resting voltage???

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

i was just wondering if anyone knew wat should be the resting voltage of a battery, its a gold duralast under my hood, after driving the truck for around 30 mins or so and no radio on to drain it after i turn the truck off and test the volts its only reading around 11.2 volts, so does that mean its going bad or wat.

Thanks

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[integra88 10+ year member]

I would say it is starting to go bad. Ck. voltage as you start your truck. See what happens. If it drops even lower...replace your batt. Or you can go to Autozone, etc. and have your electrical ck'd. for free. Thry'll load test your batt. and alt. to see if they are o.k. It could just be in a connection.

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

well it does all it can to start everytime i crank it up everything resest all the guages go all the way up and go back to normal and i have been noticing it get worse and worse with time so i think it might be going bad

just wanted some input from some people

also with that battery upfront and a stinger spv70 in the back will the upfront one if no good drain the back one and ruin that with time

 

[tsupra98 10+ year member]

make sure your alt is charging the batt all the way when the car is running. it should at least be charging 13.7 volt when the car is running(thats not including with your system running).

if both the batts are connected then yes it's draining both of them not just the one. whatever the front one can't put out to start the car it'll pull it from the second one. and if your alt isn't charging all the way when your car is running then it's really going to kill the batts

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

well i am taking it back to autozone to get it checked out

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

i just went out there and tested it again and at idle its fine around 14-14.3 then once i turn the truck off it falls to 12.2 second after turning the truck off, another truck at my location i tested and its resting at 12.7 which is normal i suppose since it doesnt have a problem

when i crank the truck i see the voltage go down to 4-7 volts anywhere in there it drops to when i try to crank it

so is the battery shot, its a gold duralast maybe a year old

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

a good battery should sit between 12.4 and 13.2 when just sitting.

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

ok well right after turning the truck off it drops to 12.5 then after a few mins it drops to 12.1-12.2 and as soon i just turn the key over to bring on everything on the dash for 3 seconds it drops to 10 volts and under with no radio on and then when i crank the truck it drops to 6 volts sometimes worse during the cranking process

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

my old stock battery kept getting drained by a parasitic short I had somewhere (turns out a window switch), the battery used to sit at around 10-10.4 volts, but I still used it for a long time as it was. I got a yellowtop to replace it now though since I'm running alot more power.

At 11-12 volts I'd say its definitely reaching the end of its life, and if it just randomly started doing that you probably have a short somewhere in your electrical system that keeps draining it, unless its just a really old battery

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

its maybe a year old how can i find where a short would be in the truck and wat would cause the short

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

make sure you have a good connection first. clean off every terminal/connector to make sure you are getting the best possible connection. It wouldn't hurt to redo your ground as well

 

[king ranch 5,000+ posts]

i re did all the connections i am just gonna get it tested out at atuozone i have a 3 year free replacement on it so hopefully i can get it replaced

 

[Dre20xl 10+ year member]

i have a autozone bat up front also, most times they'll just swap it out if you ask. i swap mine every 4 months just to make sure it doesn't quit on me like most autozone parts.

 

[skmfkr 5,000+ posts]

yeah thats bad voltage, i got a batt thats been sitting for over a year now it rest at 11.78