Low battery warning alert. Time for new battery??

[XCF]

Had my 2010 D5 show a warning when sat listening to the radio twice this week. Both times had driven 15~ miles. Parked and left ignition on sufficient to listen to radio and after maybe 5 mins only, radio and dash shows warning about low battery. Today it actually shut off the radio.

The car is mine from new. Still on original battery. Lives outside but started first time this morning despite hard frost, so it does seem odd that the battery is good to start the car but can’t run the radio for 5 mins.

Thoughts? New battery ?? If so where best ?

Thanks

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by XCF

Had my 2010 D5 show a warning when sat listening to the radio twice this week. Both times had driven 15~ miles. Parked and left ignition on sufficient to listen to radio and after maybe 5 mins only, radio and dash shows warning about low battery. Today it actually shut off the radio.

Throw it on a charger overnight to top it up and then monitor the state over the next few months. May have just simply been a bit low on charge.

My MY2009 XC90 is still on its original battery and I can get the battery low message easily after about 15min if I leave the radio running with engine off
I just give it a top-up charge every 2 or 3 months overnight to ensure the battery always has a chance to get back to 100%

[XCF]

Thanks. Am I right that I can charge via the engine bay (eg are there terminals I can clip the battery charger crocodile clips to ?)

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by XCF

Thanks. Am I right that I can charge via the engine bay (eg are there terminals I can clip the battery charger crocodile clips to ?)

Yes, they go via big fat cables directly back to the battery (in the boot)

[Rooster]

Even with ignition on position 1 the car is awake and pulling about 15 amps out of battery so won't take long for it to start throwing battery warnings especially on a 10 year old battery,

A good charge sometimes does a world of good but depends how much the battery has depleted to how long it will last,

[AidanC]

Mine displayed low battery warnings after during & after purchase last July. I've used mine twice since then to ensure that the battery is in a good state and haven't seen the warning since.

If you're going to connect the charger to the car's wiring, make sure that you use a decent 'intelligent' charger so that its not something that just lobs a high charge at the battery. CTEK make decent ones if you're in the market.

[Tannaton]

It may be that your battery has a failing cell - so the voltage drops down by about 2 volts but it can still deliver the current needed to start the car. Battery capacities are huge these days (around 100Ah on XC90) and the battery can deteriorate to about 20% of that and still start the car.

Genuine Volvo batteries often give over 10 years of service but it does depend a lot on how they have been used, if they have been left flat etc.

Suggest that you charge it for a few hours and then pop into Halfords or Kwik Fit - they will test batteries f.o.c. and the intelligent testers they use these days will calculate the Ah capacity and internal resistance and give you a fairly factual appraisal of your current battery (you are not obligated to buy a new one from them).

If you do need a new battery this is one of the occasions where the Volvo dealer wont be the cheapest but they might be the best value.

If it is failing - it will leave you stranded one day soon.

[nu11eaf]

I used to get that warning every time I sat in car with radio on and engine off on all 3 of my MK1 XC90's cars from being new. My new MK2 XC90 is just the same, even worse comes on even quicker, over protective or what. As long as your car is starting ok I would not worry about it.

[Desperate]

Ours is a 56 plate XC90 with the original battery, it has a few times thrown up that low battery warning over the last year, but so far (touch wood) it starts faultlessly

Desp

[XCF]

Thanks all - will leave it for now and see if it gets any worse.