Wiring a Volt Meter
 

I know its been done on here, where am I wiring it to ??

-matt

dont you just do a positve and a negative? My radar detector reads the voltage and it just plugs into the cig lighter.

I guess just wire it to a switched 12V source

Black_Maxed<----what are typical volts your reading around town? With your radio on or headlights on etc? Sometimes at lights my volts dip all the way to 13.0 volts.

Matty, yes, just wire it to any 12V source. You could run it straight from the battery if you really wanna get picky about it.

Well I have an UDP so Im gonna be lower than normal. I usually have 13.6-13.8 at normal driving. It dips down to about 13.2 at times when stopped. Usually it never gets lower than 13.6 tho even when stopped.

13.0 is pretty low if you have the stock pulley. If you are getting around 14 tho when driving I would say its not a big deal.

i know this is a 5th gen, but it may help
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...tallation.html

Well if I did that, would it drain over night since its constant juice going to the meter, or it doesnt draw anything ??

-matt

It does draw some, but not an amazingly large amount (you're only really running a primitive circuit and an LCD, after all). Hardly enough to drain the battery overnight.

Wire it to your Cig lighter. All you need is any power source in the car. The cig lighter is the easiest IMO plus if you run it of the Cig lighter you dont have to worry about draining the battery.

I'm not sure why some of your cars are running at 13+ volts. They should be running around 12 to 12.8 since its a 12 volt power source.

You are aware that most alternators output anywhere from 13 to 14 volts (or more), right?

It's a 12 volt battery, but with the alternator charging it's higher than that.

well actually the battery is 12 volt ,but the system operates at about 13-16 volts. this way the car has enough power to run everything and also to keep the battery charged.
i agree with the above post ,13 is a little low but if it comes up when you engine gets some revs its probably no big deal....yet.

I just wired mine to positive battery and a ground that is close to the meter, mine does not have a light tho.

Exactly what pmohr said. There is virtually no draw from it. Hell, you probably drain more by leaving your lights on for a few seconds after you turn off your car.

:wavey: Pmohr .... lol

I guess you don't realize that Pmohr is cert'd in most everything Maxima. :laugh: I run a cap on my system and at idle, I read 14.2v no amps on, no radio, no lights, no fan, no wipers. With lights on (I run a pair of HID ballasts) I read 14.4v. Just my thoughts but seems typical v = 14. somethin.

Matty ... if you run a pos lead to the meter from an acc lead, it will not drain and turn off when you turn the key off.

:wall: