Vida
 

Does the battery needs to be above a certain threshold to run VIDA.

Is there any other diagnostics Volvo use?

Thanks

yes it does you must have a 13.8 volt power supply connected to the battery whilst using it .

Greetings from Denmark
 

Hi Clan. I have tried to sent you a message, but when I press the send button, it says: "Sorry, you can only send messages to the Administrators group until you have 30 posts."

What can a man do?

You could always post here and ask for the nice mods to increase your post count to enable messages.
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...99800&page=191

Where do you have that information from? What happens if you don't, as mine usually show around 11.5V when I use it?

Thanks

It is important to have a 13.8v power supply when using vida as the heavy load with the ignition on draws the voltage down quickly , The systems will not work properly at 11.5v
where do I get the Information? Err it's in VIDA !

It might be "in VIDA' but it doesn't do anything to actively tell me this.

Well you will just have to trust me , someone who has been using it and it's predecessor VADIS since 1999 ...

That's not what I'm saying...

How long does it take to run VIDA?

My was on overnight charge at the dealers and then returned to me this AM, the car leaving the dealer at 08h45 this am (according to VOC). I doubt they ran a proper diagnostic and washed and vacuumed it this morning. (They claim to)

I know they did do any work on it yesterday (from dash cam footage).

Unless you're a Volvo tech who has been on a course, or you have read the included user manual, you won't know.

It's not a consumer product with overt instructions so you need to put in a little work to get the most out of it.

Am I understanding this correctly.

The 13.8v power supply is needed to supply the dice unit as if powering it from the OBD plug you pull the battery voltage down, and less than 11.5v starts to affect the cars system and the readings you get with ignition on and engine off. ?

Paul.

There are Dice installation instructions available as a pdf

https://www.volvotechinfo.com/siteCo...structions.pdf

No No , the 13.8v is to support the car battery , the Dice is powered via it's own lead , except in some difficult cases when it has a separate 12v power socket which is used .. and may also need the USB connected .

I can see where Paul is coming from in his thoughts as I think they are similar to mine.
As stated earlier Vida/dice needs 13.8v to operate correctly: running vida/dice with ignition on will rapidly draw the battery voltage down to sub 12v which will cause car issues which vida/dice will see as "faults" - there are many threads on here about faults caused by nothing more than a failing battery.
It would appear dealers get around this voltage drop issue by attaching an external 13.8v power supply.
I have got around the voltage drop by starting the engine and that generate's the necessary consistant voltage to use the vida/dice.
Unsure why dealers don't do this...unless they are not allowed..??? using customers fuel??

Which I think in a roundabout way is what Paul was thinking???
Cheers
Bob

To avoid a flat battery or any impact on the battery at all, I have the engine running when Vida is connected to the car unless the task I'm doing specifically requires the engine off. Some TCM resets spring to mind as an example but Vida will tell you if the engine must be off for a given function.

With the engine running, there is no battery drain as the alternator is providing all power and the voltage is constantly regulated.

Because Vida communicates with every available module, there will always be a small risk of corrupted data if using it on car battery power alone.

software updates can be between half an hour and an hour , it's just not practical , so can diagnostic sessions when you don't want the engine running ..

Right, think I understand now.

If useing the vida dice and not running the engine, connect a battery charger regulated to 13.8 volts.

Simples

If only understanding the readings was as easy.

Paul.

so to answer my question on times to run vida ... minimum half an hour for diagnostic?

How long is a piece of string???
 

I can run a diagnostic in 5 minutes, after computer has started up. However,..... If it detects any issues and you wish to chase them up, that secondary stuff takes extra time.
Si & Clan and probably others can do this secondary stuff say x2 quicker than me, as they know what they are doing, and are regular users. I'm still learning even though I've had access since 2011, and I still believe its all witchcraft, voodoo, and black magic.
But to return to the OP question a diagnostic can be really run very quickly.
Perhaps I'm lucky the only DTC I get on the R is the air quality senor error, and the younger D5 is currently still faultless.

Cheers
Bob

You have no idea how much I echo and endorse that sentiment. :)


Cheers
Bob

I have looked for collage courses that would educate me, unfortunatly none I've found within a radius of 80 miles do it via night school and needing the day job cannot afford the time for day courses.

The bit that terrifies me is a lad of my acquaintance started playing with diognostics on his bmw mini, got locked out of the ECU, ecu now removed from car and being sent off for reprogramming to factory spec at considerable cost while he is walking everywhere. All too easy to F*** it up when you are guessing.

Paul.