How to check how much voltage your amp is getting.

[cooldudejz 10+ year member]

can anyone tell me if this is right. to check to see how much voltage your amp is getting do u just hook a dmm up to the ground and power connectors. please tell me if this is right, and if not how. i think my amp may be receiving very low voltage.

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[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Yeah touch the Positive and negative leads of the DMM to the positive and negative leads on the amp, and Set the DMM to DC volts.

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

Yeah touch the Positive and negative leads of the DMM to the positive and negative leads on the amp, and Set the DMM to DC volts.

SET THE DMM FIRST, then touch the leads or you might see the magic smoke on the DMM...I did.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Polecat 5,000+ posts]

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[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

SET THE DMM FIRST, then touch the leads or you might see the magic smoke on the DMM...I did.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

only it you have the leads in the wrong plugs on the DMM. Thats the only way Ive fried a DMM, was when I had the positive lead pluged into the amperage plug.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Digital meters are hard to damage from overvoltage, not like those analog ones that you needed to actually know how to use a shunt resistor and how to calculate the value so it won't peg the needle full scale //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif One of these days I'll pick up an autoranging one and completely lose the need to think //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

One of the first times that I used a DMM I was checking my battery voltage and the wires on the DMM got really hot; I still don't know how I did that. If I have the polarity of the DMM backwards it just shows negative voltage...

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

only it you have the leads in the wrong plugs on the DMM. Thats the only way Ive fried a DMM, was when I had the positive lead pluged into the amperage plug.

Like a dumb@ss, I had the meter set to something different earlier...so when it was put down on the amp inputs, then TURNED the dial. Once it passed the off position....MAGIC SMOKE.