waterford

I was looking for a voltmeter the other day to keep an eye on my battery voltage (battery kept going flat, though recently-replaced alternator seemed OK) and came across a really neat one from a company called Lascar Electronics. They do one with a round metal frame, really stylish and an excellent brushed aluminum finish. It's called EM32-1B-LED and gives a bright red LED indication of battery and alternator voltage (they do an LCD version as well: EM32-1B).

Before using it, I needed to step the voltage down from 12V to 5V to power the module, and I added a few parts to adjust the measurement range. Nothing difficult. But its looks are brilliant. Lascar have designed it in such a way that you only have to make a single round hole to mount it in, and they've thrown in a rubber sealing gasket too!

I suppose I could also measure my battery charge and discharge current with it, just to keep an eye on the battery and the alternator in future.

For a cool 30 quid, this is a brilliantly designed meter, much better than the black ones that you so often see. Just hope my battery problems go away.