What is that meter on the top of a glow starter for?

[godale03]

Guys,

Another stupid noob question here. What is that meter on the top of a glow ignitor? Does it show you how much charge you have left in your ignitor? The meter only moves when you attach it to the glow plug. The reason I ask is because I am having a heck of a time getting my bug started and I was wondering if that guage is telling me something and I just don't know it. How do I know if they are dead? I mean obviously if it is dead you get no heat, but is there a way to tell the charge level? NiCd's will develop a memory so I just don't want to keep bringing it home and plugging it in after every use because unless it is fully discharged it will eventually plateau and I will get very short life out of it. Thanks guys.

Tom

 

[Ryhton]

tells you battery life.

 

[FastEddy]

tells you battery life.

To many birthday beers? p:

It does 2 things.
It will show the amount of voltage in your battery and if the battery is good and it reads dead when you put it on you glow plug, it means you plug is shot.

 

[Pinblaster]

Actually, I have read a few articles that mentioned the meters on glow sticks. The main purpose is to let you kow if the plug is good or bad. As far as them telling you how much battery power you have, they aren't very accurate. One article said that as long as it's in the green, it should have enough power to get the plug hot. I have noticed that isn't always the case though. When I used mine with C-cell batteries, it would work good for about 3 to 4 starts with a new battery. After that it wouldn't get the plug hot enough to start the motor. If you are worried about NiCd's going bad and not wanting to discharge them all of the time, your best bet would be to buy NiMH cells and you will only have to keep them topped off.

I gave up on buying batteries all of the time and now use a glow clip with a Ofna power panel on my starter box. Hobbico has a power panel that comes with an encloser that you can use for a stand-a-lone panel and power it from any 12VDC power source.

Some ppl complain about the glow clips draining the starter box too fast, but if you use a 12v gel cell rather than 2x 7.2v stick packs, you shouldn't have any problems. I've spent 13 hours at the track on race day using this system and never had any problems getting my truck started.