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Multimeters are a very useful tool to the electrical engineer.
They can be used in various ways to take measurements such as Voltage and Current in various parts of a circuit and are vital when fault finding (A multimeter cannot check if a circuit has been designed correctly but can check for faulty components).
Various different types of multimeter exist, some are bench mounted Fig 1, some are portable (hand held) Fig 2 and Fig 3.
They can be used in various ways to take measurements such as Voltage and Current in various parts of a circuit and are vital when fault finding (A multimeter cannot check if a circuit has been designed correctly but can check for faulty components).
Various different types of multimeter exist, some are bench mounted Fig 1, some are portable (hand held) Fig 2 and Fig 3.
It is important to note that although the multimeters shown here all perform the same basic function (you will need to look carefully at the type of multimeter you are using to set the desired function as they all differ slightly), some are more accurate than others.
In the comfort of an electronics lab, it is better to use a bench type multimeter as shown in Fig 1, as it will give the most accurate results. A digital handheld meter as shown in Fig 2, is the one used mostly when designing and testing circuits as it can be used wherever you are located.
The analogue multimeter (Fig 3) is rarely used these days as the results can be very inaccurate due to its internal resistance (If internal resistance is too low, current flows into the meter rather than around the circuit, so the measurements become inaccurate). It is however useful if you simply need to know if a circuit is giving voltage with a rough measurement.
In the comfort of an electronics lab, it is better to use a bench type multimeter as shown in Fig 1, as it will give the most accurate results. A digital handheld meter as shown in Fig 2, is the one used mostly when designing and testing circuits as it can be used wherever you are located.
The analogue multimeter (Fig 3) is rarely used these days as the results can be very inaccurate due to its internal resistance (If internal resistance is too low, current flows into the meter rather than around the circuit, so the measurements become inaccurate). It is however useful if you simply need to know if a circuit is giving voltage with a rough measurement.
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