[TR] Battery voltage

[Randall]

>     Someone(Randall maybe) here recently stated what the 
> voltage that a fully charged 12 volt auto battery should 
> hold.  Could you repeat it.  
> I'm rehabilitating a red top Lucas Pacesetter battery with 
> EDTA  and was wondering what my goal should be.  It's holding 
> 12.6volts after a full 
> charging.

12.6 under a light load is probably what I posted.  Frequently you can get
just a bit more with no load at all (known as 'surface charge') so it's best
to test with a small load.

Of course that is only one parameter, it tells you that it is acting like a
battery but not what it's internal resistance is.  For that, you need to put
a very heavy load on it (like 300 amps) and check how far the voltage drops.

Randall