Voltage is only a part of the equation. Can it maintain voltage while
delivering current? A lot of current for the starter. For this you need a
load tester. You can also have a good battery but bad connections/wiring in
the van. What is the voltage at the starter while the engine is cranking?

At eight years that battery owes you nothing. I doubt it is "sealed". It
probably is a low or no maintenance type but the top is somehow removable.
At that age even if is not causing trouble it is time to replace it.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
courtney hook
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 1:32 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Normal voltage of a battery at rest?

So after thinking I had a slow battery drain, I'm not so sure. I bought a
voltmeter that plugs into the cig lighter and charged my system right up. It
topped out charging at 14.18 volts, then maintained at 13.40. I unplugged
the charger and watched it over the next 48 hours. It continued to drop over
the first 36 hours to a final stop at 12.38. Over the next 12 hours it
stayed put there and seemed to have finally stopped dropping. The battery is
a sealed battery that is 8 years old, so pretty old I think. So the question
to the wizards is,
1) What is a "healthy" battery voltage at rest??
2) Is that too low a voltage to get my 33 yr old to crank reliably, so time
for a hard start relay? It seems that if I crank it over when it's still
dropping down right after a charge and showing 13+ volts it will fire
quickly. At 12.38 very hesitant??? As per usual, thanks for the info,
Courtney