How to use DMM

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

well the dial didn't change anything... i guess this 20 year old multimeter is a piece. I guess ill just go buy a digital one. Thanks for the help guys

 

[Moe Lester 10+ year member]

okay.... so i decided to test a new 9V D battery. I put it on 10V DC, and the dial turns to the black 20 (or red 4)... This doesnt seem right

was the battery known to be good?

 

[Bake 10+ year member]

Is the battery in the meter known to be good also? Set the meter to measure resistance, touch the leads together. The dial should read 0ohms. If it doesn't try the dial on the side to zero the meter. You are correct that each scale is for each setting. Try testing the battery in your car. It should of course read about 12vdc. Try to use a scale that keeps the needle near the middle of it's sweep as this is where the meter will be the most accurate.

 

[RandyJ 10+ year member]

This is why I would recommend buying a new one. They should com ewith instructions and digital is a lot easier to read than analog.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

You guys don't know what punishment is until you've used a VTVM...I'm glad those are relegated to the junk pile //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Analog meters are extremely easy to destroy - try measuring volts on the resistance setting if you want to see what I mean.

I bought a spare Greenlee DMM for monitoring a stack of deep cycle batteries charging in my basement. It was $19.99. There's no reason to use analog meters nowadays, unless you're a glutton for punishment.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

It's called a VOM... Volt/Ohm/Milliammeter.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with analog meters. In fact they're far superior to digital meters when you need to check intermittants or pulsing signals or you just wanna see if a wire is "hot". Digital displays do NOT make an instrument accurate, that's just a perception.

First thing to do is zero the needle. Yours is way off to the left. The plastic screw in the clear part of the face will do that.

The black lines are for both AC and DC except for the lowest AC scale (10V). There's a slight offset on that scale because of the 0.7 volt loss in the internal rectifier diode.

Then check that 9V battery again. 10 VDC scale. A good battery should read close to 9V.

For resistance measurements the meter needs a good internal battery. On any of the RX scales short the leads together and use that dial on the side to adjust for zero ohms. It's there to compensate for battery wear. If you can't make the needle go full scale with the leads shorted, the battery needs replacing.

I love my Simpson 260. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

It's called a VOM... Volt/Ohm/Milliammeter.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with analog meters. In fact they're far superior to digital meters when you need to check intermittants or pulsing signals or you just wanna see if a wire is "hot". Digital displays do NOT make an instrument accurate, that's just a perception.

First thing to do is zero the needle. Yours is way off to the left. The plastic screw in the clear part of the face will do that.

The black lines are for both AC and DC except for the lowest AC scale (10V). There's a slight offset on that scale because of the 0.7 volt loss in the internal rectifier diode.

Then check that 9V battery again. 10 VDC scale. A good battery should read close to 9V.

For resistance measurements the meter needs a good internal battery. On any of the RX scales short the leads together and use that dial on the side to adjust for zero ohms. It's there to compensate for battery wear. If you can't make the needle go full scale with the leads shorted, the battery needs replacing.

I love my Simpson 260. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

whoa thanks man. I didn't realize the screw in the middle did anything. Ill try that out.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

Well I tried it, and I got a reading of 9v! oh im so excited. Now im gonna go all over my house testing voltages n shit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nerd.gif.c6fa51ddf7ff75f1c0371fbc648f70ae.gif

Thanks maylar