itolond wrote:

Hi, forum,

I have installed new optima redtop into the defender. I charged 2days ago and on final charge, it showed 13.3V. now it shows 12.6 - I pulled the main fuses so there was over this time no power via the fusible links etc...

only thing I have is a simple voltmeter which shows voltage ...

is this drop expected (optima talks around 12.4 for red top) any pointers?

This may help https://haynes.com/en-gb/tips-tutorials/how-test-car-battery Don't make old people mad.
We don't like being old in the first place,
so it doesn't take much to us off.

Richard

landy andy wrote:

That is the correct voltage for a standing battery to be in my opinion. The 13 it showed before was because of the charge, not its resting voltage. But I’m sure an adult will be along soon to give better advice.

THIS ...

A fully charged healthy battery will read about 12.6 -12.9 volts, you will get higher readings a few hours or more after charging/driving  Guns and Landrovers .... anything else is irrelevant.