So battery health is like the engine and voltage is like the fuel.
Thanks Chat GPT...
How have I got to over 50 years of age and had no idea about the concept of battery health having no direct correlation with the Voltage of the battery?
For the last six months or so, during the cold, cold winter months my car has been turning over more than usual on a cold winter's morning, warmer times it's been fine, but just lately it was getting so bad I took it the garage to get the battery tested and the guy told me it had 2% battery health besides the voltage being fine....
I'd been testing the voltage every week or so for the past two months, running, it was anywhere between 13.7 and 14.1 and the fact that it went up above 14 I thought meant it was fine.
Obviously not!
The good old internet tells me that 60% health is bad enough, that's time to think about getting the battery replaced!
2% Jesus!
That was a stranded car waiting to happen!
For future reference good old Chat GPT tells me that testing the battery under load is a good proxy for battery health - basically a weaker battery will dip more under load than a healthier one.
Or I'll just ask to have it checked explicitly when I get my 2029 MOT - I'm going to assume I've got a good 3 years life on a brand new battery.
The last one lasted me 10 years, I think one can safely say I got my money's worth out of that bad boy!