Battery Test Results

Just curious. I know my battery is weak, so I went to Advance today to have them test it with their crazy-complicated device thing. The printout showed the battery was putting out 12.9 V and 385 CCA (the battery is rated at 565). The machine obviously said the battery should be replaced, but I am curious as to what a "good" result would be?

 

Is 385 still a decent result? I know new batteries now are rated at 800, so it SEEMS my battery is pretty bad, but I don't know what you really need to start a car? Curious if someone has more info as to what is recommended/necessary/etc...

i know for a fact on my dads corvette u need a 12 voltage to turn it over im pretty sure our cars are like that maybe alil higher tho like a 12.5 and when the car is running it should always be near 14

When I was having starting problems this past winter, I got my 4.5-year-old battery tested at Advance Auto Parts, and the results were 12.55 V, 515 CCA measured and 500 CCA rated, at 68 degrees. The starting problems were eventually determined to be caused by the starter, which got replaced, but I still have the same old battery. It works! But I don't know the CCA you need.

it's all about CCAs when you're starting, so if you're having those kinds of issues, you should definitely get it replaced. 385 out of 565...you're definitely not hitting up to par, and it'd be a good idea to replace it. CCAs are the amps the battery puts out at freezing (0 degrees C) because it's lower as the temps drop. what symptoms made you test it?

Takes a bit of time to start sometimes, and most of my starts involve the car sputtering to a start (unless it's been running recently). Also I've had issues with the carputer recently and I was thinking the battery might be the issue.

it's been getting warmer out, so that's probably why it isn't cranking slowly to life. if your battery is charged completely at the 12ish volts that you said, you should probably think about getting a new one. it might last you the summer with the warm weather, but don't run the risk of getting stuck somewhere far from home.

Curious, how many V should a healthy battery put out then? Cause I figured 12.9V sounded pretty healthy.

 

A new battery is on the list, but there are a lot of things higher up on the list (and most of them have nothing to do with my car at all, lol.)

12.9 volts is good, but the cca also matters.

+1 i'm pretty sure the volts just has to do with the amount of charge the battery has. the ccas are dependant on the condition the battery is in (depends on the events it's been through over its life). once the ccas start dropping, there's not much you can do except replace it. but if there's anyone really knowledgable about batteries by all means chime in.