On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 12:52:55 -0600, wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:42:46 -0500, wrote:

Can anyone give a better explanation?

Note: With my new battery, the meter is staying at 14v all the time and
everything is working well, so that shows the problem was the battery
itself, not charging components or bad wiring or a bad volt meter.

I think you pretty well hit the nail on the head, and your Garage was
using 1950's technology to test the battery (a simple load test).If
they tested it with a Midtronics battery tester I can almost guarantee
it would have failed.


I'm not sure what a "Midtronics" tester is, but it was just a load
tester. I once owned one of them, but it died and I never bought
another one, since I rarely ever used it. A lot of places will test a
battery for free these days.
A "midtronics" tester is the brand name for a patented
transconductance? tester that can check the condition of a battery
even when discharched. It measures internal resistance and voltage
recovery rate and a whole bunch of other things that translate to the
capacity of the battery to store and deliver power.

They are not cheap, but MOST battery wholesalers and retailers worth
their salt have one and use it religiously. If a battery passes on a
midtronics, it is good and is not replaced under warranty. Start
looking for another electrical problem that is drawing the battery
down or not charging it properly. If the midronics says it is bad, it
WILL fail to start your vehicle very shortly if it has not already.

No garage should be selling or servicing batteries without one today.
Period.