27mA current drain, is it normal?

[suddy]

I have been suffering for regular non-starts since the weather went cold needing me to put the charger on it in order to start.

I measured the current load when the car is off, doors closed, locked and alarm on, which settles to 27mA, I wondered if this is normal or would this be considered excessive?

Thanks in advance.
Stephen

[jifflemon]

What year is the car?

All volvo's have an 027 style battery, which is in the region of 60ah; So, it can stand a draw of 1amp for 60 hours, or in the case of you 27ma, 222 hours....

I'd suggest it's one of two things (possibly both!).
1. As it's start with colder, darker weather (which means more load on electrics), you may find your charging system isn't in fine fettle; Luckily, some rather helpful bloke did an easy to follow guide here
2. Your battery is passed it's best.

Whilst you mentioned charging, worth checking your charger; a semi decent one will put out 6amps, meaning you're still going to need 10 hours to charge the battery (and more, because as it gets fuller, charging rates decrease!). Now if your charger is only putting out 1 or 2 amps as it's starting point......

[suddy]

It's a 1995.

Interesting, I didn't think to check the charging voltage at the battery terminals, I was trusting the little voltmeter gauge inside the car. With that said, I tested it, it's a steady-ish 14.4V at idle, drops slightly to 14.3 when I increase the rpm of the engine, but still, I'm reasonably confident that the charging circuit is working.

It's slightly irritating because the battery is only 7 months old, so I couldn't believe it's a faulty battery.

Thanks for the reply.
Stephen

[jifflemon]

Test it under load; Headlamps, heater blower on Max, heated rear windows and seats.

Shouldn't drop below 13.7 really.