Frustrated of Norwich

[Brenda]

My 940 is giving me grief again.It seems that nearly every other day I have to jump start the battery.

Not sure what I can do about it now,as it is a new battery.

Perhaps I need to buy one of these Smart chargers ,but I dont know anything about them.

Brenda

[treehorndogsbody]

Take it to an auto electrician and have the charging checked and find out if the battery is a 'duff' new one,it can happen. Is the battery big enough for the car? Volvos are power hungry and need a very good battery. Some more knowledgable member should be able to tell you the voltage the altenator should kick out to keep the battery topped up.

[james 1992 940]

Hi
did you ever check what voltage you were getting off your alternator (just place your meter accross the battery terminals with the engine running at tickover) mine usually shows about 14 volts
also did you locate the source of your battery drain, my 940 seems to draw 35mA or so all shut down but with the stereo etc connected as normal so your readings were somewhat higher. What rating battery did you get? you would need 60Amp hours or better.
Hope some of this helps
James

And just as a matter of interest check what voltage the battery has dropped to when its a non starter

Are you taking the battery off to give it a full charge or just jumping it and relying on the charge it gets while its running? It will not get a decent charge off the alternator unless you are running it for several hours each time and some new batteries need a good 2 or 3 days charging off the car to refill completely, ignore whatever indicators are on your charger unless it is designed to trickle charge when full

[Brenda]

Thank you James.

My battery is a 65 AH one.The higher one wasnt available when I needed it (in a hurry). I was assuming, wrongly it would seem, that the battery would recharge in a shorter period than a few hours.Maybe thats why |I have to jump start so often. I did check what the voltage is with the engine running and it is a good 14v, but havent done so with the battery flat.( I will the next time)


I have a small current draw of 15ma through fuse 5 with the ignition off, but havent tried the same with the battery terminals disconnected.

Hope this helps,

Brenda

[Brenda]

When discharges, as today, there is berely enough power in the battery to display tthe radio LCD\'s.

No wonder the car wont start.

I am going to fit a voltmeter soon to monitor things better

[BillB]

Hi, I have a similar issue currently with my 740 - around 14v when charging and no significant current drain. My battery is 15/16 months old. As I don't drive it everyday I've currently fully charged the battery and disconnected it for two weeks so I'll try it Sat/Sun and if it's flat it must be the battery. EITHER your battery isn't charging properly OR it's faulty. It may be that there is a loose connection and under load the charging voltage drops. As you say, a fitted voltmeter will prove that. Regards.

[stephend]

Or possibly an intermittent short, that hasn't shown up on any of the occasions where you've monitored the current drain? Would be a bugger to find, unless it happens to do it while you're looking...

One other possibility: are your battery terminals and cables clean? I guess it's just possible the current is leaking out through a load of crud, so doesn't show up on any of the circuits?

Grasping at straws here...

[sirSTUpid]

Brenda when you switch the ignition on does all your warning lamps light up ? In particular the batt warning light? I had a very similar charging problem with a previous 940 and I noticed that my warning lamps were not coming on when I turned the ignition key. These lamps form part of the charging system and if your clocks a faulty then your battery wont charge. I had to replace my clocks and hey presto problem sorted. I know it sounds ridiculous, I even had an argument with a mechanic about this issue but seriously if that batt warning lamp does not come on then your battery isn't charging !! Just a thought Good luck

[BillB]

Originally Posted by sirSTUpid

seriously if that batt warning lamp does not come on then your battery isn't charging

Correct. The warning light is in the alternator field circuit and needs to work for charging to occur. However it was stated that the running battery votage is 14v meaning that the alt IS charging. Regards.

[Jim760]

not to thread jack at all but if the lights don't come on, battery etc, the red ones mainly, is it a burnt track on the back of the cluster that will cause that?

i don't get many lights at all when i turn mine on, only the abs light, handbrake and seatbelt warning light. now mine goes fine with a jump-start, just like the OP described, however after a jump mine tends to charge ok as ive covered good distance afterwards, battery gone from not enough to turn over to starting 1st flick, however its started to go intermittent and after a few starts.. (3 in 1 hour notably) an interesting note is that the radio goes off when the battery is too low (you then see the lights dimming before it will eventually run so slow it wont spark the engine any more!

so our fault must be instrument cluster, ignition switch or alternator.. perhaps even 2 of the 3..