Battery ?
 

Hi guys I have baught a v60 1.6d rdesign 2012 I've had for two months ,since ive had it the stop start hasn't worked so I looked at the my car screen whit says it's disabled as battery is charging , so I got a set of testers from my work .car not running read 12.4v car running read 15.3 but the tester also indicated the battery was knackered. Could the regulator on the alternator be faulty as I think that reading is high . I did take pics and video :speechless-

12.4 is too low - battery is definitely knackered and it's also the reason why the charge rate is staying high.

I had a very similar issue with my 2014 d4.

Initially it was start stop not working, then eventually it got to a stage where the battery warning light came on.

Did a volt meter test and the battery was reading 14.7v when the car was running, this dropped to 12.4v immediately after the car was switched off, but after being left overnight the voltage was 11.9v.

You said 12.4v was that straight after the engine was turned off or was it after being left overnight?

A new battery was fitted and the start stop works again and a cold battery test reads 12.6v

There is something strange going on; on delivery in 2016 my 2015 V60 3.0 Polestar needed a new battery. I do a low mileage, around 4000 miles per year and fitted a smart charger. Since when I got the car low battery charge indications have shown up on a regular basis and sometimes the charging voltage is a very unhealthy 15+Volts The battery is again now at an unhealthy voltage and needs changing.

There is apparently a software related control which needs to be reset when a new battery is fitted; I suspect mine wasn't and the "system" was trying to recharge a dead battery ! It basically fried it I think.

Still, I have mentioned it to the dealer earlier so at the 3 year service hopefully they can sort it out.

I had a 2006 3.0 Ford Mondeo; also driven for 4,000 miles per year. Still on the original battery when I part exchanged it for the V60 at 10 years old ! Either Volvo fit awful batteries or there is something wrong with the charging programme.

Admittedly Graham,

My car does have 105k miles on the clock in the 4 years, so there is a chance that my battery failure is due to old fashioned use.

From my understanding most batteries have a finite number of starts in them, and with Start Stop the battery gets to a stage where it simply wont hold charge a lot sooner than an older car without Start Stop ever would.

Even on a short journey through a town the Start Stop could easily kick in 10/15/20 times, as compared to an older car where that 1 journey requires one start.

I did read an article, where someone reckons a battery in a car fitted with start stop has a life expecancy of between 3 to 7 years depending on use