Lecture 5

DC AMMETER
 The PMMC galvanometer constitutes the basic movement of
a dc ammeter.
 A generic D’Arsonval movement is limited to measuring
whatever current produces a Full Scall Deflection (FSD).
 The coil winding of a basic movement is small and light, so it
can carry only very small currents.
 The PMMC can be used to build an ammeter with
connected the shunt resistor and meter in parallel.
 A low value resistor (shunt resistor) is used in DC ammeter
to measure large current.

RM = internal resistance of the movement

RSH = shunt resistance
ISH =shunt current
IM = full scale deflection current of the movement
I = full scale current of the ammeter + shunt (i.e.
total current)
RSH is smaller than RM
Shunt ( very low resistance)
•Used to avoid destroying coil due to high current
•Shunt is connected in parallel with coil instrument

Condition Rs << Rm Rs =1 ohm Rm= 99 ohm so

So Is will be 99 times Im
We measure a current that is n times IM (FSD) current,
where n is called multiplying factor, by substituting I by IM
Therefore
Multi-range Ammeter
Multi-range Ammeter
• In practical terms, ammeters with a single range are not very useful; we now make an
ammeter to measure several ranges at once.
• One approach is to have a separate shunt
resistor for each range and we can calculate
each resistor value of the shunt as we just did.
• Consider the following circuit:

Multi range Ammeter (using different Rs ) By Using

1) multi shunt resistances
 2. AYRTON SHUNT

Another method of protecting the

deflection instrument of an ammeter from
excessive current flow when switching
between shunts is to use Ayrton shunt as
shown

Here, the shunt resistors, R1, R2 and R3, are all in series and
collectively in parallel to the meter movement Rm.
Thus:
AYRTON SHUNT

Here, the shunt resistors, R2 and R3, are

in series and collectively in parallel to the
(Rm+R1).
Thus:

Here, the shunt resistor R3, is in

in parallel to the meter movement
(Rm+R1+R2).
Thus:
 2-Ayrton shunt
At B
(R1+R2+R3) in parallel with Rm

At C
(R1+R2) in parallel with (Rm+R3)
 Precautions using an ammeter
• Never connect an ammeter across a source of e.m.f. Why?
– Think of the value of Rm and IFSD
• Observe polarity when connecting the ammeter in circuit
• When using a multi-range ammeter, start with the highest range,
then decrease to get the highest reading for a particular current.
– The nearer the FSD, the better the accuracy

Ammeter Loading:
When an ammeter is used to measure the current in a circuit, the ammeter
circuit itself is in series with the circuit component. Total resistance will
increase, so the current flowing I in the circuit component will decrease.
This is called ammeter loading.

The resulting error is called a insertion error.

The ammeter loading will be negligible if using the ammeter resistance is
very small comparing to the load.
EX 3-3
 I (mA)

FSD Measured current

10 mA

FSD 10 mA

0.5 FSD 5 mA

0.25 FSD 0.25 mA FSD

So the scale is linearly calibrated (0 10 mA)

Also the total current can be changed with changing shunt resistance where :-
With decreasing the shunt resistance the total current increased

I (mA)

Rs
 DC Voltammeter “measure the current ”
• The deflection of pointer is proportional to current
flowing in coil
• Current coil proportional to voltage across coil
• So the scale can be calibrated to measure the voltage
• As the coil resistance is very small ,it must be protected
by adding series resistance to be able to measure higher
voltage
• This series resistance is called multiplier resistance
• If multiple resistance is nine time coil resistance so increase voltage by
a factor of 10

Im= 100 µA
V=50 v
Rm= 1K ohm
The applied voltages with different ratios of full scale are :-
To calculate sensitivity

Total resistance

With 50 volt full scale, the sensitivity (resistance per

voltage ) will be

• In default the voltammeter must have high resistance as it

connected in parallel
• If the voltammeter resistance is low it will change the voltage
of circuit resulting in loading effect
DC VOLTMETER
A basic d’Arsonval movement can be converted into dc voltmeter by adding
in series resistor multiplier as shown in fig

RM = internal resistance of the movement

RS = multiplier resistance
IM = full scale deflection current of the movement
V = full range voltage of the instrument
Multi-range Voltmeter
 Loading Effects in DC Voltmeter
• When a voltmeter is used to measure the voltage
across a circuit component, the voltmeter circuit
itself is in parallel with the circuit component.
• Total resistance will decrease, so the voltage
across component will also decrease.
• This is called voltmeter loading.
• The resulting error is called a loading error.
• The voltmeter loading can be reduced by using a
high sensitivity voltmeter.
Multi range Voltammeter
 Ohmmeter
Ohmmeter is part of volt ohm millimeter and consists of
Voltage source connected with standard resistance and
low current PMMC
 The meter current indicated by instrument is
Battery voltage

When the Rx (resistance to measured) = 0 Ω

In this case R1 and Rm are adjusted to give full scale

deflection (FSD) zero ohm
 Example 3.14
The series ohmmeter in the Figure is made up of a 1.5 v battery, a 100µA meter, and a resistance R1 which makes (R1 +Rm)
=15kΩ.
1) Determine the instrument indication when Rx = 0
2) Determine how the resistance scale should be marked at 0.5 FSD, 0.25 FSD, and 0.75

100 uA

15K ohm

1.5 v
AS