Battery or charging problem?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 198
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From: Pensacola FL
St. Jude Donor '10
Battery or charging problem?
I took the car out yesterday and today (2003 A4) and when I started the car the radar detector came on the shut itself down due to low voltage. I checked the voltage, and sure enough, was below 12 volts. After running about 20 seconds, the voltage was back up tp 12.9V and the radar detector would work. Today, when I was at idle, the voltage would drop below 12V and the radar detector would drop off line. Once I started to move, the volts would increase back to 12.9 or above. The battery is about 20 months old. I am not showing any codes. I tend to think this is the sign of the battery going bad, but could it be a charge circuit fault?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 198
Likes: 0
From: Pensacola FL
St. Jude Donor '10
Yeah I'm using the DIC and the volt gauge at the moment as I was having this problem when I was driving. I'll try and get a voltmeter on it tomorrow, but the battery volts are definetly low
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
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From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
The IPC volt meter and the digital DIC volt meter BOTH get their readings after the IGNITION SWITCH. If the ignition switch has bad outputs, that battery could be fine but the modules that are supplied by the ignition switch can be BAD. Read the BATTERY VOLTAGE & CHARGING Voltage at the battery terminals. Then read the fuses that are supplied by the ignition switch output. They should be the same as battery voltage.
BC
BC
