Bad Battery?

[OUTFXD]

So. Winter is here and I am back to having to jump start every time. 

 

Once she is running,  she runs fine.  Turn her off and try to start her,  Flat battery. 

 

I get 7v at the battery when running(With headlights on).  Tells me the battery is dead.  

 

My buddy seems convinced that I am getting voltage but no amperage. 

 

Figured I would get some opinions here!  All opinions/advice welcome!

 

<edit> forgot to say. Took it to a parts hause and got the battery tested.  the guy said the battery was "Still" good.  which seemed like an odd way of putting it.

Edited October 28, 2023 by OUTFXD

[Los_Control]

Batteries can fail in different ways .... what you describe is a common way.

Sounds like your charging system is working fine.

 

I've had batteries fail before, jump start them in the morning and will be fine all day to go to work and run around ..... Let it sit overnight and just wont hold a charge that long.

[Dave72dt]

Remove the ground cable and charge the battery.  Remove the charger and let the battery sit for 10-15 minutes to stabilize voltage.  Take a voltage reading and let it sit overnight with the charger and ground cable still off.  Take a voltage reading and compare it to the first reading.  If lower let it sit another 8 hours with the charger and cable still off, then take another voltage reading.  If lower again, battery is bad.  If all the readings are the same, start looking at cables and grounds.  Any cable with a replacement end or a greenish tint including any woven mesh cable is suspect.

 

[desoto1939]

Have you checked each cell to determine if there is distilled water covering all of the plates?  Also pull each battery cable and clean the inside of each connector and also each post.  There might be corrosion. Get each post nice and clean and also the connector. Tighten the cables Spray with protectorats and use green and red washers.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[OUTFXD]

58 minutes ago, desoto1939 said:

Have you checked each cell to determine if there is distilled water covering all of the plates?  Also pull each battery cable and clean the inside of each connector and also each post.  There might be corrosion. Get each post nice and clean and also the connector. Tighten the cables Spray with protectorats and use green and red washers.

Yup yup and yup! 

[Veemoney]

From the info you provided it seems to be the battery. You could do as Dave72dt described or this quick method which adds a load test and eliminates the waiting periods. Not sure if the folks testing put a load on when they checked the battery.

1. Running you have 7v with lights on shows good charging system.
2. Shut off and check voltage. It normally would drop down slowly to settle at 6.3- 6.6 volts on a good battery.
3. Put a load on it while checking voltage. Example turn lights on or hold the brake for 10 seconds. If voltage drops under 6v into 5v values I would consider it is the battery.

Just had similar issue on my 2010 Ram. Had to jump it in the evening when trying to leave my sisters place. Shut it off and it fired back up when I got home. Next morning needed a jump and then ran good and would start again as long as it didn't sit for more than an hr or 2. Running voltage was 14.4v at the battery, off was 13v dropping slowly from there, hit the lights and voltage dropped immediately to 9v otherwise it looked good.