What's my voltage ?

[CJBill]

The battery in my Roadtrek 190 Popular on the 2005 Chevy chassis has been loosing voltage much too fast so need to charge every few days, it wasn't like this before.

I have been tracking the voltage with a couple of Craftsman multimeters and find that when I check the voltage appears to increase .03-.06 volts as I hold the contact. Not trusting my older units I bought a new one an AstroAI from Amazon a little more expensive but not too much. So what is my voltage the initial value or the final value the meter goes up to??

I've been thinking about getting a battery tender or Trik-L-Start but I'm afraid that might hide a more serious problem.

Thanks for any thoughs.

[GallenH]

Assume you're talking chassis battery and not engine. Others have much more experience than I with this. But I would give it a full charge, disconnect, let sit for 24 hours, take a volt reading, compare to mfgs specs. Read again after a day, and again to see how much it was dropping daily. With my limited knowledge a continual drop that was too large (again against mfg specs) might indicate the battery's inability to hold a charge and suggest the need to replace.

[GeorgeRa]

You could be breaking through some oxides/deposits while holding tester probes at measured spots so voltage could go up. I would suggest permanently hardwired voltmeter, like this one from Bluesea and there are many other good voltmeters.

[Peder_y2k]

If that battery is original from 2005, it is way past its life span of 4-6 years. Figure 5 years life for a battery puts it in the last stages of the 3rd replacement battery from 2005. It is old and not long for life.