Before measurements, the battery must not be charged or discharged for at least 2 hours. Charging or discharging during this time will distort the measurement results.
- Turn off the ignition and all electrical consumers, remove the ignition key.
- Remove the negative terminal from the battery.
- Wait at least 2 hours. During this time, do not charge or discharge the battery.
- Measure the voltage at the terminals using a multimeter that provides measurement accuracy down to tenths of a volt.
| Battery voltage without load | Degree of infection | Battery condition |
| 11.70 V | 0% | Deep discharge. The capacity is practically zero |
| 12.20 V | 50% | Depending on the service life, sulfation of the plates occurs, which can only be removed by charging with high currents. At the same time, the plates are subject to strong stretching and can crack, which leads to increased corrosion of the positive plates |
| 12.35 V | 65% | In batteries with a "magic eye" indicator, the color of the indicator changes from green to black. The battery of a new or stored vehicle needs to be charged |
| 12.70 V | 100% | Maximum capacity |
| Measurement result | Next steps |
| No-load voltage is at least 12.5 V | Voltage without load is normal, carry out a battery load test |
| No-load voltage less than 12.5 V | Charge the battery |
(The original article is available at: www.VWmanual.ru)
If after charging the voltage at the terminals with no load is below 12.5 V, the battery must be replaced.
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