Volt meter ?

[Nathan in MI]

Cig lighter is usually constant +. The voltmeter uses tiny amounts of power though, so thats not really a problem. Ideally it should be key-switched though.

Agreed that it should ideally be key switched, but mine is not. It's wired to ground on one side, and one side of the ammeter on the other, so it's reading all the time. I'm sure it's draining the battery just a tiny bit, but it's really not enough to be a problem. If you want to keep things simple and just run a wire directly to the battery, just go ahead and do it and don't worry about it.

[torquelover]

Agreed that it should ideally be key switched, but mine is not. It's wired to ground on one side, and one side of the ammeter on the other, so it's reading all the time. I'm sure it's draining the battery just a tiny bit, but it's really not enough to be a problem. If you want to keep things simple and just run a wire directly to the battery, just go ahead and do it and don't worry about it.

If you do what Nathan mentioned, run it to the battery, put a small inline fuse in there as close to the battery as possible.

[gabegt90]

Just finished installing mine today the hardest thing was mounting it putting it where you want. for the feed source I did what 86vickylx did put it in the fuse panel in the wiper circuit breaker spot. It just takes time putting where you want to put it I put mine under the ash try

[85crownHPP]

What about using the power (+) off the adapter I have for the CD player? It is shut off when the key is off.....Oh, where by chance can I get one to measure up to 1.21 Jigawatts?

does it feed off the stock wire for the car??? I think Ive seen that before - looks like a random dangling yellow wire??? sounds right.

[86VickyLX]

d'oh I shouldnt post after just waking up... I meant to say the switch line for the radio...
Currently I am using the cig lighter wiring to source a relay triggered by the radio's ignition wire

I tried the radio, and it always had a constant voltage. Guess I tapped into the memory for the radio.

[86VickyLX]

Just finished installing mine today the hardest thing was mounting it putting it where you want. for the feed source I did what 86vickylx did put it in the fuse panel in the wiper circuit breaker spot. It just takes time putting where you want to put it I put mine under the ash try

That's where I put them. So I could also tap into the dimmer switch in the ashtray light

[gadget73]

I gotcha, its a fuse holder that displays voltage instead of the regular Mega-Fuse from the 3g to starter solenoid. I figured the two scenarios were sort of similar? I'm just concerned about a parasitic drain if its possible.

It'll drain, but its probably such a tiny amount that its not worth mentioning. You're probably talking maybe a milliamp at most. The ECM, radio, and clock memory probably uses quite a bit more. I seem to recall measuring my draw around 70ma.

[86GmLsCoupe]

Thanks for clarifying, I'm not worried about using it then. I didn't know if the display would turn off when the car wasn't running (was thinking yes), but I never used one of them before. I got the fuse holder in today and it looks nice and it's solid. I just have to figure out where on the fender well to put it.