As the title says. I am not very good at electronics (I might have, uh, actually done this, for no good reason...). I am wondering now if I should be worried about the battery being damaged.
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2 Answers
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It depends on the meter and the battery. To measure resistance your multimeter actually applies some known voltage and measures the resulting current. Although it would be possible to discharge a small battery like a coin cell, I would guess that you are more likely to damage the meter.
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\$\begingroup\$ The battery is an 11.1V 2200mah LiPo. The meter's needle shot to max and I took it off immediately, but I know even just a momentary short can cause damage so I am trying to figure out if it was actually a short or not. I had the meter set to 1K ohm range. \$\endgroup\$– RicketJul 27, 2013 at 17:44
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\$\begingroup\$ I would think that a relatively small current was drawn from the battery so it's probably fine. If your meter seems to still measure resistances correctly then I would say you dodged the bullet. What will certainly blow a fuse in your meter is to set it for a current measurement and attach the leads directly to such a battery. \$\endgroup\$– Joe HassJul 27, 2013 at 18:20
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\$\begingroup\$ If it's not obviously damaged, it probably isn't. I'm not sure I'd use it to power a spacecraft or life support device, but otherwise you are probably just fine. \$\endgroup\$ Jul 28, 2013 at 0:56
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\$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the advice. I put it on the charger, its voltage was still what I would have expected and the cells were balanced, and it charged correctly. It seems okay, I'm going to use it (for an R/C helicopter). \$\endgroup\$– RicketJul 28, 2013 at 4:35
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\$\begingroup\$ Is there a "collective" resource that lists all the absolute do-nots of multimetering? I hear to never mix ____ and _____ when metering, and so forth, but don't have a good grasp on the do-nots as a whole. I'd ask it as a question, but I worry that it'd get closed. \$\endgroup\$ Jul 28, 2013 at 8:00
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Most meters will have a fused input, an unfused input (usually for the high current range), and a common input. Shorting the battery should blow the fuse - so if your meter is working, you should be fine.