1971 X/C 70 Charging Issue

My mom has the above vehicle. Recently, the battery has been dying
periodically. We are going to replace the battery, but the mechanic has
said their may be a secondary problem. According to him, this
particular Volvo has charging issues if it is only driven short
distances. She is on an island, so most of the distances are small. Two
questions:

1) Is the charging issue for this model real?

2) If it is, how do we deal with it?

Thanks!

John

 

John von Colditz explained on 8/24/2009 :

I should review my posts a bit better!

 

That's a potential issue for any car. You have to drive it long enough
to generate as much power as it required to start the engine. Short
trips are hard on the engine too as it rarely has a chance to reach full
operating temperature and moisture and other volatiles tend to collect
in the oil.

Another common cause of dead batteries are glove box lights, trunk
lights, stuff like that if they get stuck on. Any shop and many
automotive parts stores have equipment to evaluate your charging system,
and also it is easy to measure for phantom loads with the car off that
can drain the battery.

 

Have you tried a solar charger that sits in the windscreen?