why are you basing it on voltage? you're still showing 750cca that's plenty healthy. voltage just shows state of charge, which is constantly changing. even a brand new battery will drop below 12v if left sitting in an idle vehicle for more than a week. if anything you might put it on a maintenance charger when it sits over the weekend, or put it through a desulfation cycle if your charger does that - and then retest it to see if cca improves. what's the rated capacity of the battery?
Tracking an aging battery
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
Load test, pass or fail , maybe marginal .. making sure the charging is up to par and there are no losses in the cables ,grounds or drain beyond specs. No need to make it harder that necessary. My semi trick I had decades ago would start fine with marginal batteries in the summer but at freezing temperatures or below ,, nope just click , new battery time.
Haha, sure, I can replace the battery every four years and keep it simple. This is more to see what is the limit of this battery based on the indications of the battery tester. This forum is filled with the question “ when should I change out the battery”. I’m just providing data on what I saw with this Walmart Everstart.
CCA is 650. Using the same battery tester it had a 12.93 voltage and a 766 CCA immediately after a fresh charge and settled down to 12.24V and a 692 indicated CCA after a week in the car. Yes the battery tester rules but as you know the voltage it can maintain will be dropping over the years. My battery test has a “weak” indication already but the car still starts, for how much longer I’m not sure. We’ll see.
12.24 after a week in the car is totally normal. and 692 is more than rated cca. the battery is perfectly fine don't replace it. once it drops to 550cca then you might start thinking of replacement. if you do a get a new one, keep this old one as backup it is worth way more than the $10 core charge.
I’ll do that. I checked the electrolyte and I’m giving it a top-up charge right now. Will report back this winter.
When my alternator's regulator died I had it rebuilt at a local shop.
They laughed when I questioned replacing my >8 year old (H6) battery. "It's starting fine", I said.
I wasn't into battery maintenance beyond terminal cleaning and level check at the time.
They laughed when I questioned replacing my >8 year old (H6) battery. "It's starting fine", I said.
I wasn't into battery maintenance beyond terminal cleaning and level check at the time.
Here is my first test this fall at 15 F. Over 12 V and still 650 CCA. If it makes it this winter it will be 5 years old. We’ll see. I guess 12.2 V does not necessarily indicate a failed battery. Knock wood.
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gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
What’s your alternator putting out?
Are you charging frequently?
Are you charging frequently?
Thanks for the interest. The alternator is charging at 14.5 Volts. I’m working from home so the car is only used every 3 days or so on a 30 mile run. The car is parked outside. It’s about 30 F today.
Made it through another winter. Over 60 months now. It’s 72 F today and the battery is 12.3 Volts and has a CCA of 650. I’ll carry on this summer and take another look at it this fall unless the 90 F temps take it out.
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I see this is in a 05 Taurus, I wonder how much the electrical system has in common with the Focus of that time? The reason I ask is that the alternators on my Foci didn't seem to enjoy charging weaker batteries, and gave up even though the battery was marginally ok. On my first 07 Focus the original alternator went about 9 years and just quit charging one day while I was driving. I had it rebuilt locally and put in a new battery and it went 3 more years before that Focus got smashed. The replacement 06 Focus went a couple months with a marginal battery, and its alternator died too, while I was driving. So I installed my old rebuilt alternator with a new battery and its been going now for a couple years so far.
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This is a 2005 Ford Taurus with just over 100,000 miles. The original alternator got really noisy so I replaced it earlier this year with a new Bosch from Rock Auto.
Oh ok, so maybe the replacement is more robust. I am pretty amazed how consistently the same parts have failed at near the same mileages on my Foci.
Looks like an Exide battery.
Mine is around 11.3 - 11.6 on cold mornings and the car starts just fine, even on a V6.
My Ranger's battery read 10.4 at sunrise and started well. I replaced it so I wouldn't be "surprised" with a no-start.
I tracked the voltage the last few months of my AGM in my Sierra and most of the time the voltage was that low and cranked over just fine and we're talking 5.7. As soon as the temp got close to freezing is when I decided to replace it because it was cranking to slow.
On post #16 I mentioned I too got a start with 11 volts. The temp was -5 F. I might get a new one this fall. I’m torn whether to continue this for science or just be safe.
I thought it was kind of interesting to do. I have one of them things you plug in to the cig so it was easy to plug that in before starting the truck. Most of the time it only gets started on the weekends unless the weather is bad.