XC90 First Edition D5 Battery Issues

[mr yoda]

Hi All,

Got my Black first edition XC90 D5 2.0 back in June. Its a fantastic car with air suspension and am happy with it overall other than a few niggles.

Panel vibration on the front side passenger door panel when playing music even at low volume. (sending in to the dealers to have a look)

Battery issues : I use the car daily for half an hour for school run and then to the station and then 15 mins back home in the evening. Take it for a 2hour dive over the weekends. But i keep getting battery low messages. The car had refused to move one day saying "parking brake failure" but it turned out to be a flat battery. Sending it to the dealers to have a look. Anyone facing similar issues ??

Other than that i am happy with the car and looking forward to the November update. Sending it to the dealers this week. Love the space and the quality if the interiors.

[Schnorbitz]

I had the same warning on a single occasion but it's never happened again.

I'm hammering the heated seats and wheel now on mainly short runs so I must be putting a reasonable demand on the battery so I'll keep an eye on it.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by Schnorbitz

I had the same warning on a single occasion but it's never happened again.

I'm hammering the heated seats and wheel now on mainly short runs so I must be putting a reasonable demand on the battery so I'll keep an eye on it.

Unless you're using them with the engine off, it shouldn't make any difference to the battery.
Taking care of electrical load out and about is what your alternator is for.

[Whyman]

I have had a similar problem on my XC60. It the message shows after a few starts and short runs or sitting for a little while with just the radio on.

It has been back to the dealers twice under warranty each time they say it is OK but I am not sure. I have checked the voltage and both the battery and alternator seem to be good.

I have similar post on the XC60 section. (If I knew how I would put a link on). The other members thought that I was being fob off and will be buying a new battery soon but probably after the warranty runs out in March next year.

Having said that the car has never failed to start so time will.

[Schnorbitz]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

Unless you're using them with the engine off, it shouldn't make any difference to the battery.
Taking care of electrical load out and about is what your alternator is for.

I know that *should* be the case but I'm dubious when it comes to short runs when the system has a limited time to recover charge lost from the initial engine starting load. Does it play catch-up and drop voltage over time? Who knows but modern car electrics don't tolerate much of a drop before they play up.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by Schnorbitz

I know that *should* be the case but I'm dubious when it comes to short runs when the system has a limited time to recover charge lost from the initial engine starting load. Does it play catch-up and drop voltage over time? Who knows but modern car electrics don't tolerate much of a drop before they play up.

It's your battery recovering charge after a start not your electrical system.
If your journeys are short and frequent, the battery won't recover sufficiently and in time will have a shorter life.
Just unlocking the car then leaving it without starting can place quite a large battery drain on really modern cars because so many systems "wake up" in readiness to be used and that's before you sit thumbing the manual with the radio on going through all the great things the car can do.
I always think of a battery as a bucket of water with a hole in it and how you use the car determines the size of the hole.

[Rooster]

There has been a new charger released from volvo for dealers for xc90's that can supply 70amps if required for software downloads,

We have also been instructed to have a charger plugged on car before we do anything with it,

There has been alot of software updates since june so your first edition might just require a few updates

[mr yoda]

Originally Posted by Rooster

There has been a new charger released from volvo for dealers for xc90's that can supply 70amps if required for software downloads,

We have also been instructed to have a charger plugged on car before we do anything with it,

There has been alot of software updates since june so your first edition might just require a few updates

Software update was the problem. Volvo technician confirmed that other Volvo owners had also complained about this and this should be fixed by the firmware upgrade.

I haven't had any messages since the upgrade. However this could be because they charge the battery when the firmware upgrade is happening.

Will keep an eye on this.