Ken,
I also have noticed that my acid copper solution (in the tank) is quite a bit darker then my new, never used, solution, however, I have not noticed any real differences in the plating.
I guess I have just been lucky using the tap water for the rinse.
No ill effects at all.
Would be safer (like you say) to use distilled water if unsure.
Spray rinsing with distilled water (with a pump type applicator) would be real safe as you would never contaminate any of the solutions.
As far as where I read the voltage at, my leads from my power supply to the anodes and the item being plated are very short (2 ft) and I read the voltage right off the power supplies digital meters.
When plating nickel over steel, my nickel solution develops a yellow sediment and as long as I keep it filtered it is fine.
The copper solution develops a sediment (that looks like copper powder) in the solution after heavy use and again, just filtering it keeps it going with no problems.
Perhaps the key to all this is filtering the solutions.
George W.
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