I have a 2002 Volvo with a big battery , its original and probably just worn out , but I check it at night after driving its 100% @13.3v and in the morning its 75% 12.5v or so. But strangely it only takes 5 minutes at 15 A. to get to 100% or 13.3v . Most likely battery is just old and bad, ideas. How do I check a draw of amps on a battery to see if I have a short. Or do I just get a new battery and worry later or not at all.
100% for a car battery is 14.7 volts. Bad battery.
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I thought it was 13.3 volts , 14.7 is alternator output, go check your battery voltage, I bet its 13.3 not 14.7 or nearer to 13. Let us know. Check it after 4 hrs at least rest. 50 Bucks says you are wrong. Hmmm.
I thought it was 13.3 volts , 14.7 is alternator output, go check your battery voltage, I bet its 13.3 not 14.7 or nearer to 13. Let us know. Check it after 4 hrs at least rest. 50 Bucks says you are wrong. Hmmm.
14.7 with eng running, 13.2 / 13.3 batt only.The OEM battery is over a year old. It's on borrowed time. Consider yourself lucky and buy a new one before it leaves you and your VOLVO stranded at some shopping mall.
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I wouldn't depend on those percentages. What are you using to give you percentages. As to the voltages, are all of them with the car off?
(I didn't think you could get 13.3 with the car off, but one of my meters has a low battery now, and it's showing 2.3 volts for a good flashlight battery. (Maybe that's because it's a cheap digital meter, but still.)
I agree that you should check this out. For one thing, you'll learn things so the next time this happens, you'll know a lot more.
Just take off one of the battery cables and put an ammeter inbetween it and the battery post. Start with the high range, like up to 2 amps if you have a jack or scale like that, 200 milliamps if you don't, and if you don't get a reading, change to the next lower scale.
Pat Goss, who used to have a car show on 980AM in DC and gave the best advice I've ever heard, especially for the shade-tree mechanic, said one could judge the drain from a battery when the car was off by using, and hears the problem, I don't remember the number exactly, a #52, 53 or 57 lightbulb**. This is one of the small spherical ones with only one contact at the bottom. Only room for one contact because it's small. They used to be used as dashboard lights. If it lights, there is too much drain. I checked once how much current it took to light the bulb, but now I can't remember. **I could go to the store and see which of this is a cute, little, very round bulb, but I keep forgetting. If anyone knows which one I mean, please let us know.
I have a bulb like that, in a socket with wires already, somewhere in this house and I may need it myself as soon as the weather is warmer, because since New Years, my battery goes dead every night. Thank goodness for Battery Buddy, not cheap but worth every penny of it. When the voltage from the battery gets too low, it disconnects the battery, while still leaving just enough for me to start the car (after I open the hood and press a button on the thing.) It's worked for me 50 or 80 times counting 10 times this year and 40 or more about
6 years ago (when I was getting a new car and didn't want to buy a battery for a car I was going to scrap. I was right too because the new, used car came with an almost new battery.)
Which is exactly what happens when the plates have mostly disintegrated. You have some battery left, but most of it is loose on the bottom of the cells.
Sounds like it is going but a battery shop can put a load test on it. It may be smarter to put that money towards a new one though. If you live in a cold climate, it is a good time to just replace it and feel confident that your car will start in the AM. Most OEM batteries last about 72 months so you are close. Consider the problems of having it die on a cold morning or late at night at the mall, or some other inconvenient time.
My Buick has a Series 100 battery that is supposed to last 84 months. Last week I replaced it at 82.5 months. With single digit temperatures, I was not taking chances.
A six year old auto battery that doesn't hold a charge? Are you daft, man! This ought to be obvious, even for you.
Six years old, what's the odds of a bad battery? He should take it back to the dealership and demand a pro rated exchange.
I find that car batteries last four months less than the stated number of months. And by that time, the pro-rate is nothing.
Titanium by Advance Auto gave me all kinds of trouble. Friends reccomend Interstate. I've got one in both vehicles, hope they are that good. Cost me about $100 each.
a 100% battery is close to 12.6 volts (after sitting for a while).
Car and Deep Cycle Battery Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 7.1
That's where you pay them 20% of the replacement cost to take the old battery back, and you pay them the full 100% cost for the new battery too.
In Ransley's case, that works out to about 40% savings, or at least he'll think so when it's all over. He's not the highest wattage bulb in the christmas tree. Even when he's being tightly screwed in, and has his contacts touching, both filaments activated, and full line current. I won't speculate if he does three way.
BTW, your newsreader is putting the sig separator ("-- ") and sig in the wrong place.
Oh, sorry about that.
Get it tested at any auto parts store, or just throw a pair of jumper cables in the trunk in case it ever gives you trouble. Replacing a battery before it gives you a problem or tests bad is just wasteful in my book.
Battery voltage does drop some over time after you remove the charge current. That's normal.
If you have a problem, hook up the jumper cables, and stick your thumb out like a hitchhiker with the end of the cables in your other hand. Someone will get the idea quickly and offer to help.
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