Has anyone any experience with a 12 volt digital voltmeter that plugs into the lighter receptacle? Do they really work? Thanks.

 

No experience with one, but I can't of a reason it wouldn't work, assuming its accurate.

 

considering im pulling a wire for my autometer volt meter from the
fuse box it should work basically the same.

i use the voltmeter in the winter time to see how many volts is left
in the battery in the "ON" position. it's a handy tool to have.

and no, you dont need to have 50A or more on the battery to
determine if your battery needs a charge or not. just log how
may volts drop by the week and you will know.

 

Thanks for the replies--Just ordered one. Will let you know how it works.

 

I have a couple of these. Since it's my primary employment to ensure proper calibration of measuring instruments (aka metrology), the first thing I did was check these things against known standards. One (an Equus) was dead on, which is suprising given it's 15 dollar cost. Another (the brand escapes me) was only off by two-tenths of a volt, but that's more than acceptable. Each of these meters have an at-a-glace set of LEDs as well, and scaling that cleverly changes from battery condition to alternator condition when the engine is started. By sensing the ripple current from the alternator, it changes the low/med/high scale the LEDs indicate. Well worth the price IMO.