S80: Electrical Battery low warning

[hippy996]

Hi,
My 2012 S80 has had a low battery warning for a few weeks now when I first open the doors and the stop/start is no longer working. I spoke with the Volvo garage last week when I had the seat belts fixed under the recall and they wanted £60 for diagnostics first to tell me which battery is defective!!!!! Is it just simply putting a volt meter across the +ve/-ve terminals of each battery? What should the readings be as a minimum?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by hippy996

Hi,
My 2012 S80 has had a low battery warning for a few weeks now when I first open the doors and the stop/start is no longer working. I spoke with the Volvo garage last week when I had the seat belts fixed under the recall and they wanted £60 for diagnostics first to tell me which battery is defective!!!!! Is it just simply putting a volt meter across the +ve/-ve terminals of each battery? What should the readings be as a minimum?

The car has a built in battery test routine which they go through which gives a very detailed condition report of the whole system . As they connect to Vida that is a 18 minute job in itself . Hence the cost .. The old fashioned red hot toaster tester is no longer suitable ..

[scbamber]

Plenty of possible reasons for low battery warning and no stop/start.

On the long-proved principle that 'common things are common', the simplest and cheapest way to start here is to charge the battery with a proper modern charger for at least overnight and preferably more. You are driving the car regularly?? If the problem quickly recurs it's most likely a duff battery (how old is it?). Other possibilities are voltage regulator broken, alternator broken, or a parasitic drain somewhere (fitted any new gadgets?). The two and overwhelmingly most common reasons are an ok battery which isn't being driven enough during the pandemic, and a battery too old to hold its charge.

Good luck. Do let us know

[hippy996]

Originally Posted by scbamber

Plenty of possible reasons for low battery warning and no stop/start.

On the long-proved principle that 'common things are common', the simplest and cheapest way to start here is to charge the battery with a proper modern charger for at least overnight and preferably more. You are driving the car regularly?? If the problem quickly recurs it's most likely a duff battery (how old is it?). Other possibilities are voltage regulator broken, alternator broken, or a parasitic drain somewhere (fitted any new gadgets?). The two and overwhelmingly most common reasons are an ok battery which isn't being driven enough during the pandemic, and a battery too old to hold its charge.

Good luck. Do let us know

Thanks for the info, Driving it most days and no issues with starting and after a drive the warning does not come on. It is just before starting for the first time that day.
I did put the voltmeter across the main battery this morning and had a reading of 12.33 volts. Not sure how you get to access the second smaller battery without taking the wipers and trims off!
I imagine it is the original battery from 2012 as I bought it at 2 years old and not changed it myself. No gadgets of late, last one was a dashcam 2 years ago.

[scbamber]

Seeing your story I'd almost bet it's the battery....not failing badly and not about to let you down, so no panic there, but just dropped on the wrong side of the parameters that trigger the warning in the display and prevent stop/start working. It's 8 years old and done pretty well as OEM batteries do. Some people here report their original battery lasting a dozen years, some down to about four years. Everyone but everyone says the smaller support battery never needs replacing, and even some dealers have never had to change one.

12.33v looks ok on the face of things but failing batteries can show a reasonable potential difference until you turn the lights on without the engine and then it drops very rapidly indeed.

If you have a decent charger like Ctek or Noco you could try the Recondition function which charges it as usual then gives it a shorter higher voltage charge of about 15.8 volts at 1.8 amps to try and shake sulphate deposits off the plates. Nothing to lose there, and it might delay the purchase of a new battery. Some folks here say that Volvo Dealers offer a very good price for a new OEM battery so ask them when you have checked the price at Tayna . Yours is almost certainly a size 096 AGM battery 70Ah/760a.

[Tatsfield]

In these Covid times my 2012 XC70 hardly gets used and I have the same low battery warning from time to time. I only have one battery and I connect a CTech Battery Charger to it overnight and the warning goes away for a couple of weeks if the car is little used. On the rare occasions when it gets driven for 50 mile round trips, the battery gets a good charging and the warning doesn't appear. The battery is 3 years old and fitted by Volvo when I bought the car second hand from a main dealer 3 years ago.

[scbamber]

Originally Posted by Tatsfield

In these Covid times my 2012 XC70 hardly gets used and I have the same low battery warning from time to time. I only have one battery and I connect a CTech Battery Charger to it overnight and the warning goes away for a couple of weeks if the car is little used. On the rare occasions when it gets driven for 50 mile round trips, the battery gets a good charging and the warning doesn't appear. The battery is 3 years old and fitted by Volvo when I bought the car second hand from a main dealer 3 years ago.

Assuming you have stop/start, are you certain you only have one battery? The owner's manual for the 2012 xc70 shows the second (support) battery on page 343/4. Maybe some versions that year did not have stop/start

[Tatsfield]

I don't have stop/start. Sorry, I should have made that clear.

[apersson850]

Originally Posted by scbamber

Assuming you have stop/start, are you certain you only have one battery? The owner's manual for the 2012 xc70 shows the second (support) battery on page 343/4. Maybe some versions that year did not have stop/start

Model year 2012 was the first with start/stop in these cars (V70/XC70). The development of the function wasn't finished at that time, so only cars with manual gear boxes got the function. Next year the automatic ones had it too.
My 2012 is automatic and doesn't have it.

[hippy996]

Thanks for the info