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.
2 Answers
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
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.