Multimeter functioning [newbie question]

N

Neutron

Guest
Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked first go
fortunately for me, all I basically understood was that capacitors store a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Neutron wrote:
Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked first go
fortunately for me, all I basically understood was that capacitors store a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.


To get familiarized with your new mmeter, you could try using it on
Click to expand...
known sources first. Try testing a 9V battery on the DC 20 volts range.
I see by looking at the picture that the ranges are not labeled "DC"
"AC" etc. The upper right quadrant is DC volts (symbol is a solid bar
over a dotted line to indicate you are measuring some voltage on one
side of zero volts). The reading will be close to 9 volts for a good
battery. Try using the AC volts range (lower right quadrant -- symbol
is a sideways "S" to indicate you are measuring a voltage that
alternates between positive and negative in a regular cycle) to test a
wall socket (110 to 120 volts). Shorting the leads together on the ohms
scale (upper left, with the Greek letter omega -- the symbol for ohms)
should give you a reading o zero (if not, there is usually a trim
control to adjust for zero). The lower left quadrant ("A") is the amps
range. This is used to measure current by placing the meter leads in
series with the circuit. Use this range with caution (wait until you
have more experience with the meter). In all cases, make sure the meter
is in a high enough range to avoid an over range reading. In other
words, choose a range that is bigger than the voltage you expect to
read. When testing an unknown, start at the highest range and work down
ranges if needed. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT RANGE, OR YOU
MAY DAMAGE YOUR METER. Also, remember the one cardinal rule of
multimeters -- NEVER MEASURE VOLTAGES ON THE OHMS SCALE. Have fun!

Nels
Remember -- All things run on smoke
If you let the smoke out, it won't work anymore.
 
Nelson Johnsrud wrote:
Neutron wrote:

Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked
first go
fortunately for me, all I basically understood was that capacitors
store a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical
process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.


To get familiarized with your new mmeter, you could try using it on
known sources first. Try testing a 9V battery on the DC 20 volts range.
I see by looking at the picture that the ranges are not labeled "DC"
"AC" etc. The upper right quadrant is DC volts (symbol is a solid bar
over a dotted line to indicate you are measuring some voltage on one
side of zero volts). The reading will be close to 9 volts for a good
battery. Try using the AC volts range (lower right quadrant -- symbol
is a sideways "S" to indicate you are measuring a voltage that
alternates between positive and negative in a regular cycle) to test a
wall socket (110 to 120 volts). Shorting the leads together on the ohms
scale (upper left, with the Greek letter omega -- the symbol for ohms)
should give you a reading o zero (if not, there is usually a trim
control to adjust for zero). The lower left quadrant ("A") is the amps
range. This is used to measure current by placing the meter leads in
series with the circuit. Use this range with caution (wait until you
have more experience with the meter). In all cases, make sure the meter
is in a high enough range to avoid an over range reading. In other
words, choose a range that is bigger than the voltage you expect to
read. When testing an unknown, start at the highest range and work down
ranges if needed. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT RANGE, OR YOU
MAY DAMAGE YOUR METER. Also, remember the one cardinal rule of
multimeters -- NEVER MEASURE VOLTAGES ON THE OHMS SCALE. Have fun!

Nels
Remember -- All things run on smoke
If you let the smoke out, it won't work anymore.
Click to expand...
One additional note -- The 110-120 volts AC I spoke of above is the
standard in the U.S. I see you ordered from a NZ company. Does this
mean you are not in the U.S.? If so, your wall socket voltages may be
different (higher). Set your range accordingly. That "world wide"
thing caught me again.

Nels
 
"Nelson Johnsrud" <gop4evr@lsol.net> wrote in message
news:uAfWe.1845$Qq1.282733@newshog.newsread.com...
Nelson Johnsrud wrote:
Neutron wrote:

Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked
first go
fortunately for me, all I basically understood was that capacitors
store a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical
process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things
numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.


To get familiarized with your new mmeter, you could try using it on
known sources first. Try testing a 9V battery on the DC 20 volts range.
I see by looking at the picture that the ranges are not labeled "DC"
"AC" etc. The upper right quadrant is DC volts (symbol is a solid bar
over a dotted line to indicate you are measuring some voltage on one
side of zero volts). The reading will be close to 9 volts for a good
battery. Try using the AC volts range (lower right quadrant -- symbol
is a sideways "S" to indicate you are measuring a voltage that
alternates between positive and negative in a regular cycle) to test a
wall socket (110 to 120 volts). Shorting the leads together on the ohms
scale (upper left, with the Greek letter omega -- the symbol for ohms)
should give you a reading o zero (if not, there is usually a trim
control to adjust for zero). The lower left quadrant ("A") is the amps
range. This is used to measure current by placing the meter leads in
series with the circuit. Use this range with caution (wait until you
have more experience with the meter). In all cases, make sure the meter
is in a high enough range to avoid an over range reading. In other
words, choose a range that is bigger than the voltage you expect to
read. When testing an unknown, start at the highest range and work down
ranges if needed. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT RANGE, OR YOU
MAY DAMAGE YOUR METER. Also, remember the one cardinal rule of
multimeters -- NEVER MEASURE VOLTAGES ON THE OHMS SCALE. Have fun!

Nels
Remember -- All things run on smoke
If you let the smoke out, it won't work anymore.

One additional note -- The 110-120 volts AC I spoke of above is the
standard in the U.S. I see you ordered from a NZ company. Does this
mean you are not in the U.S.? If so, your wall socket voltages may be
different (higher). Set your range accordingly. That "world wide"
thing caught me again.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all your help !!!! :)

Yeah there was a warning on the (lacking) instructions about measuring that
sort of thing.
There's also a "hFE" setting on the bottom as well on the lower right
qudrant, and another setting that looks like this "->|-" (sorta). Could you
suggest what these might be for ?

Cheers.
 
"Nelson Johnsrud" <gop4evr@lsol.net> wrote in message
news:6mfWe.1844$Qq1.282329@newshog.newsread.com...
Neutron wrote:
Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked first
go
fortunately for me, all I basically understood was that capacitors store
a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical
process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.


To get familiarized with your new mmeter, you could try using it on
known sources first. Try testing a 9V battery on the DC 20 volts range.
I see by looking at the picture that the ranges are not labeled "DC"
"AC" etc. The upper right quadrant is DC volts (symbol is a solid bar
over a dotted line to indicate you are measuring some voltage on one
side of zero volts). The reading will be close to 9 volts for a good
battery. Try using the AC volts range (lower right quadrant -- symbol
is a sideways "S" to indicate you are measuring a voltage that
alternates between positive and negative in a regular cycle) to test a
wall socket (110 to 120 volts).
Click to expand...

Actually, I do have to adjust the voltage on T2 and T4 so this will assist !
(It's a theremin kit BTW)
 
"Neutron" (neutron@gmail.com) writes:


Yeah there was a warning on the (lacking) instructions about measuring that
sort of thing.
There's also a "hFE" setting on the bottom as well on the lower right
qudrant, and another setting that looks like this "->|-" (sorta). Could you
suggest what these might be for ?

Was there no manual?
Click to expand...

The "->|-" I bet looks like the common diode symbol, and is there for
checking the junctions of diodes and other semiconductors. It's a variant
of the ohmmeter function, in that it applies small voltage to the probes
so you can measure resistance. But it is arranged so it can better check
those semiconductor junctions. Put a diode across the leads, and set
the function switch to that function, and in one direction you will
get a maximum reading (ie the same as if nothing is connected to the leads)
and in the other direction you will get a low reading. That's for a good
diode. A shorted one will show a low reading in both directions, an open
diode will show a high reading in either direction. The reading you see
if it's a good diode will let you determine the type of diode (ie germanium
which you aren't likely to come across much, silicon and schottky, since
each have a different voltage drop). Since a transistor is two junctions,
you can use the function to check the junctions of those, though you'll have
to check the base-emitter junction, and then the base-collector junction.

The "HFE" is for measuring transistor gain. There should be a socket to
plug the transistor into for doing the measuring. I've had a meter with
the function for almost ten years, and other than playing with the function
at the beginning, have never used it.

Michael
 
Neutron wrote:
Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked first go
fortunately for me
Click to expand...
I'd say "unfortunately" for you!
You learn a *lot* more when something doesn't work and you have to
debug it!


all I basically understood was that capacitors store a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.
Click to expand...
There are on-line tutorials like these:
http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/natsci/slc/slconline/DIG/
http://www.multimeterwarehouse.com/usingamultimeter.htm

Books abound as well, visit your local library or uni library.

Dave :)
 
Yeah there was a warning on the (lacking) instructions about measuring that
sort of thing.
There's also a "hFE" setting on the bottom as well on the lower right
qudrant, and another setting that looks like this "->|-" (sorta). Could you
suggest what these might be for ?
Click to expand...
That's for testing transistors and seeing how well they work, for that use
use the small round socket labeled E C B E PNP NPN etc

the ->|- symbol the diode symbol it'll measure the forwards voltage drop.
it'll give you a reading og 0.6 (approx) for a silicon diode and abour 0.2
for a germanium diode.

always remember to turn it off bacase the cheap DSE multimeters don't power
down automatically and so will run the battery down if left on overnight a
few times.

get a few spare fuuses for it cause it's pretty easy to blow them if you mis-
use it on the mA scale. (there is room inside the case to store them if you
wrap them in plastic)

Bye.
Jasen
 
On 2005-09-15, Neutron <neutron@gmail.com> wrote:

Actually, I do have to adjust the voltage on T2 and T4 so this will assist !
(It's a theremin kit BTW)
Click to expand...
That was your first kit, and it works? well done!

(I'm assuming it was either the Jaycar or the Altronics version of the Aug
2000 Silicon Chip mag. Theremin kit) and not a classic theremin with vlaves
and all.

Bye.
Jasen
 
Neutron wrote:
Hi, total newbie to electronics, I just built a kit which worked first go
fortunately for me, all I basically understood was that capacitors store a
charge and resistors resist the current.

The kit said the test the voltages and so I went ought and bought this
cheapie multimeter . . .
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/Product/Q1467?id=se

I didn't need to use it as the kit worked fine even with my rudimentary
soldering skills, but I identified the parts correctly and even if my
understanding of electronics was minimal it was a rather mechanical process.

With the multimeter, the instructions are pretty basic with this thing
could anyone point me in the right direction of understanding it's
functionality, once I touch the red and the black pointie things numbers
appear and I'm lost from there,

Thanks in advance for your help.
You got some good answers about how to use your meter. Beyond that, I
Click to expand...
would suggest you look up Ohm's law and the other laws that relate
current, voltage, resistance, and power. You will understand much
better what those measurements you get with your meter really mean.
 
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