How to tell if your battery is dead: Difference between revisions
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Sometimes a battery just dies. Not necessarily from neglect, age, or use. It just dies. Car batteries can give some advance warning when they start to go, but tiny bike batteries are more likely to be fine one moment and dead the next. This normally comes from sulfates building up along the bottom and shorting out a couple of the lead plates. It's difficult for many people to trouble-shoot because they'll just toss a voltmeter on the battery, see that it shows 12v DC, and right away say it's fine. The truth is, if the resting voltage (after sitting, not on a charger) is below 12.2, that battery needs to be replaced. Below 12v and it's dead, for all practical purposes. | Sometimes a battery just dies. Not necessarily from neglect, age, or use. It just dies. Car batteries can give some advance warning when they start to go, but tiny bike batteries are more likely to be fine one moment and dead the next. This normally comes from sulfates building up along the bottom and shorting out a couple of the lead plates. It's difficult for many people to trouble-shoot because they'll just toss a voltmeter on the battery, see that it shows 12v DC, and right away say it's fine. The truth is, if the resting voltage (after sitting, not on a charger) is below 12.2, that battery needs to be replaced. Below 12v and it's dead, for all practical purposes. | ||
A 12 volt battery that has only 12.0 volts is a dead battery. This sounds totally wacky, but it is true. | |||
Here are the classic symptoms of battery failure. If any of these are present, test the battery as outlined below. | Here are the classic symptoms of battery failure. If any of these are present, test the battery as outlined below. | ||