Multimeter Tutorial Capture Sheet

The following link gives a brief tutorial on how we can use a multimeter (a combination of ammeter, voltmeter, etc.) to
solve lots of headaches when working with circuits. 10 th grade will be full of these!

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-multimeter/all

Answer the following questions and feel free to explore/research anything that doesn’t make sense! We might try this
lab in room 199 at a later date.

In the Suggested Reading section review the following:

- Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law

- Metric Prefixes

You are welcome to review any other sections that you feel you may need a little refresher on!

The selection knob helps us measure the following:

Unit Name Measures what in a circuit?

mA

COM stands for: __________________________________________

‘-‘ usually means what? _____________________ what color is this wire (usually)? _______________

When we are not using the multimeter, which has a 9V battery, we will be sure to _TURN IT OFF_!!!

Why do we use “10A?” __________________________________________

_______________ is the port that the red probe is conventionally plugged in to.

What range would we set the multimeter to if we were measuring a AA battery? ________ …a Car battery? ________

What symbol denotes alternating current (AC)? _____________... and direct current (DC)? _________

When will we use this to measure AC? NEVER! Never use one of these to check power coming from the building
(wall socket, power tools, light fixtures, etc.). That will ruin your day rapidly (at the speed of light).

What did we do wrong if the multimeter reads negative? _______________________________

Multimeters have ___________________ because they are not generally autoranging.

What range would I use to measure our 5V system from the pencil boxes? _______________

What would a reading of “1” mean? _______________________

What value would VCC have in this test? _______________

What is nodal analysis? __________________________________________________________________

When we are not using the multimeter, which has a 9V battery, we will be sure to _____________ ____ _____!!!
By measuring the voltage across the circuit we can see how much voltage _______ ______________ requires. Let's

measure the ______________ circuit first. Measuring from where the voltage is going in to the resistor and then where

ground is on the ______, we should see the full voltage of the circuit, expected to be around ______.

When we are not using the multimeter, which has a 9V battery, we will be sure to _____________ ____ _____!!!

What is a voltage drop? _____________________________

What is using 2.66V of the 5V supply? _______

Resistance
What will your memory device be for memorizing the color codes for resistors? (Try Wikipedia, though not the 11 th one)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

What is the percentage rule for tolerance when measuring resistance? _____________

Ω MΩ kΩ tolerance
5

What are some variables that would affect a resistors true reading? _____________________________________

What are some reasons that measuring current is so difficult?

When we are not using the multimeter, which has a 9V battery, we will be sure to _____________ ____ _____!!!

Continuity
Continuity is a great way to test if two SMD _________ are touching. If your _________ can't see it, the multimeter is
usually a great second testing resource.

When a system is not working, continuity is one more thing to help troubleshoot the system. Here are the steps to take:

1. If the system is on, carefully check VCC and GND with the voltage setting to make sure the voltage is the correct

level. If the 5V system is running at 4.2V check your regulator carefully, it could be very _________ indicating the

system is pulling too _________ current.

2. Power the system down and check continuity between VCC and GND. If there is continuity (if you hear a

_______), then you've got a _________ somewhere.

3. Power the system down. With continuity, check that VCC and GND are correctly wired to the pins on the

_________ and other devices. The system may be powering up, but the individual ICs may be wired wrong.
 4. Assuming you can get the microcontroller running, set the multimeter aside, and move on to _________

debugging or use a logic analyzer to inspect the digital signals.

When we are not using the multimeter, which has a 9V battery, we will be sure to _____________ ____ _____!!!

Continuity and large capacitors: During normal troubleshooting, you will be probing for _________ between ground

and the VCC _________. This is a good sanity check before powering up a prototype to make sure there is not a short on

the power system. But don't be surprised if you hear a short 'beep!' when probing. This is because there is often

significant amounts of capacitance on the power system. The multimeter is looking for very low resistance to see if two

points are connected. Capacitors will act like a _________ for a split second until they _________ ______ with energy,

and then act like an open connection. Therefore, you will hear a short beep and then nothing. That's ok, it's just the caps

charging up.

Finally,when we are not using the multimeter, which has a 9V battery, we will be sure to _____________ ____ _____!!!