Bob F Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 A fully charged battery that has been standing for a few hours will have a voltage of (assume the battery is fully disconnected): 14.4 volts 13.2 volts 12.6 volts 12.4 volts 12.0 volts 11.8 volts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob F Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) Congratulations to those that answered 12.6 volts, which is the correct answer. 14.4 volts is what you would typically see when the battery is being charged by a battery charger or from the alternator on the boat when the engine is running. 13.2 volts is what you would typically see just after a battery charger has been switched off or removed. A surface charge will still be present on the battery plates. This charge will gradually drop to 12.6v over the next couple of hours, or to speed up the process you can remove the surface charge by connecting a load to the battery (e.g. turning on some lights for 10 mins). 12.6 volts is what you should see on a battery that is fully charged and in good condition. Each of the six battery cells produce 2.1 volts which are connected in series and added to make 12.6 volts. 12.4 volts is a battery that is 75% charged. This is actually what you will see on the majority of batteries on pleasure boats like ours. Because we only typically have the engines on for less than an hour or two, the battery never gets fully recharged, and so rarely gets back to 12.6v. To get to 12.6v the battery needs to be on charge for 12 hrs. 12.0 volts is a battery that is 25% charged. 11.8 volts is a battery that is completely flat (0% charge). Check the electroyte levels in each cell. Edited February 5, 2009 by Bob F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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