What is normal level for volt guage
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,783
Likes: 559
What is normal level for volt guage
I have a 06 mn6 and had a dead battery a few days ago. I have recharged it and am trying to trouble shoot before it goes to the dealer. The battery takes a charge and will hold it subject ot some sl overnight leakage( takes 1.5 minutes to regain charge at 10 amps overnight) The volt guage reads 14.2 steady on my drive to work this morning confirmed with the digital readout on the dic. the median on the guage is 13 and the manual just tells you it will vary with speeds and if less then 9 the battery is bad.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1,270
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From: Prescott AZ
A good battery is 2.2 volts per lead acid cell or 13.2 volts. Charging one is usually a volt meter reading of 13.5-14.5 volts after a start cycle or some other discharge event. Such a charge cycle will give the battery a "top" charge that will dissipate with time to 12.5-13 volts. A battery that won't hold a charge in that range usually has a dead cell as measured by a lower voltage after say 5 hours. That said, none of our batteries should have that as a problem. Then there is the problem of a load still on the battery after shutting the engine off that will pull a battery down. I believe the DBS problem the 05 MN6 people are having is in this latter description - some undisconnected load. I have yet see a good answer.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,783
Likes: 559
Thank you for the response. So the 14.2 after start up is normal. I know the battery was fully charged I turned the drl off and did not use the seat heater or the radio the only drain was the start up event and ongoing load. How long should it take till it gets to the normal 13.5 load? I do have a short drive to work less then 15" then there will be another start cycle. Did I not adequetly recharge the battery after a few cycles of this and ultimately end up with an inadequete charge to start it up? The car only has 665 miles on it and is a garage queen for the winter for the most part. I am trying to rule out other reasons then an undisconnected load on an 06.
