I've never seen a Delphi/Delco car battery that was rated for less than about 525 CCA, and I used to buy the cheaper ones (60-month warranty, some Wal-mart brand for $30). But it's normal for the load test to be done at less than the CCA rating of the battery.
You can check the state of charge of a sealed battery by measuring its no-load voltage with a digital multimeter. 12.6V means full charge, but it will read higher if the engine ran only an hour or two ago. I was told that turning on the headlights for 30 seconds will prevent false high readings.
LOL! That is because you buy quality and whoever bought the battery for the OP's car did not! My guess is that the original battery failed just before it was sold to the OP and so the seller put in the least expensive battery that would fit in the car.
I found out a few weeks after my last post, that both the lighter and aux appliance outlets are disabled on my 2007 Corolla when the ignition key is removed. So, I was plugging my solar collector trickle charger in for nothing
:-P
After checking around for a bit, I settled on buying a Battery Tender Plus to keep my battery charged up during the week when I don't drive the car. The first charge took around 16 hours to complete. During the bulk charge, the charger case got hot and I unplugged it for a few minutes to examine it for over heating. I got a little worried and I emailed the manufacturer about this. They promptly replied, saying that it was normal for the charger to get very warm, and then cool off once the battery exceeds 80% capacity.
Beyond the initial heat issue, the charger works very well. I have an electronic rust inhibitor installed that I left plugged in after the first couple of charges, and it doesn't seem to affect the charging process. Once full charge is reached, the Battery Tender Plus goes into a float mode that will not overcharge the battery.
Using a battery charger is a bit of a pain, compared to just plugging a solar collector cord into the lighter socket, but I guess I can live with it.
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