Reasonable resistor values for voltage divider

Question

I'm getting an unexpected voltage from a voltage divider I created. Is it likely that the resistor values are too high to provide enough current for my multimeter to measure accurately, or do voltage dividers behave unexpectedly with high resistor values?

I'm trying to measure the voltage of the battery but I need to bring the voltage down to below 3.3V as that's all the analogue input of my MCU can tolerate. I created a voltage divider as above. I expected it to reduce the voltage to 1/11 of the battery voltage (~0.67V) but my multimeter is reading 0.35V. I'm wondering if 100K is too high and it's not providing enough current for my multimeter to do it's job. Also interested in any other suggestions. I could reduce the resistor values if that's likely the issue but understood that lower values result in more power consumption.

Thanks!

Answer 1

This is not a voltage divider.

Since the applied voltage is between the two resistors the voltage at the top will be the applied voltage assuming nothing is attached to it.

You need to do it this way.

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

However, be aware, whatever is attatched where the meter is shown above will affect the voltage to some extent depending on it's resistance. However, I would not expect a typical multimeter to affect it, assuming you do not have it in current measuring mode.

Answer 2

Try this instead.........................: -

Answer 3

As per the previous diagram you have actually created a voltage divider by connecting your meter to the circuit,

Do you know the impedance of your meter , is anyting else connected to your circuit. ?.