Low battery warning
 

Car has had very little use and is on only 40,000 miles. This message came up along with tpms service required.


Can a duff/failing main battery also cause issues with other systems I.e. the tpms

That “low battery” warning is an absolute PIA. My daughter’s XC70 does it. eg: stopped at a level crossing, may be there some minutes so switch off engine but keep radio on. After a couple of minutes the “low battery” warning pops up and the radio is switched off. She has a crash proof dog cage in the load area. It has a fan attachment powered from the load area 12v outlet to help ventilate the cage when the car is parked up with the tailgate open. But within a minute or two it is shut down by the car’s system. The only way to keep it running is to have the engine running. Sort of defeats the object of the exercise.
I am advised by others who have other makes of car that this is a common feature now. System is designed to progressively shut down various electricity consuming items to preserve the battery so that it will still start the car. That’s all well and good but in my opinion it kicks in far too early. I’ve never owned a car with this feature and never had any problems, other than when I stupidly left the parking lights on when parked up at work one day.

Yes, the battery can trigger all sorts of errors.

If the car isn't getting much use, try charging the battery. Don't leave it constantly hooked up to a charger though (plug it out when its done). Then leave it for two weeks or so before charging it again.

If you do manage to get a drive in between charges, that'll help of course. Although, short journeys won't charge the battery much either.

You need to go on a decent drive to charge it up properly. Under the current restrictions, that's not possible (unless you're travelling for an essential reason of course).

Charging the battery is probably your best option now. If the battery loses charge quickly, then its probably knackered & you'll need a new one. Its still worth giving your existing battery a boost though to see if that helps.

I have the same problem with mine - I like to turn off the engine when waiting (like a manual stop-start system!) and keep the radio on, but it disappears very quickly. The battery seems fine, but perhaps needs a top up.

I am told that the absolute vital part about topping the battery via a charger is that you MUST connect the negative lead to a chassis earth point - NOT to the battery itself - as the computer needs to be "told" that the battery has been charged and it cannot do it if you connect the leads to the terminals... what a daft system! Surely the computer should monitor what's actually in the battery, not what it thinks has been put into it!!!

Really? I haven't heard that before.

So where's the earth point in the Volvo's, just clip the negative to the wing or something? :shocked:

Good question. Find something metal that starts your charger working, I guess... bolts into the chassis would be perfect. I have used shock absorber top mounting bolts before, but I have now made them difficult to access... most engine parts are not linked to the chassis due to the isolation offered by the engine mount rubbers

I clip mine to a small metal tag roughly in the centre of the engine bay, just below the windscreen, under the open bonnet. Not sure whether all cars have this, of course. Until I noticed this, getting a good earth, with the short leads, was a bit fiddly.

My CTEC MXS5.0 manual says the charger can be left connected long term. My car's Volvo manual says:

"To maintain the battery in good condition, at least 15 minutes of driving/week is recommended or that the battery is connected to a battery charger with automatic trickle charging."

I have a CTEC charger with a set of permanent connection wires that have a plug connector for the charger. I secure the + to the terminal using an attachment bolt on the clamp which seems to be there for the purpose and the - is bolted to one of the near side slam panel attachment bolts. The charger is permanently plugged into the connection and lives strapped in behind the nearside headlight housing and when I want to charge the battery I run out an extension lead to the car and pug the charger into it. If over night the charger cable can exit in the wing gap over the headlight and the bonnet can be closed.

The reason for not connecting a charger across the battery terminal posts is that the car has a battery monitoring system which is shorted out if you do connect across the terminals. While this might appear to be a nuisance, it is the monitoring system which tells you the battery charge state which is why you get warning of a low battery rather than not finding out until it's flat.

Thanks for this, just got my 16 plate Xc70 D5, (Euro 6) and had the message come up as well. I too have a ctek charger and was going to bolt it in yesterday, lucky i didn't,. Would it have been an expensive mistake, or simply a re-boot type thing. After 20 years in an old landrover, these things are scary.

It wouldn't have done damage, just by passed the monitoring system and blinded the ECU as to what was happening in the battery during charging. I did it before someone on the forum advised against bolting to the terminals. :_: