Low Power Mode - No Sounds from Radio

[TDV6]

Has anyone come across this problem and have a fix for it?

What is the normal resting voltage of a D3/4 RRS battery after a reasonable drive?

The battery is 9 months old and reads 12.36v across the terminals, when driving it charges between 14.7 and 13.3v over 120k distance. I have disconnected battery and shorted the cables for 10 min or so to drain the capacitors also I used my MSV2 unit to clear all system faults but still have the same message on my audio screen "Low Power Mode" when increasing the sound output but no sounds come from the speakers. I have also checked the fuses with no problems found.

The battery was checked at a battery shop and they said all was ok when it was under load.

Thanks in advance,

Ryall

[drivesafe]

Hi Ryall, unfortunately because your cranking battery is a Calcium/Calcium battery, having your battery checked with a load tester does not mean they correctly assessed whether the battery was good or on it’s last legs.

A battery at 12.36v say 10 or more hours after the vehicle was last driven is fine, not fully charged but fine.

If that voltage was a measured after turning the motor off, then I would suspect an under charged battery.

If you don’t drive too often then you might try giving your battery a charge with a battery charger and see if this helps the problem but your alternator could also be the problem.

A 120k drive is not long enough to charge a low battery back to a fully charged state but it should have raised the battery voltage enough for you sound system to start working properly so again, the problem may be with your alternator.

I know this is not much help but it will give you somewhere to start.

[NomadicD3]

Hey Ryall, Funny you shoud bring this topic up as I have just had the same converstaion with Tim {drivesafe} a few days ago. I was recently out camping/travelling and pulled up for a hour or so at night for a break and dinner. During this time I had the interior lights on and stereo playing whilst we cooked some dinner and had a few drinks{non alcoholic of course;)}. When we got back in the car and tried to crank the stereo up it gave us exactly the same warning and wouldn't let the stereo go up to full volume. So it seems that it is an automatic protection for the battery. After about an hour or so of driving it all went back to normal. I actually thought that it was pretty cool given that we were driving at night and had spotlights on and everything after the dinner break. Although I too decided to get some confirmation and called Tim to clarify the situation and he was, as always, very helpful.
P.S. resting voltage cold for my D3 battery is 12.63

[TDV6]

Thanks for the info Tim and NomadicD3,

I am going up to the company's rep this afternoon and will get them to check/swap a new battery in etc and as you say the D3 system should reset itself. I am aware there was an issue with the later D3/4 that caused the audio to lock out and the fix is to disconnect the battery and short the leads.

I haven't started the car since Sunday arvo and the battery is now at 12.1v, Last week when all this started I put the 10amp smart charger on and left it there for a few days, I think that it was 12.65v before starting the car to go to Brisbane. I only seem to do daylight driving these days and the input voltage was around 14.7 for most of the trip.

PS, My car is a Feb05 build TDV6.

Tim you kindly fitted the setup for a dual battery to my car in February but I haven't got around to fitting a second battery yet, however the rewire to the rear Anderson plug for the caravan works well, we had no problems with it on the Tasmanian trip.

Thanks again,

Ryall

[NomadicD3]

Hey Ryall, Just a quick PS to the previos posts. Thursday I got back in my car after it had been sitting for most of the last 4 weeks, during which time a friend had used it for a few quick short trips and mentioned that the battery symbol was staying on. I checked the battery voltage before starting the car and it was 11.63, once the car was started it only got to 12.8. Again the stereo was on auto volume limitation mode and the battery light was staying on. Interestingly it took 300 km's before the battery warning light went out but only about 100k's before I could crank the stereo up to max volume. Also curiously the battery warning light did go off then come back on again a number of times before it decided it was going to stay off. 12hrs rest after driving the car 1500k's that day and the battery prestart voltage is 12.63. I guess the 300k's proves Tim's post about 120 k's not being enough to fully recharge the battery.

[drivesafe]

Hi NormadicD3, how do you get your battery voltage measurements?

The reason I ask is that while 12.8 is low but if this is straight after starting, it’s a normal reading but a few minutes after starting your drive, you should get a much higher reading.

BTW with a battery voltage of just 11.63v, did your D3 fire up straight away or did it find it hard to turn over?