Things You'll Need:
- Analog Meter
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Step 1
In this age known as the digital age it helps to know (believe it or not) how to read an analog multimeter. When taking a readind on some
parts of electronics the reading fluctuates so much a digital meter would be rendered useless because the display would never settle down.
Your standard analog meter is like the one pictured. The picture isn't the best but we'll use it. You will notice the csreen is like a dial with a needle. On the left side of the dial you will see scales Ohms, DC, and AC. You will also notice a mirror in the middle of the screen. As they say....class time. -
Step 2
When taking a reading we will start in class with a 1.5vdc battery. In your case use a "D" cell so you can hold on to it. On the dial at the bottom you notice the
readings are exponential. Start at the hightest number and dial down till the needle gets its closest to the middle where your reading can be the most accurate.
Take the negative or black lead and place it on the bottom of the battery. Take the positive or red lead and place it on the top of the battery. Dialing down on the meter you will notice on the lowest scale your meter pointer stops between 1 and 2. This means the battery is 1.5vdc. -
Step 3
Now let's try a car battery. Using the same technique, dial down and the needle will settle at 10 + 2 marks. This is 12 volts. In a circuit where the reading would have been 120vdc, the
needle would have settled halfway between 100 and 150 = 125vdc. If you were to do this with house AC and the dial on the bottom on the AC circuit, you would have seen the same thing on
the scale.
As I said, this is best used on fluctuating circuits. Place the meter on it's highest scale DC and place it on the terminals of a playing speaker. Turn the speaker up and the meter down. You will now see the needle bouncing. On a digital meter this would do no good but you can see it with an analog meter. Signals, pulses, audio, basically MOVING electricity is best measured this way. -
Step 4
You will now notice the resistance scale has ONE set of numbers, however, the dial has multiples. Again, start at the top and dial down. When you get to the scale that settles closest to the middle, look at the dial and multiply your reading by that number. 1oo on the scale on the 10's dial = 1000.
These are the basics.
