240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Stephen Edwin]

Originally Posted by 360beast

You should service the RB again just to try them out

Stephen



.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Some heat from a hairdryer (or heatgun on low) to warm the panel, badge and tape before application will help a lot Alan!

Also a through degreasing with IPA or similar of the panel and rear of the badge will help too.

... that 3M tape worked really well Dave - I checked it this morn and it is really firm.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... that 3M tape worked really well Dave - I checked it this morn and it is really firm.

Alan

Glad to hear it Alan!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Bob Meadows

Hi Alan: ~

I have this top hose that is NOS in good condition-part of a stash of spares purchased some time back.
The part number says 463305-3 Volvo original.
If it fits your car then you can have it if you wish- just cove the post would be fine. It doesn’t fit my ’88 240 as the angle runs the opposite way, I think it may be for an earlier model?

Just let me either way and I can sort it etc.
Regards Bob.

(Tried to do the above in a private mail but I cant seem to attach the picture)

The top hose arrived in the mail today Bob, many thanks - see PM.
Alan

[Othen]

Continuing on the theme of constantly improving the RB without detracting from its ethos... I fancied having a gauge to monitor the health of the battery. We had discussed adding proper Volvo gauges (a bit expensive, and not really the right thing for the RB), and also adding some similar aftermarket gauges (but I only really needed a voltage meter). The answer occurred to me a few weeks ago, so I ordered one of these direct from some factory in China:



The cost was just £3.17 (delivered to my house) and it just slipped into the 12v socket I'd fitted last year. It works perfectly well, solves the problem of monitoring the battery completely and I think fits in quite well with the RB's character.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Continuing on the theme of constantly improving the RB without detracting from its ethos... I fancied having a gauge to monitor the health of the battery. We had discussed adding proper Volvo gauges (a bit expensive, and not really the right thing for the RB), and also adding some similar aftermarket gauges (but I only really needed a voltage meter). The answer occurred to me a few weeks ago, so I ordered one of these direct from some factory in China:



The cost was just £3.17 (delivered to my house) and it just slipped into the 12v socket I'd fitted last year. It works perfectly well, solves the problem of monitoring the battery completely and I think fits in quite well with the RB's character.

:-)

Nice addition Alan, be aware though the calibration sometimes leaves something to be desired. Does it have any USB sockets built in?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Nice addition Alan, be aware though the calibration sometimes leaves something to be desired. Does it have any USB sockets built in?

I wasn't really expecting something that only cost £3 to be all that accurate Dave, but the display is showing about what I'd expect (around 12.3v with the engine off, 13.3v with the alternator spinning at tick-over). It is really just so I can keep an eye on the battery and charging system - I don't have any concerns in that respect but now if anything changed I'd have some warning before it was too late.

The meter itself doesn't have any USB sockets, but the 12v socket I'd fitted has two as well as the cigar lighter type output. From one of them I run a USB-c wire up to the dash so I can plug my spare cell phone in and have SATNAV as well as internet radio via the Sony head unit fitted to the car. This works pretty well and saves having to fit either a DAB radio or a stick-on SATNAV unit.

I'm happy this has been a worthwhile enhancement for a tiny expenditure :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I wasn't really expecting something that only cost £3 to be all that accurate Dave, but the display is showing about what I'd expect (around 12.3v with the engine off, 13.3v with the alternator spinning at tick-over). It is really just so I can keep an eye on the battery and charging system - I don't have any concerns in that respect but now if anything changed I'd have some warning before it was too late.

I'm happy this has been a worthwhile enhancement for a tiny expenditure :-)

At idle with no load, it should be between 14.4-14.0V Alan so 13.3V is a bit low. I'd suggest you check the charging voltage with your multimeter directly on the battery at tickover to confirm if the new gadget is just reading low as they can also suffer a poor connection in the actual lighter socket.

Once you know if there is a discrepancy the gasget will be more useful as you will have a baseline to work from.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

At idle with no load, it should be between 14.4-14.0V Alan so 13.3V is a bit low. I'd suggest you check the charging voltage with your multimeter directly on the battery at tickover to confirm if the new gadget is just reading low as they can also suffer a poor connection in the actual lighter socket.

Once you know if there is a discrepancy the gasget will be more useful as you will have a baseline to work from.

... Yes, as expected Dave: I get 14.35v at tick-over and a reading at the device of 13.3v, - about a volt of potential drop to the accessory socket would be about right (and there would have been a few low current devices like the interior light providing quite an easy path to the -ve return). I'm happy that the new meter is giving me some useful information about the health of the battery and charging system as any deviation from what it shows now would be a good warning.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... Yes, as expected Dave: I get 14.35v at tick-over and a reading at the device of 13.3v, - about a volt of potential drop to the accessory socket would be about right (and there would have been a few low current devices like the interior light providing quite an easy path to the -ve return). I'm happy that the new meter is giving me some useful information about the health of the battery and charging system as any deviation from what it shows now would be a good warning.

A useful test then Alan!

Now you can add ~1V onto the displayed voltage and know whether it's charging or not - over 13.8V it's charging, below it's discharging which would be expected at idle with a high load like HRW, headlights, heater fan and wipers but should jump above 13.8V once the engine speed is above 1500rpm.