High Voltage?

[CRM]

My voltage gauge has always read a little high but lately it seems like it's a little higher. Here's a picture. Is this normal ? If not what would cause it to be so high? Our temps lately have been as low as -2* and this morning the battery was dead.

 

[towman]

i would get the battery checked out first a weak battery will make the alternator work overtime, if the battery checks out check the voltage at the battery while running anything over 14.5 is to high and you have a bad voltage regulator wich is internal in the alt

 

[77 K20]

Your picture looks perfectly normal to me. It was -4* here yesterday and after my 12 hour graveyard shift I started my truck and it was running right there. When the temp is warmer outside the voltage is isn't quite that high after starting.
It takes a lot more current to crank over a freezing cold engine. Your alternator is now just working hard to recharge your battery- and if it is dead it is working overtime.
Might be time for a new battery. You can get that one tested to make sure.

I have a VW TDI and its battery died on me 3 days ago when it was -21* here. No fault of the car or its alternator. Cold weather just kills off weak parts on cars.

 

[CRM]

It's most likely the battery. This truck sat in a field for about 8 years. I hooked up one of those new battery rejuvenators to it and it's worked up until this cold snap. It's forecast to be up in the 40's this next week. I'll charge it and see how it goes. The voltage gauge concerns me more than the dead battery.

 

[77 K20]

My truck even with a 1 year old Optima battery had no problems cranking the engine over and the volt gauge was still right where yours is. Anything higher than that is bad, but right on that line is fine.

 

[CRM]

I jumped the battery this morning and took the daughter to work about 6 miles away so by the time I got to work I put 12 miles on it. Started right up after I got off work. The voltage gauge was sitting a little lower too. I suspect the sub freezing temps and short distance to work was the issue.

 

[Rusty Nail]

A car/truck battery contains a chemical reaction, which has a half - life, like everything else.
It's easy to find someone or thing (me), that will tell you a battery's life expectancy is five years.
That is the extent of reasonably expecting reliability from the battery.
You are driving your family on borrowed time in freezing temperatures.

 

[77 K20]

A car/truck battery contains a chemical reaction, which has a half - life, like everything else.
It's easy to find someone or thing (me), that will tell you a battery's life expectancy is five years.
That is the extent of reasonably expecting reliability from the battery.
You are driving your family on borrowed time in freezing temperatures.

That is what I've heard and guess what? The TDI's battery that died on me a few days ago... checked the build date on it. It is exactly 5 years old this month. Local stores didn't have any that I liked so I ordered one online. Will be here Thursday.

In the meantime I put it on a battery charger and it started ok this morning. But it is 31 degrees out now. I'm sure if I kept using it on the next cold snap it would leave me stranded again.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Woah.
Good luck and Merry Christmas!

 

[Camar068]

I took an 8 year old battery and put it on the battery minder. Worked like a charm, although there was evidence of a leak around the positive terminal. This battery would not take a charge what so ever from my standard charger. I ended up giving the battery away because of the leak. Most bad batteries have sulfation. Sulfation is a build-up of lead sulfate crystals, is the number one cause of early failures of lead-acid, sealed AGM or flooded (wet cell-filler caps) batteries.

I've also rejuvinated 4 lawn mower batteries as well (All 2-4 years old) and another car battery that wouldn't get up to a full charge. I've got my money back already.

http://www.batteryminders.com/avoid-battery-sulfation/

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-2012-Battery-Charger/dp/B005EKY1EM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482269881&sr=8-3&keywords=batteryminder

 

[Georgeb]

I took an 8 year old battery and put it on the battery minder. Worked like a charm, although there was evidence of a leak around the positive terminal. This battery would not take a charge what so ever from my standard charger. I ended up giving the battery away because of the leak.

I've rejuvinated 4 lawn mower batteries as well (All 2-4 years old).

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-2012-Battery-Charger/dp/B005EKY1EM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482269881&sr=8-3&keywords=batteryminder

I have one of these things too. I will be using it to wake up the battery for my plow tractor.

 

[CRM]

I ran one on mine when I pulled it out of the field. I had it hooked up for about 10 hours. It has a function that supposedly counteracts the sulfation problem. A regular charger wouldn't charge it at all. I think my biggest problem was that I wasn't driving it long enough to charge the battery enough for cold cranking.