# Do I have a dead battery?

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [July 8, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922 "2019-07-08T18:48:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ChristopherASA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@ChristopherASA](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ChristopherASA)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922/1 "2019-07-08T18:48:05Z")

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Bought a car, let it sit for two months, went out yesterday and put the battery on my charger (which, during the charging process, never showed anything higher than 12 volts). After 23 hours of charging the battery was fully charged: 12 volts. I just went out and tried to start the vehicle: it didn’t even do slow crank; I got some other kind of noise that I can’t identify. So then I checked the battery voltage and it showed 8 volts. So is this sucker dead?

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**Author:** ![tcmichnorth](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tcmichnorth/32/25126_2.png) [@tcmichnorth](https://community.cartalk.com/u/tcmichnorth)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922/2 "2019-07-08T18:53:21Z")

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From your description, I’d say yes. But without a load test I can’t be sure. If you are confident that you charged it properly, take it to a parts store or shop and have it tested properly.

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922/3 "2019-07-08T19:08:36Z")

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Nobody load tests batteries anymore.

A more accurate battery test is a conductance test. This reflects the real condition of the battery.

And with a conductance test, the battery doesn’t have to be fully charged.

Tester

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**Author:** ![ChristopherASA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@ChristopherASA](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ChristopherASA)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922/4 "2019-07-08T19:16:18Z")

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Thank you! I live 60 miles from the nearest real town, but will see if there is someone in this community who can perform that test for me. Again, THANKS!

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**Author:** ![shanonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@shanonia](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shanonia)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922/5 "2019-07-08T19:27:08Z")

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An old and accurate test of a battery’s state of charge is with a hydrometer, which measures the specific gravity of each of its 6 cells. That’d only work if your battery has removable caps. Probably someone nearby has one, if they’ve been doing auto work for a long while, even if they don’t have the newer kind of test instrument Tester mentions.

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**Author:** ![Gew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@Gew](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Gew)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/do-i-have-a-dead-battery/143922/6 "2019-07-10T19:20:34Z")

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It could be singing on it’s last verse.  
Usually symptoms like the ones you describe.