The battery reading is irrelevant as it's when a load is placed on the battery it will show itself, so for example, a bad battery may show 12.10V, it dosen't mean that battery is good, it merely means it has that power at that moment when you tested it!
For your purposes you should see around 12.40V + when you have fully recharged it.
Martin
Last edited by martysmartie; Jan 15, 2012 at 08:58 PM.