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LOW BATTERIES, NO-STARTS, LOST DRIVING HOURS ALL AVOIDABLE WITH EASY-TO-INSTALL SMART SENSE DEVICE

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (October 15, 2004) - Low battery no-starts, often due to the demands of frigid winter weather, are costing America's trucking fleets millions of dollars in repairs and lost productivity.

To prevent this all-too-common work stoppage from occurring, International Marketing Inc. (IMI) has developed Smart Sense, a first-of-its-kind regulating unit designed to improve the electrical charging system capabilities of medium and heavy-duty trucks. The upgrade is especially useful in frequent start/stop service, in colder temperatures, and other conditions when peak battery output is most critical. Smart Sense can also be modified to work in very hot conditions to reduce potentially harmful battery gassing.

Beyond the added confidence of more reliable starting power, the benefits of Smart Sense include:

• Longer battery life and fewer replacement battery purchases
• Faster, more reliable engine starts
• Fewer no-starts, meaning more hours on the road
• Longer starter life
• More time available for driver/sleeper appliance usage without the risk of no-starts
• Reduced engine idling time, resulting in lower fuel costs

"Smart Sense is truly a common sense product that addresses several important issues facing the trucking industry today," said IMI President Robert Fogal, Jr., who added that the product has been pioneered and proven in service by engineers and technicians with long-term truck maintenance experience. "We firmly believe that it is just a matter of time before Smart Sense technology is available as standard equipment on all new trucks."

The introduction of Smart Sense has been made possible only recently by heavy-duty alternators being built with remote sensing capability. Advances in micro sensor technology have also made hardware more affordable and reliable.

HOW IT WORKS

A typical battery charging system is made up of three components: the battery, the alternator (with a built in regulator to adjust output voltage as necessary), and the wiring that connects the two components.

Unlike most automobiles and light duty trucks, whose batteries and charging circuits are housed in the same compartment and therefore subject to the same temperatures, heavy-duty truck batteries are housed independently, far from the alternator and the voltage regulator. This distance often means each component is subject to different temperatures. Output voltages established at the alternator remain stable, failing to consider the battery temperature, which often results in an under-charged and unreliable power source.

Long cable runs in the charging circuit can also contribute to voltage losses due to the increased resistance cause by distance. It is not unusual to experience voltage losses of as much as 0.5 volts between the battery and alternator.

Colder temperatures not only place more of a load on a battery, but also make batteries more resistant to charge. Under these circumstances, a Group 31 truck battery might only accept a charge at a rate of several amps per hour. At very low temperatures, Class 8 truck charging system installations can require up to 140 hours of constant operation in order to fully charge a discharged battery that required a jump start.

Smart Sense bridges this gap by controlling the regulator setting and, therefore, alternator output voltage based on the sensed ambient temperature of the batteries at their remote location.

Smart Sense is easily installed on newer alternators built with an existing remote sense terminal and lead wire. Fleets using current one wire alternator systems can phase in Smart Sense if the alternators are equipped with remote sense capability. A kit is available to upgrade older alternators without remote sense features. This addition may require the alternator to be removed, or it can be made when an alternator is rebuilt. On most applications, however, the upgrade can be made while the alternator is on the vehicle.

Smart Sense was developed and refined by Purkey Fleet Electric and Vehicle Enhancement Systems and is being marketed by IMI. For more information about Smart Sense visit www.imiproducts.com. To locate the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-233-7086.

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