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turn on the headlights, just leave it with the headlights on for 1/2 hr. dont run it completely flat but you can give it a little workout just to see if it dies quickly
If it wont stand up to a little "stress test" headlights dim after 10 minutes, or so, it might not make it through winter, if the car is stored in your garage and used next year maybe its ok for now. charge it back up after..
weak batteries on cold winter mornings can lead into frustrating situations especially if you are depending on it to get to work, but it might be ok,
another simple way to troubeshoot is to switch the batterry between cars to see if the problem follows the battery or follows the car., IF you think you are having issues.
I found battery maintainers for under 20 bucks so I bought a few thinking ok just put one in every car so I can plug in once in a while ,, leave it a day or a week maybe? see what the voltage is,,
the battery leads look a bit thin and cheap, I thouhgt Id just find some big battery clamps, maybe one is enough then just move the whole thing and the extension cord around between cars
I have a big charger but I dont like leaving it outside all the time, if I do I put a big tub inverted over it in case it rains. It has the power to do a faster recharge but fast charging might not be great for batteries, I usually use a lower setting , unless its a got to get to work emergency.
sometimes chargers don't shut off and can basically cook the battery so being inherently forgetful Ill turn on an outdoor light as a reminder to myself that the charger is still on just to stop me from forgetting it for too long a long period. in theory the chargers look after regulation but they can fail and then they don't tell you,
Ive left them on too long before and returned and the battery is hot or "sulphating" if so then it's done. in theory that can cause a battery explosion of the offgassing may be giving off bad fumes.
the little trickle chargers have some handy indicator lights.
often Ill find that when I decide to switch out for a new one , my ability to crank longer and faster improves quite drastically , proving it was time.
ill use older questionable ones for electrolysis, I put the battery on a charger and use it's power to run electrodes for removing rust from car parts in a bath of water and washing soda, with some scrap steel for an electrode, the riust and any paint magically migrates off the part and onto to the expendable electrode, any hunk of steel will do. the process removes rust without damaging the good metal. if you short the battery by the parts accidentally touching it can cause a dangerous battery meltdown, so be careful of that.
it leaves a bt of a blackened coating Il scrub the part with baking soda then give it another run if its not finished to my liking.
im often cleaning up and then painting rusty old car parts, springs callipers, disks and so on, I find the process works well and its cheap and not too messy. I figure its a good use for older batteries that are questinable , then recycle them after they are completely done. I prefer to use older batteries in case I wreck them.
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