Compex Systems Advanced SerialRAID Adapters SA33-3285-02 - Manual (Page 379)

-b Specifies that the battery-age counter be reset. When this flag is used, the
data on the Fast-Write Cache Option Card is not set to zero.
Important: Do not select the -b flag unless you have exchanged the
battery. Otherwise, no error message will occur when the
battery reaches the end of its life.
Output
The ssa_format command sends all error messages to stderr.
Chapter 16. Using the SSA Command Line Utilities 359