How do I read a multimeter

[Tronk]

I have today been running my truck after a previous battery problem that I caused due to sheer stupidity on my part. I appeared to get a lot of Glitching. Thhe truck was running fine for around one hour. I then changed batteries on the motors and the receiver pack. The truck then became very erratic. This lasted for about 20 minutes.I then turned the truck off. About half an hour later the truck ran ok.
The batteries where all freshly charged after each cell had been individually discharged due to my previous problem. I wanted to know what is exactly left in the batteries. I went to purchase a multimeter. This was my problem. It was like another language to me and there was nobody in the store who could advise me. The batteries I am using are as follows.

6 cell x 1.2v 4300mah sub c battery packs. This gives a total of 7.2v to a pack.

5 cell x 1.2v 2300mah receiver packs. This gives a total of 6v to a pack.

What settings do I need to look for on the multimeter to enable me to see what power is left in the batteries.

Also how do I read the multimeter.

Sorry for going on and thanks for reading this far.

[racerx]

whenever you are dealing with battery power use the volts DC, are you trying to read total volts for the pack or single cells? If you really want a good idea of what is happening with your pack get a better charger, like the Ice, or something like that. They will tell you single cell volts, mah, discharge rate and so on....
Some glitching can be traced back to low power but most is some kind of interference like metal to metal contact (loose parts) or chafed wires on anything (motor, esc, servos or receivers) Start by looking over EVERY wire on the truck, if you have to take each component off one by one do so. Also make sure the receives anttena is not touching any metal or foled back on itself. Check these things and let us know what you find, or don't find.

[Unholy]

Over volting your receiver/servos with the receiver pack can cause glitching as well. Your 5 cell pack may peak out higher than 6 volts causing your glitching.

What was said above is correct for reading voltage. DC Volts and a setting above what your peak would be. I'd set it for 15 volt scale to read your packs.

[Tronk]

Thankyou very much guys for the quick replies. I shall check my truck this evening and post what I find. The packs are 6 cell and also 5 cell so I was was hoping to cheack each pack and not individual cells.

Thanks once again

[scruff007]

I just read an ad about a volt. reg. and the ad said a freshly charged Rx pack can cause glitching at first. I guess until the volts drop down to a safe level for the servos.

[mspohn]

There are some pretty good digital multimeters out there at decent prices. They are much easier to read than the meter type.