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Charging system diagnosis. 850

My mom's 850 turbo has had a dead battery a few times over the past few months. What steps can I take to verify that the charging systen is operating correctly before I replace the Volvo branded battery? I checked voltage at the posts when the engine was running and I got about 13.28 volts, it did not increase much if at all when the engine speed was increased. I am used to working on my volvo Amazon and Duett so I don't know the proper diagnosis for this new fangled car. Any help would be greatly appreicated. The belt did look like it was in pretty good condition.

Thanks in advance,

mario m.








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    Charging system diagnosis. 850

    Mario, I forgot who posted this but it is a great guide. Your voltage may be a bit low.

    A voltmeter would reveal more information than an ammeter for most problems. In my experience a digital multimeter can be connected as needed to occasionally check the charging system. This is much more accurate than a permanently installed automotive type meter with a pointer and crude scale.

    The following checks may be helpful since you had or may still have dimming lights (including the warning lights). The battery voltage with no load (ignition and everything else off) should be 12.6 V - if at all lower, the battery may have a bad cell or an internal short.

    With a load such as headlights only turned on (ignition off) the battery voltage should drop very little, e.g. to 12.2 to 12.4 V, unless the lights are left on for a half hour or more. If drop is more than this then either the battery was not fully charged at the start of the test or is becoming weak or is not holding its charge.

    With the engine running there should be an overvoltage, around 13.8 to 14.2 volts (measured across the battery terminals) depending on ambient temperature (higher voltage at lower temperature), engine speed, and what electrical loads are operating. A dead charging system will not produce an overvoltage (you might read only 11.5 volts or even less) and a weak one will drop to smaller and smaller voltage, say 13 or 13.2, as various additional loads (lights, wipers, defroster) are turned on. If the charging system appears weak, it is important to check that all connections, particularly grounds, are intact and not corroded. Sometimes due to a bad connection the charging voltage will appear ok at the battery but will be low at some other point. Then the accessory connected at that point might not work well. Sometimes on fuel injected cars the engine will not run well and/or you will get a 'check engine' light due to a poor connection. If with the car running you get 14.8 or 15V at the battery then the system is overcharging and you may have a bad voltage regulator. Various lights on the car may burn out prematurely.

    You can use an ammeter in series with the battery to check if there is a load draining down the battery when everything is supposed to be off. On most cars only a few milliamperes of current should flow to power the clock, burglar alarm, door lock receiver, etc. A bigger draw or leak could occur due to corroded wiring (maybe winter salt spray in cold areas), or an improperly installed aftermarket item like a stereo. Most multimeters would also do this job.








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      Charging system diagnosis. 850

      13.5 volts at idle is a good rule of thumb. You are also going to want to know how much current (amps) it is capable of putting out. Your run of the mill ammeter is only going to be good for about 10-15 amps and does need to be hooked up in series. This means disconnect one terminal of the battery and hook one lead of the ammeter to the battery cable and the other lead to the battery post. This will cause the current to flow THROUGH your meter and that is why it is only good for 10-15 amps, passed that it will pop the fuse in it and if there were no fuse it would turn your meter into a bubbling pile of plastic. To measure the available amperage of the charging system you need an inductive ammeter. I have an adapter for my Fluke meter that works great. If you can get your hands on one you will need to clamp it around the battery positive and turn on absolutely every electrical consumer in the car with the car running. You should see somewhere in the area of 80-100 amps depending upon the load and which alternator you have in that car.

      Now, if you are going through batteries at an alarming rate I would suggest that you have a draw on the system. The glove box light on the 850 is notorious for staying on and draining the battery. The 850's have a very high parasitic load anyhow. On the older cars you typically would see something in the low teens, 10-15 milliamps, and every now and then something around 20 or so. All in all not too bad, but when the 850 hit the scene in '93 we started seeing stuff up closer to 30. If you can keep it under 30 and drive it regularily you will not have a problem. If you have a light staying on somewhere you will see something like 300-400+. Seeing as how we are talking about milliamps here you can use a regular ammeter and just hook it up in series, remember 100 milliamps is still only .1 amps. The old down and dirty way to check this stuff was to simply hook a test light up in series with the battery, just like you would the ammeter. Problem is that if it lights the light you still have no idea of how much current you are pulling. You can do this real quick and if the bulb does not light or is so dull you can barely see it you will PROBABLY be ok, but if you want to know for sure you will need to put an ammeter on it.

      I would start with a check with the ammeter first because that is the most likely problem from your description and then proceed with the other checks.


      Good Luck Mark







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