them might be a “Voltage Alert.” The voltage alert will inform you if the battery voltage has dipped below a certain level, perhaps 10 volts, for instance.

Imagine you are at home in the evening having come home from work, and your Pedal® dashboard receives such a notification. You would then go to the car and investigate, and perhaps discover that you hadn’t turned off the lights, or you had left something charging in the car. Many things tax the electrical power of your car’s battery nowadays.

In doing so, you can turn of the electrical drain, wherever it is originating, and leave enough power in the battery to at least start up the engine the following day and begin recharging the battery as you drive off. The warning has prevented a total drain of your battery, and has in turn prevented you from the need to use a trickle charger or effect a jump start using the neighbour’s car.

Why is Battery Monitor a Great Feature on Pedal®?

The first area of value in Battery Monitor is being able to have the opportunity to take action before your battery reaches the point of no electrical return. Before such a system was devised, the fate of the battery was virtually sealed as soon as anyone forgot to turn off a light or left another electrical gadget draining the power from the car.

In the past, it was leaving headlights on overnight that could and sometimes did drain the battery by morning. Now when we get out of the car, leaving the headlights on causes an alarm to beep so we (hopefully) are reminded to go back and turn the lights off. Anything can happen, though, and now there are more drains on the battery’s energy than ever before.

Without Pedal®, chances are that our mistake would go unnoticed until time came to use the car again, by which time we would discover the battery was going, going, gone. Pedal® and the Battery Monitor feature could bring a lot of reassurance to many drivers as all they’d have to do to ensure that their battery was still working to full capacity was login and check on their dashboard. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to check it via your smartphone. That kind of synchronization means you’d also be sure to get notifications on battery problems and take action on them in quick time, preserving yet more of the battery’s precious power.

Another reason the Battery Monitor feature is so important is its ability to prevent any hinderance to important journeys that people need to undertake. It’s one thing to be late to work one day or for the kids to be running late for school, but when you are on a timetable for important hospital appointments and other crucial things, a dead car battery is among the worst things that can happen.

The reason car battery failure is so frustrating isn’t just because of how disruptive it can be to the important thins you have in your daily plan. It’s also incredibly frustrating because of how eminently preventable the battery drain was if only you had been paying closer attention to the electrical components in your car.

Your Car Battery and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Connection?

Pedal® sends you a notification pod about an alert with your car battery not because it knows that you’ve left the lights on or left something plugged in and charging, but just because it senses the battery’s charge naturally decreasing. Interestingly, the only thing that drains a battery almost as well as a flurry of activity is a long, long period of idleness.

Your car’s 12-volt battery is charged by the kinetic and mechanical action of your engine. Therefore, when you leave it sitting idle, the natural “vampire” drain on the battery will mean that sooner or later it loses charge and can eventually die if left for long enough. The remedy for this is simple: take your car out for a drive when the battery is running a bit low. A drive of 20-40 minutes should see the battery restored to good health.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have seen to it that many people have gone for long periods without using their car. Pedal® means you no longer have to even guess as to when your car battery might be dipping below certain power levels. You can receive a warning about the drop when it gets to a problem level, and then take the car out for a drive to help recharge it.

Why is Good Battery Health Important?

So, Pedal® is useful for telling us when our car battery charge has dipped below the optimum levels. In doing so, it is positively contributing to the maintenance of our car’s overall battery health. This is the great thing about Pedal® and its 20 features; they are always looking out for you and your car’s best interest.

But why is it so important to maintain good battery health in your car? First of all, in a petrol and diesel car, the battery is like one of the essential organs that you only have one of and therefore couldn’t possibly do without. That pulse of electricity emitted by it helps start the engine and run every electrical component in your vehicle. In 2021, that battery is working very hard to keep everything alive.

Second, the battery is, obviously, an important component in which a lot of electrical energy is stored. If the battery is defective and not able to contain the power, then damage can and will be done to your vehicle’s charging system, and possibly even the starter.

Finally, any weakness or damage in the car battery can spread damage to other systems near it. When a battery is failing, the system tries to draw more power from it in order to fulfil its functions, which can end up causing more problems than it solves. All of these things can ultimately result in heavy and expensive repairs being needed on the engine.

Pedal® - 20 Great Features for Every Driver

Battery Monitor is just one of the suite of 20 features that come as standard with Pedal®. These features are designed to keep your car’s maintenance in good order, inform you of important deadlines such as the MOT, and much more. In doing so, you can not only keep the car’s value higher, but you can also gain a deep and meaningful insight into your driving life, and that of any family members also using Pedal® under your main account.

Sign up at pedalapp.com today and start reaping the many benefits that a little real-time data can bring to you.