OEM BMW battery question. Its showing black but still good?

[NYZ4Jack]

Decided to check on the battery health today:

My 2005 z4 has the original BMW OEM battery in it from day one. The battery window shows black (which from my understanding means it needs to be charged up) drove it all weekend and it still shows black. Took the voltmeter out and it reads 14.6V when car is running (read this is normal range) and reads 12.5V when car is turned off (read this is normal range).

Car starts up fine in cold or hot with no problem.

What gives? Should I start looking to replace the battery anyway? Thoughts?

[StickMon]

It doesn't indicate that the battery's dead, yet, but it's heading that way.
Sounds like it's had a good run.
Time for a new one.
Compared to the cost of other things you can buy for your car, the battery is cheap.

I just replaced mine, not because it was bad, but because the previous owner replaced the OEM battery with one of the wrong size. AutoZone actually had a battery in stock for an ///M.

[NYZ4Jack]

damn, i was hoping to get at least 10 years out of the batter.

i'll check out autozone for a battery for the z. i use to get my batteries there for my m3 and nissan truck. their batteries aren't bad and the warranty for them (gold) are decent. never had any trouble with their batteries.

[David70]

There are a whole lot of different brands of batteries but very few companies that actually make them. I am for buying it by the price, CCA, size, etc. (specs) and not worrying too much about the brand.

[sbtwister]

I'm also in a 2005 3.0i, and the "eye" on my battery has been black for 3 years. If I don't drive for a few days, I always put the car on a charger - good practice anyway, but I've never had a problem otherwise. Even after a full weekend on the charger, the "eye" is still black - even though the charger indicates battery is fully charged.
I guess it's got to go one of these days?