Questions tagged [multimeter]

A multifunction measuring instrument used for measuring AC and DC voltage [V] and current [A] as well as resistance [Ω]. Many digital multimeters can also measure frequency [Hz], duty cycle [%], capacitance [F], temperature [°C], and/or other electrical or physical properties. Most are handheld; more expensive bench models are also available for applications requiring high precision.

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Supercapacitor ESR

I am trying to automate a method of testing the ESR of many super capacitors simultaneously. I have read that a good method of measuring the ESR of capacitors is to apply a square wave across the cap ...
Audio Guy's user avatar
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Do "True RMS" meters really do RMS if the input is a high frequency signal?

I'd like to measure the average of a signal which is mostly zero (less than a few nanovolts as best as I can tell) but may have occasional nonzero "blips" of maybe 20-100 nanoseconds (maybe 1V tall). ...
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Measuring Voltage and Curent Simultaneously with Probe?

I have very little experience with electricity, but I am doing a project in which I need to measure power output of solar cells. I am currently using this: http://www.pasco.com/prodCatalog/PS/PS-...
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Measuring the frequency of a 0-5V signal with DMM and no oscilloscope?

I'm trying to determine whether I can use a DMM to monitor a 0-5V signal of a cam and crank sensor. Both are magnetic. I have a 5V ref. The sensors should vary between 0V and 5V with a short pause ...
MattsAuto's user avatar
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How can a multimeter measure current while being parallel to the element

An ammeter is a low resistance device connected in series with the element through which we want to measure current However, a multimeter is connected in parallel with the element under observation ...
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How to read a multimeter (digital) -- should I get 2A readings from a couple of AA batteries?

I have been using some old multimeters in a high school science lab. We did a current an voltage reading from a AA supply (two batteries) with a variety of resistors. In some cases a 1M resistor. I ...
Jesse's user avatar
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How to find what is eating up current in electronic circuit?

I have 2 exact electronic circuits, with one malfunctioning while the other is functioning. The total current consumed by the malfunctioning circuit is 0.48 A, while the functioning PCB has 0.271 A. ...
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Why is my multimeter stopping device from booting when measuring current?

I am using a BK Precision 2709B multimeter and attempting to measure the current of a device that runs off of a ~3.7V battery. The device boots up, initializes and then goes into its lower power state....
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Measuring amperage with multimeter restarts RPI zero

I wanted to measure amperage on the GPIO pins on my RPI zero, so I attached my multimeter with positive lead to the 3.3V GPIO BOARD 1 and the black ground lead to the GRD GPIO BOARD 39. My multimeter ...
engineer-x's user avatar
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Why would a multimeter give an unexpected current reading?

I assume that the multimeter should read 2A for a 2A power supply, why is it only 0.358A? Edit: After watching a video on the basics of using a multimeter, I realised that as well as short circuiting ...
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Am I reading my multimeter correctly?

I'm trying to wrap my head around the 20m and the 2000µ setting. On 20m I see 0.01 but on the 2000µ setting I see 005. Does this mean my circuit is using 5µA of current? Why the discrepancy?
Ryan Detzel's user avatar
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Current decreases while reading

I'm a bit confused about reading current on a breadboard using a multimeter (I'm a complete beginner with electronics). I'm using a self-powered breadboard which should deliver 5V / 1A. Multimeter is ...
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confusing current readings

I know that Ohm's Law is V = IR but I am getting some very confusing current readings from multiple multimeters. Here is my very basic breadboard configuration: V = 6v R = 200 Ohms I = Should ...
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What would cause an ohm meter to read .4 ohms when the leads are touching, but 0 when reading a short in a circuit?

I was talking to someone who does a lot of laptop board repair work and he was commenting that when he touches the leads of his meter together in OHM mode, he gets a reading of about .4 ohms ... which ...
Michael Sims's user avatar
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Huge difference between oscilloscope and multimeter

I am quite novice in electronics, but I have a great interest. I am analyzing an analog signal coming as input to a speaker. The purpose is to introduce that signal (after its corresponding leveling) ...
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Measurement of the beta of a BJT with a multimeter

When we measure the beta of a BJT transistor with a multimeter, which beta is giving us, the maximum, the average or the minimum beta and under what conditions of Ic and Vce? Thanks
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Probing With Multimeter Breaks LED - Happened Twice

Qucik background info: I am using a 117 Fluke, brand new bought in 2020 from Amazon. What happened/happens: This is a very simple circuit, but for some reason the resistor keeps heating when I try to ...
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how to calibrate my multimeter temperature probe

I have a multimeter with the following temperature accuracy for its Type K probe ±3% of reading ±5C The display is in steps of 1C I attempted some calibration: In ...
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When measuring a resistance using a multimeter it is a few percent out. Why?

For example, if you were to put 5V across a \$150\Omega\$ resistor and measure its resistance with a multimeter, the reading would always be a few percent off the true value. What reasons might there ...
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Is measuring 220v AC current from wall socket with multimeter safe?

I've purchased a cheap Aneng multimeter (model SZ08). Since I'm not an expert in electronics, I have some questions related to the usage of this device. For instance, I wonder if measuring 220v AC ...
Gog's user avatar
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Is it normal that an analog voltmeter has about 7K ohm input impedance?

I have bought 10V 6c2 DC analog voltmeter, and I have tested it with a regulated DC power supply and it measured pretty accurately different voltages, however when I tried measuring the voltages in a ...
Shamooooot's user avatar
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Can I use 10A multimeter to test 445 watts solar panel

I want to know if I can use a cheap multimeter, model DT-830D, which has a maximum current rating of 10A to test voltage and amperage of a 445 watt solar panel with the following characteristics: <...
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Why did my meter read 6 volts dc in the speaker output of a car radio?

While probing a "live" car stereo pins, I also probed the speaker output pins but left the meter in dc volts mode and got a reading of 6v, wich I think is odd, as I asume the output should be ...
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How to know when to tune up a digital multimeter?

I have bought the multimeter with temperature measurement from the following website: http://futurlec.com/Multimeters.shtml Currently I use the voltage, resistance, and short circuit detection ...
Mike -- No longer here's user avatar
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240 V instead of 230 V on a true RMS multimeter

I'm a beginner in electronics, and I've recently got myself a UNI-T UT61E multimeter, which is marked as true RMS. I stuck its probes into a mains socket and I was expecting 230 V (Europe/Poland) but ...
Protecto's user avatar
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Why isn't tungsten used for multimeter probes?

Gold is considered the best multimeter probe tip (though disadvantages are that it comes off easily when rubbed and is expensive) since its surface hardly oxidizes when exposed to room-temperature air,...
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Multimeter Range and Resolution

I'm confused as to how my multimeter takes readings, especially since its not an auto-range multimeter. I have to switch to the desired range to carry out measurements. Unfortunately, the resolution ...
imran muhd's user avatar
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Why isn't it easy to put an ampere-meter into any battery driven electronics?

I can buy a cheap multimeter which has an ampere-meter function. Great. Battery driven computer equipment like laptops and cellphones are complex, and for power / battery management I suppose an ...
Gunther Schadow's user avatar
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Debugging LED with DMM

I am testing the green LED of my RGB LED, and I am confused about its behavior on my DMM. In the following picture, I connect the black lead to LED's cathode and the red lead to LED's anode, and get ...
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Measuring Current Using A Resistor?

Sometimes in videos made by the YouTube creator ElectroBOOM the creator says he is using a 1 ohm series resistor to measure current. I looked it up and found some links to forums where people are ...
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Cheap China solar water pump kit only runs for 10 minutes [closed]

I checked everything with a multimeter, everything seems fine. The batteries charge to full capacity. The output from the solar panel seems correct. The output from the controller seems correct. In ...
Matthew Nisbett's user avatar
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271 views

Which electrical components can be measured while still soldered to a PCB already, and under which circumstances? [closed]

I can't seem to find a coherent and thorough answer to this question anywhere on the internet. I know about this Stack Exchange post asking a similar question in the title but none of the answers ...
Samwise Ganges's user avatar
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941 views

Multimeter not showing same current as bench power supply

I’m getting a different reading on my multimeter for current than what shows on my bench power supply. The bench power supply shows 5 mA. This makes sense with the displayed volts and watts- 2V*.005A=....
Dashiell Rose Bark-Huss's user avatar
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Repairing a multimeter [closed]

I am attempting to repair my multimeter which hasn't worked since I tried to take an AC reading of an electrical item that blew a fuse and caused a loud pop on the source. Since this even the lcd ...
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Current and resistance

Can anybody explain why my tongue gets a reading on a multimeter. Do I have a current? Why do i have resistance? Why do some things have resistance? I am very confused.
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What does DC voltage reading from a DMM mean?

When a DMM is set to measure DC voltage, does a read-out value correspond to an output of the ADC inside the DMM, or do multiple ADC outputs are averaged over a time interval and then converted to the ...
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Why do I read resistance on the continuity setting but not on the resistance setting?

Disclaimer: Newbe A multimeter tutorial on Youtube said that to test my washing machine inlet valve solenoid for continuity I can use either the lowest ohms setting (200 on my DT830B) or the ...
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Measuring current through

I am new to this site. I have a circuit and need to measure the current through a diode. In my circuit i have a resistor and then a diode. Do i connect the multi meter where i have in the picture? ...
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Can a multimeter measuring current damage low voltage devices?

I'm using an arduino due (3.3V) which its power regulator can deliver 800mA of current. Can I connect a multimeter in series and get a reading of the current my circuit draws, and can i leave it ...
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Why does my multimeter show a higher current with lower sensitivity when measuring AC current?

For measuring AC current my multimeter has the options: I just wanted to measure an AC current which I expect to be around 1A. Here are the two measurements I did: What I always thought was that ...
Rob's user avatar
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Calculating resistance with a multimeter

I recently took on the job of working on someone's amplifier. There was a burnt smell coming from it. I found the pieces of the puzzle that were fried and replaced the ones I could, two diodes and two ...
Mike Mills's user avatar
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353 views

How to measure temporary drop in voltage with meter

What's the easiest way to measure the period of time between the "peaks" when a 5V DC signal goes from high to low to high? I'm trying to debug a power-loss problem, and one of the solutions I'm ...
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In Digital Multimeter note accuracy in digits

I have digital Multimeter noted in the multimeter accurcy is range 0 - 1000v at 0.2% +30 digits in this range what is 30 digits?
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Are measurements of battery voltage enough to test its state of health?

What I mean is that I might have 3.5 battery voltage, and I rarely use it. Note: If I measure the voltage it shows 3.5, but is not the internal resistance changed decreasing the current? If that is ...
Ali's user avatar
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1000VCATIIII0A marking on my multimeter probes

I've purchased a cheap Aneng SZ08 multimeter recently and I'm learning how to use it. The one thing I've noticed is that the handles of my probes has two markings on two sides: one of them says: CE (...
Gog's user avatar
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Multimeter fails to measure current but voltage, resistance and continuity measurements work fine. Is the fuse blown?

I am trying to measure the current of a pretty simple circuit consisting of an LED, resistor and 9V battery. As I said measuring the voltage, resistance, continuity works fine but the current ...
Marcelsky's user avatar
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How do I wire a new digital ammeter/voltmeter to my power supply?

I would like to replace the voltage and current analog meters on my Topward 2300 bench power supply with a newer digital one (DSN-VC288)Datasheet. Unfortunately, I'm very confused about how to wire it....
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Multimeter keeps reading 0 amps when using the unfused port

I'm trying to measure current on a cheap multimeter. It has an unfused 20A port and a fused 200mA port. I'm using a simple circuit with an LED, a resistor and 5V DC and setting the multimeter dial to ...
Dan's user avatar
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Why does the multimeter detect continuity between live and neutral of my appliance? [closed]

I was doing some random checks with my new multimeter and while doing a continuity test I heard the beeping noise when connecting the multimeter to the live and neutral ends of the plug for my 220v ...
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Interpretation of multimeter displaying "OL"

Multimeters normally displaying "OL" when measuring resistance in ohms and the cables are not connected. My friend told me that apprentices in Germany learn it is "Overload", while ...
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