While reading voltage meters is an easy task for experienced electricians, for beginners and students the process can sometimes seem a lot more confusing. However, the good news is there are a number of tips that can be followed to make it much easier to read a voltage meter.
The first step in learning to read a voltage meter is to develop a good understanding of its ranges and symbols. It is important to be able to tell the difference between ac and dc and between kilo, mega, milli and micro readings as well as to know auto and manual range options.
The decimal setting is all important as all results will come as a number and they will need to be adjusted according to their decimal values.
In one volt there are actually a thousand milli volts, so if one milli volt has to be converted into volts, the result would be 0.0001 volts.
There are also some differences between the reading conclusion on an analogue voltage meter and a digital voltage meter. The former requires more effort to manually calculate the decimal values while the latter automatically performs this task and gives out an immediate result.
Reading the voltage
It is a simple task to read the voltage on a voltage meter. Just adjust the meter dial either to ac or dc depending on your needs, have the testing leads connected to the source and then see the results being displayed.
A voltage meter will display values such as the likes of 12v dc, 210c dc or 400v ac. It is important to keep in mind that the voltage meter should always be set on a range that is higher than the value that is being measured.
Reading current/amps on a voltage meter
Digital voltage meters usually have a lower range of current measurement that goes from 10A to 20A. Digital clamp meters are the ideal devices for large current due to the fact that their best models offer accuracy and safety. It is simple to read amps in a digital voltage meter as the result comes with a symbol that represents either ac or dc.
There are some digital multimeters that have micro or milli resolution amps that are donated by the µ symbol or ma respectively. One amp is the equivalent of 1000 milli amps as well as 1000000 microamps.
When testing a lower current value, the meter should be adjusted on either the milli or micro range setting.
Reading resistance value on a voltage meter
It can be tricky to read an ohms value on a voltage meter because of their greater range availability and their large resistor values. The first step to test a resistor, if the actual rating is unknown, is to manually determine the resistor value via the coding method. If the value is 870 ohms, the voltage meter should be set to a higher value range.
Focus and an understanding of the symbols and numbers are the most important things to know in order to correctly read a voltage meter.
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