SSV Volt Meter

[HEXEM]

Hi all,

My car was booked in at holden to have the SIC module replaced as it was faulting (blanking out). The SIC module is the volt/oil pressure meter in the SSV dash. When they put the new unit in and programmed it, it didnt work, so they have ordered another one. They have put the old SIC unit back in for now.

They also replaced my battery with a new freshly charged one. Since they have done this I am noticing a change in the volts meter reading. The meter reads 14 volts on cold start and after driving for 10mins it will drop to 13 volts (1 red block past the 12volt). After driving on the open road at 80kph or above the meter will eventually drop to 12volts and stay there until I stop at the lights for a period of time when the meter will increase back to 13volts.

I spoke to the mechanic about this and he said that the new software for the charging behaviour of the VE was changed (not sure when). The alternator will only increase the charge rate when its required which you will then notice a change in the meter reading. He said that when the car is travelling at speeds above 80kph for a length of time the charge will decrese once the battery has reached its capacity and to prevent overcharging. When the car stops at the lights or in slow speeds (under 40kph) the charge delivered by the alternator changes where you might see and increase in the charge on the meter.

The car never use to do this, it would always stay at 14volts when driving, or at idle.

What is the behaviour of your vehicles volt meter (SSV even E-Series HSV). Do you see a similar behaviour like what I have described. I would appreciate your feed back...

Cheers
Phil

P.S., it might be that my exisiting meter being faulty is causing this change!

[Mix 6000]

Hi, I have a VE Maloo & mine stays (gauge type) on a constant 14volts...don't know about your probs though???....cheers.

[Jman]

Hi, I have a VE Maloo & mine stays (gauge type) on a constant 14volts...don't know about your probs though???....cheers.

Same here with my VE R8, constant 14 volts.

[CSP]

If you have any variation from around 14 volts, it means the battery needs to be put on a Calcium charger for 24 hrs to get it's FULL charge back.

[crYnOid]

Hi all,

My car was booked in at holden to have the SIC module replaced as it was faulting (blanking out). The SIC module is the volt/oil pressure meter in the SSV dash. When they put the new unit in and programmed it, it didnt work, so they have ordered another one. They have put the old SIC unit back in for now.

They also replaced my battery with a new freshly charged one. Since they have done this I am noticing a change in the volts meter reading. The meter reads 14 volts on cold start and after driving for 10mins it will drop to 13 volts (1 red block past the 12volt). After driving on the open road at 80kph or above the meter will eventually drop to 12volts and stay there until I stop at the lights for a period of time when the meter will increase back to 13volts.

I spoke to the mechanic about this and he said that the new software for the charging behaviour of the VE was changed (not sure when). The alternator will only increase the charge rate when its required which you will then notice a change in the meter reading. He said that when the car is travelling at speeds above 80kph for a length of time the charge will decrese once the battery has reached its capacity and to prevent overcharging. When the car stops at the lights or in slow speeds (under 40kph) the charge delivered by the alternator changes where you might see and increase in the charge on the meter.

The car never use to do this, it would always stay at 14volts when driving, or at idle.

What is the behaviour of your vehicles volt meter (SSV even E-Series HSV). Do you see a similar behaviour like what I have described. I would appreciate your feed back...

Cheers
Phil

P.S., it might be that my exisiting meter being faulty is causing this change!


On the SIC, I have had mine replaced after I found that on very cold mornings it would not come on. Once the heater had been running for a few minutes it came on and all was happy. Mine also seemed to "blanking out" while driving but I would only see it out of the corner of my eye, so by the time I looked it was working fine.

Anyway my SIC was replaced with a new one, and reprogrammed to work on my car. According to the dealer they have seen a few SSV's with this issue. I now have a bad rattle & squeak from around the SIC :( My dealer hasn't been much help in fixing my other problems so I guess I have another rattle to be over powered by the stereo....


On the battery charging, what you have been told is what I was told as well. With my car it will typically sit on 15V unless I have been doing alot of driving (15+ hours in 2-3 days etc) when it will start to drop. I have seen as little as 12V after many, many hours driving over many days. I figure if its stays 12V or over thats all that matters!

[HEXEM]

Thanks for the feed back so far guys.

I will be getting them to check the software and calibrate the charge rate etc.

It still could be the SIC playing up.

crYnOid: The rattle could be the speaker under the grill above the SIC display. I have been told that they access the module through the grill then remove the speaker.

My car wont be back to the dealer until Monday. The second module has arrived however they are to busy to do it this week. Seeing they replaced the battery without me requesting it, I might get them to replace it again an check the software calibration for the charging habbit of the alternator.

Damn software driven cars... Lucky it doesn't run on Windows... LOL..

[gmeup]

Hi all,

My car was booked in at holden to have the SIC module replaced as it was faulting (blanking out). The SIC module is the volt/oil pressure meter in the SSV dash. When they put the new unit in and programmed it, it didnt work, so they have ordered another one. They have put the old SIC unit back in for now.

They also replaced my battery with a new freshly charged one. Since they have done this I am noticing a change in the volts meter reading. The meter reads 14 volts on cold start and after driving for 10mins it will drop to 13 volts (1 red block past the 12volt). After driving on the open road at 80kph or above the meter will eventually drop to 12volts and stay there until I stop at the lights for a period of time when the meter will increase back to 13volts.

I spoke to the mechanic about this and he said that the new software for the charging behaviour of the VE was changed (not sure when). The alternator will only increase the charge rate when its required which you will then notice a change in the meter reading. He said that when the car is travelling at speeds above 80kph for a length of time the charge will decrese once the battery has reached its capacity and to prevent overcharging. When the car stops at the lights or in slow speeds (under 40kph) the charge delivered by the alternator changes where you might see and increase in the charge on the meter.

The car never use to do this, it would always stay at 14volts when driving, or at idle.

What is the behaviour of your vehicles volt meter (SSV even E-Series HSV). Do you see a similar behaviour like what I have described. I would appreciate your feed back...

Cheers
Phil

P.S., it might be that my exisiting meter being faulty is causing this change!


I was having problems with my bcm not charging my battery and i had my software upgraded on my ssv and now it behave in the very same manner you have decribed in your op. Seems to go fine now.

[HEXEM]

Update:

I took the car back to holden this afternoon. The volt meter was displaying all kinds of readings (anywhere from 10volts to 13volts while driving, had a mind of its own) and actually started doing the oposite to what the mechanic told me. I sent some emails to 5 of my friends at work who own SSV's and asked them if their volt meter does what mine was doing. All of them came back with NO!! steady on 14..

I had them place the OLD original battery back in the car (which had been sitting on the bench for 24hrs on a calcium charger. Maybe for a rainy day!!.. :confused:). After driving back to work the voltage is again steady at 14volts while driving.

It goes in on Monday for the new SIC module, fingures crossed nothing else happens... Although they are getting the mechanic that is good with electrics to do the job! :goodjob:

Cheers
Phil

[HEXEM]

Update:

It goes in on Monday for the new SIC module, fingures crossed nothing else happens... Although they are getting the mechanic that is good with electrics to do the job! :goodjob:

Cheers
Phil

Ok, Had another SIC module replaced and programed up. The meter is back to doing the usual, starts off at 14volts (when cold) and drops to 13 while driving and then gets to 12 and is steady at 12volts. My road trip in the mornings is about 25ks. When I go to town and waiting at the lights is crept up to 13volts and got to 14 when turning into the driveway basement carpark at work.

This evening driving home it started at 14volts and after 3mins droped to 13. It remaind at 13volts for the entire trip home (probably because I had the headlights on).

I spoke to some other dealerships and they have replaced many of these modules but have not had any customers complain after relating to the meter dropping voltage on the readout (with the same symptoms as mine).

In the VE the alternator charactoristics are different to convential ones. These only charge on a required demand. The alternators lower the voltage charge rate when its not required which was also designed to lower fuel consumption by taking unrequired demand off the alternator.

In the morning there is another dealer close to home and they said they will put TECH2 on and run a diagnostic to check for error codes in the modules (relating to low voltage). And check to make sure that all my software is up to date.

This issue only started doing it when they played with the SIC module. Prior to this it always stayed on 14volts while the engine was running.

I have asked about 6 other SSV owners at work to check their indicator to see if it drops while driving home. Some have already mentioned that it is constant at 14 while the engine is running.

Anyone else out there with a new series SSV having experiancing the same changes in voltage readings? and or might know what the issue might be?

Cheers all,

Its starting to get to me now. I should have left the old one in there and put up with the meter blanking out...

:)

[HEXEM]

I was having problems with my bcm not charging my battery and i had my software upgraded on my ssv and now it behave in the very same manner you have decribed in your op. Seems to go fine now.

Heya gmeup.

When you say it seems to go fine now, what do you mean?. Does the meter on the dash sit constantly at 14volts? or does it still change up and down (from 12v to 14v).

Well I am not sure where to turn now. I am being told that what the volt meter (on the dash) is doing is how it should be operating. I am at a total loss to figure out why its now only doing it after they replaced the module and reprogrammed it. I have noticed though that my fuel comsumption has gone down.

I would appreciate it if other SSV owners could provide some feedback on how the meter behaves in their cars? Just monitor for a few days and see if the voltage drops down from 14 while driving (highway, city etc).

Thanks guys...

P.S. The readout on the dash matches the volts shown in Engineering Mode.

[6.2L.Club]

l've ripped the leggo block display out of my ssv and put a hsv pod in, if l have been sitting, listening to the stereo without the engine running it will charge at about 15 volts when first cranked up, usually stabilizes to around 14 volts or slightly less and have seen it drop to as low as 13 but not very often, most of my driving is metro stop/start type areas.

If it drops below 12 volts, that is a concern but 13 and above is considered to be normal. The bcm alters the alternator output (current) by sending a duty cycle signal to the alternator, as yet, no one at holden has been able to tell me what the bcm reads though, whether it's system voltage, battery state and what specifications the software in the bcm needs and whether by changing the alternator to a conventional type, if it will start throwing fault codes as l need to run a dual battery setup for my car stereo.

Holden engineers really need to learn the KISS principal and stop over complicating what should be, a basic electrical system. By using calcium batteries they have created alot of problems.


crYnOid: The rattle could be the speaker under the grill above the SIC display. I have been told that they access the module through the grill then remove the speaker.


you have to remove the entire facia to replace the SIC module, local programming on the SIC cannot be done as it is done over the one of the LANs

[HEXEM]

Thanks for the input 6L.Club,

Yeah I was advised later that they remove the entire facia on the second attempt to replace the module. It just seems strange that everything was stable before and now it changes when it feels like it. I think the lowest the voltage has been is 12.9volts while driving to work (no headlights on for about 25min. Then when I got to work it climbed back up to 14volts)

I had seen some of your earlier posts when retro fitting the E series centre pod, looks good.

Do you have final photos of that work completed yet?.. would like to see the finished product...

[6.2L.Club]

No worries,

l haven't got any pics of mine yet as l've still gotta get a few of the plastics painted and haven't been in a rush to get it done, however a l wired up SV8er's pod, here's a link to his page, we did the works to his car, hsv pod, hsv cluster, hsv head unit (he has an SS), sat nav and dvd player.

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=72522



I wouldn't worry about the voltage, if it's starting fine and there's no other faults, l'd just leave it be, you have a recorded history at the service department of your concerns so if you have any dramas later on, you have a record that you were concerned about the issue previously.

Cheers

Tim

[gmeup]

Heya gmeup.

When you say it seems to go fine now, what do you mean?. Does the meter on the dash sit constantly at 14volts? or does it still change up and down (from 12v to 14v).

Well I am not sure where to turn now. I am being told that what the volt meter (on the dash) is doing is how it should be operating. I am at a total loss to figure out why its now only doing it after they replaced the module and reprogrammed it. I have noticed though that my fuel comsumption has gone down.

I would appreciate it if other SSV owners could provide some feedback on how the meter behaves in their cars? Just monitor for a few days and see if the voltage drops down from 14 while driving (highway, city etc).

Thanks guys...

P.S. The readout on the dash matches the volts shown in Engineering Mode.


It use to be on 14v but than after I got my BCM updated at holden when i start the car its on 14v for a few mins than it goes to 13v than sometimes to 12 than back to 13v than back to 14v etc etc. Seems to altar on the load. For eg if Air con is on and lights on etc its usually on 14v. With less load it drops. Holden told me it varys depending as the alternator charges the battery more or less depending on the load.

[humdingerssv]

My SSV MY09 is the same. It starts out at 14V then drops progressively into the 12's before comming back up again.

I now just drive with the lights on and it stays around 14V.

Cheers

Garry

[HEXEM]

Thanks guys for your recent posts..

Helps to put the mind at ease.. :1peek:

I did check out the other holden dealer and they ran tech2 to check for general error codes and voltage problems. All checked out ok, which is good...

[BR05CK]

I to have experienced the same problem as Hexem. On engineering mode volts go down to 10 on crank go up to 14.3 then go down to 13.3ish to 12.7ish driving. Turn lights on it goes up a little. Battery charge is constant on 89%. It's a 07 SSV. I was going to buy a battery tomorrow ???? Now I'm not sure?? What should I do?? Cheers.

[redvxr8clubby]

I to have experienced the same problem as Hexem. On engineering mode volts go down to 10 on crank go up to 14.3 then go down to 13.3ish to 12.7ish driving. Turn lights on it goes up a little. Battery charge is constant on 89%. It's a 07 SSV. I was going to buy a battery tomorrow ???? Now I'm not sure?? What should I do?? Cheers.

I'm not aware of VE peculiarities, but it seems the VE won't charge the if it isn't needed. Generally a charged battery is 12.6 volts, and typical voltage when charging is 13.8 to 14.1, my thoughts are if your readings are in this that all is OK, it's just seems the VE may not charge at 14 volts if the battery is already at or near capacity.

[JezzaB]

I'm not aware of VE peculiarities, but it seems the VE won't charge the if it isn't needed. Generally a charged battery is 12.6 volts, and typical voltage when charging is 13.8 to 14.1, my thoughts are if your readings are in this that all is OK, it's just seems the VE may not charge at 14 volts if the battery is already at or near capacity.

Old thread but the alternator on the VE's is controlled via PWM (Pulse Width Modulation or Duty Cycle) and is controlled by the ECU. There are many charging states and it can charge all the way up to 16v if required