At 01:32 PM 3/19/2010, courtney hook wrote:
>1) What is a "healthy" battery voltage at rest??

Nominal full charge voltage for a lead-acid battery that has rested
for 24 hours and has no drains on it is right about 12.6 at
20C/68F.  Fully discharged under same conditions is about
10.8-11.0.  The float voltage you mentioned is correct (again at 20C)
for gel batteries and 0.4 volts low for flooded cells.

Specific-gravity readings corrected for temperature will be accurate
any time.  For voltage checks the battery must rest with no drains
for about 12-24 hours before testing.

Take a look at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead-acid_battery>

Yours,
David