Of course you can use a multimeter to check "household" batteries.  I do it all the time.  Mine is many years old, and not likely available in the market now.  mcneely

---- Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM> wrote: 
> I've been looking for a good excuse to buy a moderately priced multimeter for quite some time, and I think I may have one now.
> Can you use a multimeter to check household batteries?  I have a box full of AA, AAA and 9V batteries that my late mother had accumulated, and while they may be out of date I want to make sure they are really done before taking them to our community hazmat pick up this Saturday.  
> I was going to buy a "battery checker" on Amazon and I started thinking that a multimeter might be able do this just as well and I'd have my excuse to buy the instrument.
> There are a lot of recommendations on the archive for which multimeter to buy, but none very recent.  I'd love to have a current recommendation for a moderately priced instrument, digital or analog.
> Thanks, Ant

--
David McNeely