Voltmeter ?

Those meters have capacitors to charge up.

Read up on the difference between L E D, and L C D

The 678 is an ambiguous reading used to establish an intermediate sampling step.

I like the idea.

KJINTF
Just checked it and its reading 6.59 and 13.2 volts. It seems like it was reading something different before the 6.78 but I am not sure though I think it was 6.9 something. I switched the meter on and off a dozen times and it continued to read 6.59. I haven't checked the battery's with a volt meter but 13.2 should be were the converter is holding the battery's at this point in there charging cycle.

Just curious
Does it always show the same 6.78?
Or are the boot up numbers random?

I have several of the $2.37 variety (which are amazingly accurate and nice little meters) and switch them on/off as you do
They show random numbers on boot up and when turned off
No big deal - once operational all is good

Rich
I figured most guys don't see this as from the numerous posts about these meters on this site it seems like most just wire them hot. Its funny how there are quite a few posts about these meters and how well they work but I ask a question and get the I should have spent more money responses.

I was just curious as to what the numbers were for, other then that the meter works great so far. It has showed the multi stage converter charging the battery's and the voltage drop as the battery's reach each stage of charge. I wired the unit into a 12 volt line that powers 2 led lamps and it doesn't show any different when the lamps are on or off. Its way better then the factory colored lights showing E, 1/3, 2/3, Charged.

I wouldn't know if mine do that or not, because they all stay on 24/7 no switching. Right now I have 7 cheap china voltmeters burning in various vehicles, half of which have been burning for 2 yrs now. All are quite accurate, and not 1 failure in a total of 12 that I have purchased over 3 yrs.

The best way to read voltage is to use a good multi-meter and read the voltage with the electrodes at the "POS" and "NEG" electrodes.

If the meter you purchased will match the readout from the multi-meter when checking at the same time (one check after the other), the meter is okay.

In your case if the meter reads correctly compared to the multi-meter every time pressed after that first time it may be okay for you. I would never trust any meter that acted like that unless they mentioned in the instructions what was going on.

You get what you pay for. Cheap price. Poor quality.

Muddydogs wrote:
I just installed a digital voltmeter, a 5 dollar unit from Amazon. When I first push my momentary switch to turn it on the meter flashes 6.78 then shows the volts. Whats the 6.78?

probably the version of the firmware

Maybe get a more expensive one next time.

Wayne Dohnal wrote:
digital meters go through multiple steps to home in on the exact voltage.

yep

One possibility, the digital meters go through multiple steps to home in on the exact voltage. It could just be passing through the reading you see on the first display cycle. I have some AC voltmeters that read too low on the first couple of display cycles. I just ignore the reading until it stabilizes.