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Basic Concepts and Test Equipment: Voltmeter Usage

This document provides instructions for measuring voltage using a multimeter. It describes the basic components needed, including a multimeter, batteries, wires, and other small electrical components. It explains that a multimeter can measure voltage, current, and resistance, and that analog multimeters are generally less expensive than digital ones. The instructions describe how to connect a multimeter to a battery to measure voltage, ensuring the probes are connected to the proper terminals and switching between voltage ranges as needed to get an accurate reading without overloading the meter.

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Hassan Abdo
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34 views

Basic Concepts and Test Equipment: Voltmeter Usage

This document provides instructions for measuring voltage using a multimeter. It describes the basic components needed, including a multimeter, batteries, wires, and other small electrical components. It explains that a multimeter can measure voltage, current, and resistance, and that analog multimeters are generally less expensive than digital ones. The instructions describe how to connect a multimeter to a battery to measure voltage, ensuring the probes are connected to the proper terminals and switching between voltage ranges as needed to get an accurate reading without overloading the meter.

Uploaded by

Hassan Abdo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BASIC CONCEPTS AND TEST

EQUIPMENT
Voltmeter usage
PARTS AND MATERIALS

Multimeter, digital or analog


Assorted batteries
One light-emitting diode (Radio Shack catalog # 276-026 or equivalent)
Small "hobby" motor, permanent-magnet type (Radio Shack catalog # 273-223
or equivalent)
Two jumper wires with "alligator clip" ends (Radio Shack catalog # 278-1156,
278-1157, or equivalent)

A multimeter is an electrical instrument capable of measuring voltage, current, and


resistance. Digital multimeters have numerical displays, like digital clocks, for
indicating the quantity of voltage, current, or resistance. Analog multimeters indicate
these quantities by means of a moving pointer over a printed scale.
Analog multimeters tend to be less expensive than digital multimeters, and more
beneficial as learning tools for the first-time student of electricity. I strongly
recommend purchasing an analog multimeter before purchasing a digital multimeter,
but to eventually have both in your tool kit for these experiments.

CROSS-REFERENCES
Lessons In Electric Circuits, Volume 1, chapter 1: "Basic Concepts of Electricity"
Lessons In Electric Circuits, Volume 1, chapter 8: "DC Metering Circuits"

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

How to measure voltage


Characteristics of voltage: existing between two points
Selection of proper meter range

ILLUSTRATION

INSTRUCTIONS
In all the experiments in this book, you will be using some sort of test equipment to
measure aspects of electricity you cannot directly see, feel, hear, taste, or smell.
Electricity -- at least in small, safe quantities -- is insensible by our human bodies.
Your most fundamental "eyes" in the world of electricity and electronics will be a
device called a multimeter. Multimeters indicate the presence of, and measure the
quantity of, electrical properties such as voltage, current, and resistance. In this
experiment, you will familiarize yourself with the measurement of voltage.
Voltage is the measure of electrical "push" ready to motivate electrons to move
through a conductor. In scientific terms, it is the specific energy per unit charge,
mathematically defined as joules per coulomb. It is analogous to pressure in a fluid
system: the force that moves fluid through a pipe, and is measured in the unit of the
Volt (V).
Your multimeter should come with some basic instructions. Read them well! If your
multimeter is digital, it will require a small battery to operate. If it is analog, it does
not need a battery to measure voltage.
Some digital multimeters are autoranging. An autoranging meter has only a few
selector switch (dial) positions. Manual-ranging meters have several different selector
positions for each basic quantity: several for voltage, several for current, and several
for resistance. Autoranging is usually found on only the more expensive digital
meters, and is to manual ranging as an automatic transmission is to a manual
transmission in a car. An autoranging meter "shifts gears" automatically to find the
best measurement range to display the particular quantity being measured.
Set your multimeter's selector switch to the highest-value "DC volt" position
available. Autoranging multimeters may only have a single position for DC voltage, in
which case you need to set the switch to that one position. Touch the red test probe to
the positive (+) side of a battery, and the black test probe to the negative (-) side of the
same battery. The meter should now provide you with some sort of indication.
Reverse the test probe connections to the battery if the meter's indication is negative
(on an analog meter, a negative value is indicated by the pointer deflecting left instead
of right).
If your meter is a manual-range type, and the selector switch has been set to a highrange position, the indication will be small. Move the selector switch to the next lower
DC voltage range setting and reconnect to the battery. The indication should be
stronger now, as indicated by a greater deflection of the analog meter pointer (needle),
or more active digits on the digital meter display. For the best results, move the
selector switch to the lowest-range setting that does not "over-range" the meter. An
over-ranged analog meter is said to be "pegged," as the needle will be forced all the
way to the right-hand side of the scale, past the full-range scale value. An over-ranged
digital meter sometimes displays the letters "OL", or a series of dashed lines. This
indication is manufacturer-specific.

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