Club 80-90 Forums

Hi guys got myself a small digital voltmeter to fit near the steering wheel to check the main battery

I need to know best way to fit it. Have looked on the search and it says there is a how to in the wiki but I can't find it. So does anyone know if it's still there or how I can best do it

Thanks in advance people

Try using the search facility t.r.h. corner instead.

If you are fitting it near the steering wheel, take it's live feed from the ignition switch and neg from chassis earth.

And before you fit it, check what it reads against a half decent multimeter. I own 3 of them, all different makes, and only one reads close to correct. When you need accuracy to determine the required range of only 11.5 to 15 Volts, a meter which is out by 1/2 a Volt is not much help

p.s. Most folk, including me, are more interested in the state of the leisure battery. Your main battery reading should remain the same at ~12.8 when at rest and ~14 on the move.

thanks for the advice guys.

I have one for the main battery and also have one for the battery at the back. I have got the ones off ebay that somebody said were accurate on here.

need a little fettling to the steering cowl to fit it in properly. but getting there lol.

The meter I bought has small pods on the back to fine tune the volt and amp readings against other meters

1664 wrote:The meter I bought has small pods on the back to fine tune the volt and amp readings against other meters

Yes, one of the ones I bought has those. The trouble I found with mine is you calibrate it against another (decent) meter, then a couple of days later, double check it and it has drifted out again Hope yours is better than mine

I have two of those, one for each battery.... And they were both "out" by about 0.5 v I calibrated them, and they have remained accurate, and frankly half a volt isn't THAT important in the grand scheme of things , cos if it's reading anything less than 12v charging needs to happen!
On another note, they were stoopidly bright, so I took them apart and added a extra layer of backing paper to the screen....

Good to see an old Skool Map there for finding LPG! I drove 60 miles recently on the basis of the Shell and BP apps to find neither garage stocked LPG or indeed ever had! You'd think they'd get their own apps right...

Sorry for thread drift!

Hi guys. Have connected voltmeter to a live coming from the stereo and also earth from stereo as was easiest to join to. But getting a reading of 0.000 on the meter.

Any reason why I'm not getting and reading. The amps ones is fine.

Clearly you have no power going to the meter?
You do realise that on a VW original radio wiring black is live and brown is neg ?

Well it has lit up properly. I will try and switch the wires over tomorrow and see if I get any different reading

Not a standard stereo. So the leads are red and black. But guessing that could mean nothing on the van lol