2002 v70-XC SIPS bag resistance too low.

[abscate]

It sounds like the SIPS is interrogating with an AC signal, not just a DC signal.

If you cobble together a bunch of caps, it will probably tell you the inductance is now wrong

[jimmy57]

Likelihood of airbag being faulty is almost zero. Chance of the cabling in seat having shorted inside the orange sheath is high. You can repair the wires or lay in new wires one at ta time.

Testing an the igniter circuit to the ignition device is NOT WISE. IF you can answer the question: What is the amperage applied by the ohm meter circuit? then your safety goes up.

2 ohms is the universal resistance of igniters for all brands I have ever seen a specification for. The specification is not for the igniters but is provided for the test resistors. Igniters are effectively flash bulbs imbedded in a type of gunpowder. The filament gets powered and flashes to ignite the gunpowder. The igniter then starts the action of whichever type of inflater module the device has.

Often the circuit is fired with AC and will use a capacitor end plug. The voltage and frequency of the power supply needed for the cap to discharge into igniter is not on the car in any other circuit. This means wiring faults being able to power the igniter circuit is eliminated and safety goes WAY up. It also introduces the end plug capacitor being able to fail but this is very rare. The end plugs are serviced by mot manufacturers. Volvo parts has them.

Where did you insert resistors? I assume it wasn't into the end plug where capacitors would still be in circuit.

[draser]

I'm not sure how you wired them into the circuit, but... if you use multiple resistors in parallel make sure you solder them together and use a short wire to splice into the connector wires. Solder all splices as twisted wires introduce capacitance.
As for why is safe to test w/ohm meter: the internal impedance of digital ones is in the range of mega ohms - that is one million ohms. The battery in them is, worst case, 9 volts. So the current that the meter puts out is volts over resistance, in this case 9 micro amps. In reality it's even lower. Taking into account that the igniter triggers at currents of milli amps, that is 1000 higher, it's easy to see why.

[rlrhett]

I'm not sure how you wired them into the circuit, but... if you use multiple resistors in parallel make sure you solder them together and use a short wire to splice into the connector wires. Solder all splices as twisted wires introduce capacitance.
As for why is safe to test w/ohm meter: the internal impedance of digital ones is in the range of mega ohms - that is one million ohms. The battery in them is, worst case, 9 volts. So the current that the meter puts out is volts over resistance, in this case 9 micro amps. In reality it's even lower. Taking into account that the igniter triggers at currents of milli amps, that is 1000 higher, it's easy to see why.

I am sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by "Solder all splices as twisted wires introduce capacitance".

To be more precise on what I did, I went to Radio Shack and bought a packet of 1/4watt 10ohm resistors. They did not have any resistors that were less ohms. I unplugged the orange wire that leads to the SIPS bag. I took 4 of the resitors, just like in one of the previous posts, twisted the ends together. Then I clipped them relatively short and pushed each twisted end into the plug from the car's wiring harness that the orange plug used to plug into.

The error I get now is "Capacitance too high".

Are you suggesting that I should solder the twisted ends of the resistors to a new length of solid wire and plug that into the wiring harness? Should I not use 4 10ohm resistors and see if I can find a 2ohm resistor on the Internet somewhere? If I can find a 2ohm resistor, is there some spec I should be looking for? Should I be using a resistor rated to a different wattage?

Thanks.

[abscate]

You want the connections to be solid, not twisted coils around each other. Those will eventually vibrate loose and fault anyway. Soldering is easy, just heat and touch. As long as you keep the solder away from the gun, and let the heat on the workpiece melt the solder, you will get a good joint.

COLORADO and Washington need not snicker.

[draser]

I'd solder the 4 resistors together and peel about 1/2" or the wire jacket and weld the assembly to the wires. If this works I'd tape it over and zip tie away from other wiring under the seat. But.. I'd try first to troubleshoot the airbag connector by taping into the AB wires and see what resistance you measure. If you see the 2.2 ohms there I'd cut connector off and splice wires together. Your call..