How to interpret Battery Voltage reading vs. battery life

[Skylarking]

.. on the chev agm optima recommends this agm yellow top for the chev ss so i wonder if it will be applicable here.
https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-...e=Chevrolet&model=SS&engine=V8-6.2L&find=find

Whether it’s applicable on VF probably depends on whether Holden has a generic enough BMC calibration to cope with both AGM & SMF calcium batteries or whether there is a specific Chevy SS BMC calibration that could be dropped into the VF? On the later, Holden don’t seem to like talking such things while Holden dealers treat the car as a big black box.

What’s more interesting is the police dual battery setup and whether the main battery is SMF calcium while the auxiliary battery is AGM and whether the police BMC has a specific calibration to cope with such dual different chemistry batteries?

 

[Trevor loves holden.]

Why can they just stick to the basics in cars all this electric crap is going to cause huge issues with cars, push start, battery in the boot how stupid, battery should be close as possible to the Alternator so you don't get droppage over distance then you have the risk of it shorting out some where, push start button just another thing to fark up if it gets a fault keeping your starter engaged. Boom...

 

[Skylarking]

^ Electronics are the least of our problems

Sadly with loss of home grown manufacture, cars have now become a disposable item.... Adding to this realisation is the takata airbag issue which has yet to fully unfold. I’d not be surprised as foreign manufacturers push to put a use by date on airbags thus sealing the disposable mentality mindset that the industry would like, heck love to see legislated around the world... may take a while, may move like wild fire...

 

[Big Red VF-SII Go-kart]

Why can they just stick to the basics in cars all this electric crap is going to cause huge issues with cars, push start, battery in the boot how stupid, battery should be close as possible to the Alternator so you don't get droppage over distance then you have the risk of it shorting out some where, push start button just another thing to fark up if it gets a fault keeping your starter engaged. Boom...

Maaaate, have a Bex and a lie down. Technology in cars is not problematic, but drivers are! And tech has been around for many years, not seemingly having come down in the last downpour.

 

[Geoff6666]

Yes. This is correct. Although, with a manual, you have to push in the clutch and not the brake pedal.
Also, the power steering does NOT work in this mode.

From what I recall it's:

One press, foot off brake - ACC on
One press, foot on brake - start
Long press, foot off brake - IGN on

 

[Big Red VF-SII Go-kart]

Yes. This is correct. Although, with a manual, you have to push in the clutch and not the brake pedal.
Also, the power steering does NOT work in this mode.

Power steering in lecky in the VFs. It's a gem. So light and touchy-feely...
"Look mum, I can turn with one finger!!
"Junior, I don't care! Just watch out for the big puddle over there and the people on the footpath!"
"The people...??" "OK, Ready. Aim. Splat!"

 

[diysv6]

Hello all,
I have been tardy keeping tabs on my initial post about battery voltage and expected life. My apologies.

I have been looking at the old VF Battery.

Here is a follow-up on the survival of the original 5 1/2 year old VF battery. VF Build date 18 June 2015. It has been out of the car since 19 December 2020.

From about mid January 2021, I started to look at the original battery out of curiosity.

Put it on my ALDI charger, in smart charge mode, and it went to about 14.4v and recycled about every 3-4 minutes. Max charge rate 3.8amps. It seemed to do this all the time which I thought was a bit strange. The recycle seemed to do a short time discharge and then a charge back to 14.4v. I recharged the battery on a casual basis for about a month or so until early March 2021. There was no change is the discharge/charge cycling frequency, still every few minutes. Then I let it sit in my shed.

About 20 April, I checked the original battery voltage open circuit and the voltage was about 10.5volts. Attached it to ALDI charger and it did not charge it at all. So I assume one cell is now bridged/short circuited. This agreed with the ALDI manual where when below 10.5v the battery is deemed suspect. The charger then pulse charges the battery to try for recovery. This battery did not respond to the pulse charge.

In hindsight, the original battery may have lasted another month or so with the continued overnight charging regime. However the cell failure found in late April showed it was on the way out.

So, I think the battery health test does have some merit, as it picked up the deteriorating battery a bit quicker than noticing slow cranking/starting problems etc. down the track. Probably fortunate it was not winter.
Thank you all for your contributions.