Which battery????

[Stevied1960]

Can anyone advise which is the best battery for the V8 Please?
Do they do a heavier duty one than the : 12v, 90Ah 800A H8 battery?
Wifey likes to use heated seat a lot and the Aircon is always on auto, but battery is now loosing charge and has failed twice, fortunately I carry a booster starter pack in the boot.
Last time it really struggled to start it went into reduced performance mode, or limp mode.
Let it idle for 15 minutes, turned off and re started and the engine message disappeared and everything was normal.
Removed battery and charged overnight, was 13.1v after full charge, replaced in car and this morning was 12.1v.
Unfortunately the car doesn't get driven every day and when it does it's only short journeys.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Steven.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Stevied1960

Can anyone advise which is the best battery for the V8 Please?
Do they do a heavier duty one than the : 12v, 90Ah 800A H8 battery?
Wifey likes to use heated seat a lot and the Aircon is always on auto, but battery is now loosing charge and has failed twice, fortunately I carry a booster starter pack in the boot.
Last time it really struggled to start it went into reduced performance mode, or limp mode.
Let it idle for 15 minutes, turned off and re started and the engine message disappeared and everything was normal.
Removed battery and charged overnight, was 13.1v after full charge, replaced in car and this morning was 12.1v.
Unfortunately the car doesn't get driven every day and when it does it's only short journeys.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Steven.

Volvo dealer always worth a call - reasonable price for a top quality battery and you are guaranteed it will be the correct one. Also I think there may be an 20% offer on at the moment?

[SwissXC90]

The best battery is exactly what is written in the Owners Manual

For the V8, the correct battery is a 600 CCA battery, with 125 min reserve capacity (RC) and 70 Ah capacity.

If a Parking Heater is fitted, then the V8 has the larger battery fitted: 800 CCA, 150 min RC, 90 Ah capacity. This is the same battery as for the D5 diesel (what I have).

If you have no parking heater and want more reserve capacity, then fit the 800 CCA battery to your V8.

It would also pay to give it a top-up overnight charge once a month using an intelligent battery charger such as those made by CTEK.

I do this on my D5, which has sometimes sits in the garage for weeks without use. It is simply a proactive maintenance task for me to ensure I never get stuck with a low battery charge.

I have just come back today from 3 weeks holiday, and I checked my D5 battery tonight. I measured it on the Trailer Connector without unlocking the car, so I was measuring the true resting state after 3 weeks of absolutely no vehicle usage.
I had it fully charged before I left to ensure it won't get fully depleted.
After 3 weeks of idle state (where the car always draws some idle power, in the region of around 20 to 30 mA) the battery measured 12.36V, which is around about 70% charged.

I will throw the charge on tonight to ensure it is back up to 100% charge, as we now have Autumn, and the mornings are down to only 5°C.
Always wise to ensure your battery is in top shape for Winter.

[AndyV7o]

Car isnt getting used enough, use a maintenance charge device.
Heated seats etc shouldnt make a big difference if your alternator is ok, have you checked the charging rate?
As both a former mechanic and motor factor employee, most 'battery' problems arent actually the battery, particularly with infrequently used or short stop-start vehicles.

[Stevied1960]

Originally Posted by AndyV7o

Car isnt getting used enough, use a maintenance charge device.
Heated seats etc shouldnt make a big difference if your alternator is ok, have you checked the charging rate?
As both a former mechanic and motor factor employee, most 'battery' problems arent actually the battery, particularly with infrequently used or short stop-start vehicles.

Yes the alternator is fine, checked at 14.6v when idling.
Charging the battery overnight is difficult, we work on a campsite so don't have a garage, I have to remove the battery to charge it.
That being said, now the campsite is emptying, I probably could rig up a charger for overnight charging.
I would prefer the higher powered battery.
I will ring Volvo tomorrow to check they have one, nearest dealer is Norwich.
Thanks for the replies.

[AndyV7o]

Check out www.tayna.co.uk they will have a Varta Silver which equals or exceeds the battery you mention, but even better quality/reliability than Volvo batt who are seemingly made by either exide or numax and tend to either last well or die prematurely from what I've read on here. Next day delivery, well packaged, best prices you can find on varta/bosch.
That said, volvo prices are reputedly good.

[Stevied1960]

Just ordered the CTek battery charger.
Will see if it is a faulty battery or just needs maintenance using recond method.
Nothing to loose as I need a charger of my own anyway, instead of borrowing the work one 😀
Am I right in understanding that I can leave the charger connected, so all I have to do is run a power supply to it?
I was thinking of wiring it next to the battery, I also bought the comfort panel and was going to fit this in the rear panel somewhere ( don't know exactly where yet as will be determined by the cable length) so I can see when it needs a charge, also it looks like you can just plug the unit into the comfort panel.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by AndyV7o

Check out www.tayna.co.uk they will have a Varta Silver which equals or exceeds the battery you mention, but even better quality/reliability than Volvo batt who are seemingly made by either exide or numax and tend to either last well or die prematurely from what I've read on here. Next day delivery, well packaged, best prices you can find on varta/bosch.
That said, volvo prices are reputedly good.

You may have read isolated stories about premature failures, usually when alternators die on the Ford based cars - Volvo batteries last usually minimum 7 years, 10 years is not uncommon.

The battery in my 08 XC70 is the original, left the side lights on for 10 hours the other day - still started as normal.

[AndyV7o]

No, I've read quite a few posts including pre ford cars where the volvo batt lasts around 3 years. I have also read tales of longevity such as yours.
If the batts are made by exide as is reputed, this actually fits their reputation. They make good batteries, but, some are absolute gash, not sure why but that's the reputation.
I asked Tayna when looking to purchase a battery what the score was with exide, and exide vs Varta. The answer I got was 'If it was my money, it would go on the varta. There may be a marginal advantage to the exide, but in reality its insignificant. We have very few, if any, issues/returns with varta.'
The volvo batts are good and well priced if you get a good un. Some people have had a run of crap ones.
Varta(/Bosch, same batt, different label) are rarely any trouble at all.
There are pluses and minuses for both routes, Im just offering info that I have found.

[SwissXC90]

CTEK offer a wide range of accessories for permatent or temporary wiring to the car

You could have the battery charger in the car, permanently wired to the battery, and just connect the mains cable when needed.
This keeps the charger dry and out of the weather.

Or wire the CTEK charger to a trailer connector, if you have the 11-pin trailer wiring, and then have the charger outside the car and connect to the trailer plug. This allows you to charge without even unlocking the car, but does mean the charger is exposed to the weather.