Multimeter

I just realised I got a £10 argos voucher from xmas I can use woooohooo :)

I'll have a wonder to maplin aswell before buying and see whats about, I've had a breif look on there website and saw some decent ones.

thanks for the help :)

Bit s**te really. It'll tell you the battery is low but you could get the same result on a car doing lots of short journeys with a perfectly servicable battery.

That is logical, captain. Also means you don't completely de-energise the electronics, no worries of radio codes, ECU setting loss etc.

Overpriced for your needs. Get a bottom end Maplin one unless there's not one near.

But what makes you think that a) a multimeter will help with these complex projects, b) that the bottom end Maplin one won't do everything you need it to do? Bearing in mind that you didn't even know enough to know how to use it to test a car battery, no offence intended mate.

Thats a pretty fair point, no offence taken you have a valid point.

At the end of the day all I need to do is check the battery, alternator check and some of the stuff in your excellent post about its uses. I think perhaps with this information I should aim for something a little less entuasiastic in price :)

The only vast difference is you really appreciate the backlight . Or maybe it's just me.

I need a backlight on just about everything I'm so c*ck eyed these days. The strength of my glasses I can see into space

thats quite nice for £4.98! and has a backlight. Will wonder to maplins on saturday to have a look, before I part with that kind of money. Simple and effective thats all I need.

Like all tools, it can be worth paying a little more for something which is better made, has a longer life and is more pleasurable to use. For example the quality of the test leads on a DVM matter - stiff PVC is horrible to use compared to flexible silicone ones. And a proviso for clipping them onto a terminal is useful too. So saying I've no real knowledge of what is a best buy at this end of the range. Ebay appears to have some quite decent ones too.

How short is short? My journeys aren't usually very long. I'd say 10 minutes into work, 15-20 minutes back again. Other trips I do are to my girlfriends which is 10 minutes and the shops which is similar.

A cheapo DMM is handy for checking the charging system and other things but if your battery is not the sealed kind then a £2.50 hydrometer from halfords will tell you more about the condition of the battery.