Here is my post/answer to a similiar question the other day.

Voltage State of Charge
12.6+ 100%
12.5  90%
12.42 80%
12.32 70%
12.20 60%
12.06 50%
11.9  40%
11.75 30%
11.58 20%
11.31 10%
10.5  0%
The standing voltage for any good condition... fully charged liquid lead acid battery is 12.6-7
Any voltage above that means that you are seeing a "surface charge" after charging. Any voltage below that, means that either there is still a load on the battery, or the battery is internally sulfated, and may be on borrowed time,......but may be usable yet for quite some time. If the no load voltage falls to 12.3 in a week or less, in my guess-timation, you will need to replace it. Most batteries don't die,....they are murdered, by being under or over charged, or by letting run dry.

After getting a new battery, remember,......
1- that any lead acid battery that is not fully charged, is slowly sulfating. (being murdered)

2- Any battery that is run stone dead, its lifespan has been shortened.

3-  Any small battery (motorcycle) should never be charged at more than 1-2 amps.

4- Unless the charger is a genuine "maintainer/float/smart charger", it should not be left connected more than 10 to 15 hrs, depending on SOC. (state of charge)

5- Lead acid batteries will loose 10-20% of their charge each month, therefore should be charged at least once a month.

6- Liquid acid batteries will live the longest if they are kept fully charged at all times,.......most times impossible we know.

Remember, short trips on a motorcycle, is not enough to keep a battery fully charged, therefore should be charged once a month by other means.

A battery that is continuosly connected to a maintainer float type charger, (13.4v max) will last longer than any battery that is not, some as long as 10 yrs. And using a float type charger, the battery will use very little fluid, check once or twice a year.

153,

I'm curious,......has that battery been abused, either been run dead more than once, or much worse run dead and not recharged for a month or more ? Kinda sad for a 1 yr old battery. But it may last a while yet especially if you keep it fully charged, or charge it often.

You are probably one of very few that knows what the voltage should be,...much less checks it. There are probably lots of batteries out there that are in the same shape as yours. It seems that motorcycle batteries......probably all small batteries get abused more often than others. Come to think about it,...I've had my used bike only about 2 1/2 months, and I have not checked the standing voltage. But I did check and add water, and float charged it, and the battery seems to be good.
But I will check it later, give it time to settle down, as I just rode it 18 miles a couple hrs ago.

I have a float charger on some other fair condition batteries right now. It doesn't hurt charger or batteries to hold them at 13.2-4 volts.

Just for fun, I checked my bike battery last nite, it was 12.55, but I had rode it several hrs before. So I turned the key on, (headlite on) for 10 seconds, then checked it, at 12.2. I just checked it now, 14 hrs later, and it came back up to 12.4,....not new anymore for sure, but still doing the job. I'll keep a float charger on it thru the winter, and it will be fine I'm sure. It appears to be the OEM battery 2 yrs old. And I don't know its previous history.

If you're setting at 12.4, I'd bet you will be ok for a long while yet. But do leave the float charger on it if you don't ride every week or 2.

rl153 Quote:
I broke down finally and bought a float charger for my battery .
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rl153,
Did you check the final voltage on your new float charger?  I connected a brand new HF float charger to my bike battery  36 hr ago, and it has maxed out at 12.8 volts,....not hi enough to keep the battery fully charged. It should max at 13.2 on a full charged battery. I have one of these (8yr old) chargers on my ATV battery that is still holding at 13.2. Later today I'll check this out w/ the other charger,....see if its a bad charger or possibly a bad battery can cause it also. But the battery starts the bike fine after setting a week or more.