It’s a Battery Disconnect Switch, the new item that MTA, thanks to its expertise in the electric and electronic automotive world, is able to offer to the agricultural field.
It is a device with the ability to disconnect selected branches of a vehicle’s electric circuit to protect particular services – such as fuel pump, PTOs, a tractor’s auxiliary services or the engine starting system – or to operate in energy-saving model. A battery disconnect switch (BDS) is an indispensable piece of equipment. It can also temporarily disconnect parts of the electric circuit that are to be left unused for some time so as to reduce consumption, or for safety reasons in the event of an accident. Although similar products are available, the innovation of MTA’s new BDS for automotive applications lies not so much in the product itself as in its development concept. The company’s engineers analysed the strengths and weaknesses of current market offerings and then developed a simpler, more efficient device that offers an excellent quality/price ratio. As a result, MTA’s BDS boasts the lowest weight and smallest dimensions of any comparable product in the market, with a completely different, more compact, layout of internal components. It is currently available in two different versions. In the manual-reset version, power disconnect is controlled by an electronic control panel, and the BDS is reset manually at the press of a button. In the second, electrically reset, version, power disconnect and resetting are remotely controlled. This version is particularly suitable for disconnecting or reactivating a circuit with no direct intervention by the operator. The circuit consists of two powerbus bars, two coils – one for breaking the circuit and the other for automatic reset, where appropriate – and a moving armature that determines device status. A permanent magnet generates the field of force inside the device. The device comes with two integrated coils and can be configured for automatic or manual reset, depending on whether power supply can be brought to one or both coils. When a control unit puts power to the break coil, it increases the force field, which causes the shaft carrying the moving armature to move. The armature is displaced and breaks the circuit. The device can be reset manually by pressing the reset button inside the power distribution box in the engine bay. In the electrically reset BDS, the battery disconnect switch receives an electric pulse from an inertia switch, the engine control unit or the service control unit when, based on certain parameters, they determine independently that parts of the circuit need to be disconnected. In this instance, the control unit can manage the battery connection with a power impulse to the coil. The device can be effectively used in combination with a battery charge control unit to manage available residual power, for instance by disconnecting certain services until the battery is recharged. The BDS incorporates diodes to protect the circuit from overcurrent events resulting from sudden power disconnect (