voltmeter ??what does it do

[rly1]

Hey people!
I'm looking my something that could read how much power is left in my car's battery, I had a defective battery before and I change it but it's still a psychologic thing, I'm always scared that my battery runs out...
so can a voltmeter show how much power is left in the battery?
or is there anything that can do that?
thx

[Javed]

To answer your question in the thread tpic, a voltmeter measures voltage,m and nowadays we use a device called a multimeter that measure voltage, current, resistance, etc all in one tool. Use one on your battery and if your reading is around 12 or so volts when the car is off, that means your battery is holding its charge fine, should be up at around 14v with the alternator running.

[ECU-MAN]

to properly test the battery you need to load it up with out any assistence from the altenator. eg load test. also you could measure the SG rating of the battery with an SG meter thingy

[rly1]

Thx man! so it's a multimeter that I need? how much does those cost? and does the voltmeter do what I want as well? cos if it's a Multi-meter , it should cost more than single(volt)meter. :)

[ABZY]

it should be cheaper, you can get them at tandy or sumwhere like that, but i would go for a volt gauge, i like knowing what my battery os goin through while i'm drvin

[hondar]

some auto timer like the greddy one incorporate the voltmeter inside it. it is the called the greddy auto timer. it display real timer volt meter all the time

[Javed]

You dont want a bloody gauge for ur voltage reading do you? Talk about uncessary for normal needs. Voltmeters generally are extinct, multimeters are as cheap as chips. Mine was around ~$12.

[rly1]

yeah, that's exactly right, I was actually looking for a timer to iddle the engine and I came across the voltmeter thing and it reminded me that I always wanted something to tell me if my battery is flat or how much power I've got left in it, so is it the one I need? cos the greddy said it has the voltmeter and I came across the apexi one which sayd it's got extra function like "It will display battery voltage with an adjustable low voltage warning as well" But the thing is that I'm so confused about the voltage of the battery or anything like that, so I'll repeat what I need and hope u guys will help out with simple sentences :)

I just want a device that can tell me the amount of power left in my battery, so that I'll know I need to quickly switch my engine on and go for a drive to re-charge it before it goes flat. is there such device?
thx again guys

[SiR JDM]

a mate of mine has a battery voltmetre (im pretty sure) that plugs into his cigi lighter... n it just displays on a 5 bar grid thing how much voltage is coming from the battery

ie -
Green
Faint Green
Yellow
Orange
Red

not sure wat the range is, but im asuming its something like 14 - 0 (14 being green, red being 0)

hope it helps! if ur really interested where he got it and that, pm me n ill get back to you