What's considered good battery volts?

you need to test with car fully off no lights , and test it at the battery with a multimeter or at least a battery charger with voltage readout.

you will probably lose .3 to .5 volt testing with obd and car on.
Yeah, I'll probably take the battery out tonight, hook it to the charger and check it tomorrow morning with a multimeter
 
what amp charger? also its best to let it rest a few hours after charging(best practice) or put a load on it for a min(then check it without a load) to get an accurate voltage.
 
With modern cars it’s hard to check the voltage. I checked my grandpa’s 14’ Grand Cherokee’s battery as it sits a lot, showed 12.1v with my multimeter. I left the hood up and walked away for an hour. This time I left the key fob inside the house and then went out and checked, 12.4v. It woke up all of the electronics with me walking up, opening the door, popping the hood etc.
 
How do I know if it's legit? I paid $20for it on amazon:ROFLMAO:. So, it's probably bs
You can get a legit charger on Amazon in the $20 range. The price of this one keeps going up, started out at $20 now $28. But not bad, an 8 amp charger. Charged up my dead battery in about 3 hours. Assuming ideal conditions, it'd probably take 16 hours to do the same on your 1.5.

 
And some trickle chargers will drop the amperage/voltage after a predetermined period of time to prevent boiling the battery so if it's really flat you may need to disconnect the charger and let it set a little while and restart the process to get it to run the battery all the way up.
 
Pulled this big ol battery out (Jesus it's heavy) and hooked it up to a trickle charger. Going to have it tested tomorrow. If the battery is bad(the sides are kinda bloated), should I go OEM BMW or Walmart :ROFLMAO: I'm leaning towards Excide since it's the OEM for BMW batteries.

Update: I just went and checked the charger and it says the battery is "fully" charged. I literally hooked the battery on the trickle charger 20 minutes ago.

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Pulled this big ol battery out (Jesus it's heavy) and hooked it up to a trickle charger. Going to have it tested tomorrow. If the battery is bad(the sides are kinda bloated), should I go OEM BMW or Walmart :ROFLMAO: I'm leaning towards Excide since it's the OEM for BMW batteries.

Update: I just went and checked the charger and it says the battery is "fully" charged. I literally hooked the battery on the trickle charger 20 minutes ago.

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Do you have a real multimeter? I mean even the Harbor Freight ones are fine, check what the voltage actually is (after it’s been off the charger for a little while).
 
Many people do not know that a battery is considered run down or dead @12.2v. Many people think 0 volts is where a dead battery should be.


Assuming that the volt meter you have is correct and the battery was charged the battery is bad.
Dead at 12.2V? Since when?

In cold weather like in Chicago where OP is, battery voltage will be significantly lower. It does not mean it's dead.

I can fully charge the battery in my SRT and leave it sitting for a few weeks. When I come back, it'll show 12.2V, yet it will charge back up to full in very little time.

 
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Dead at 12.2V? Since when?

In cold weather like in Chicago where OP is, battery voltage will be significantly lower. It does not mean it's dead.

I can fully charge the battery in my SRT and leave it sitting for a few weeks. When I come back, it'll show 12.2V, yet it will charge back up to full in very little time.

Mine was showing 12.14V after I fully charged it.
 
Mine was showing 12.14V after I fully charged it.
Yes, but you were measuring via obd which means all your car's electronics were powered up so the battery was under load. You need to measure with no load.

Also, modern BMWs (and other makes) notoriously undercharge batteries to improve fuel economy. In cold weather mine will not charge it above about 12.3V. It's been this way as far back as I can remember. I top it off with a battery charger once in a while.
 
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A 5 year old battery at 12.1V. Not uncommon at all. Nothing to see here. A person can baby this thing and squeeze another year with a trickle charger. Is there much of a consequence if it fails to start the car some morning or evening? If so, time to move on. Let us know what the battery test indicates. :)
 
A 5 year old battery at 12.1V. Not uncommon at all. Nothing to see here. A person can baby this thing and squeeze another year with a trickle charger. Is there much of a consequence if it fails to start the car some morning or evening? If so, time to move on. Let us know what the battery test indicates. :)
Will do 😁
 
I'm getting different answers from battery voltage charts. I charged my battery to full charge (per my trickle charger). I hooked up a scan tool to the OBD port and it read 12.14V at "full" charge. Does that mean my battery is bad? A fully charged battery should be 12.6V from my understanding. My battery is close to 5 years old.
Just make sure that when you get the battery replaced on your BMW that the battery is "matched" via a scan tool. If it isn't the battery won't get charged properly and/or won't last. A lot of people skip this and wonder why the battery didnt last. BMW and MB both have to have it done and according to the owners manual only factory trained ubertechs have the training to do this lol.
 
Just make sure that when you get the battery replaced on your BMW that the battery is "matched" via a scan tool. If it isn't the battery won't get charged properly and/or won't last. A lot of people skip this and wonder why the battery didnt last. BMW and MB both have to have it done and according to the owners manual only factory trained ubertechs have the training to do this lol.
I have a BMW scan tool (Autophix 7910) that’ll register the battery as long as it’s in the same AH range and not an AGM. If it’s an AGM or higher AH, I’ll have to get it coded and registered.
 
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