What is a Meter?
A meter is any device built to accurately detect and display an electrical quantity in a form readable by a human being. Usually this "readable form" is visual: motion of a pointer on a scale, a series...
View ArticleVoltmeter Design
As was stated earlier, most meter movements are sensitive devices. Some D'Arsonval movements have full-scale deflection current ratings as little as 50 µA, with an (internal) wire resistance of less...
View ArticleVoltmeter impact on Measured Circuit
Every meter impacts the circuit it is measuring to some extent, just as any tire-pressure gauge changes the measured tire pressure slightly as some air is let out to operate the gauge. While some...
View ArticleAmmeter Design
A meter designed to measure electrical current is popularly called an "ammeter" because the unit of measurement is "amps." In ammeter designs, external resistors added to extend the usable range of the...
View ArticleAmmeter impact on Measured Circuit
Just like voltmeters, ammeters tend to influence the amount of current in the circuits they're connected to. However, unlike the ideal voltmeter, the ideal ammeter has zero internal resistance, so as...
View ArticleOhmmeter Design
Though mechanical ohmmeter (resistance meter) designs are rarely used today, having largely been superseded by digital instruments, their operation is nonetheless intriguing and worthy of study. The...
View ArticleHigh Voltage Ohmmeters
Most ohmmeters of the design shown in the previous section utilize a battery of relatively low voltage, usually nine volts or less. This is perfectly adequate for measuring resistances under several...
View ArticleMultimeters
Seeing as how a common meter movement can be made to function as a voltmeter, ammeter, or ohmmeter simply by connecting it to different external resistor networks, it should make sense that a...
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Kelvin (4-wire) Resistance Measurement
Suppose we wished to measure the resistance of some component located a significant distance away from our ohmmeter. Such a scenario would be problematic, because an ohmmeter measures all resistance in...
View ArticleBridge Circuits
No text on electrical metering could be called complete without a section on bridge circuits. These ingenious circuits make use of a null-balance meter to compare two voltages, just like the laboratory...
View ArticleWattmeter Design
Power in an electric circuit is the product (multiplication) of voltage and current, so any meter designed to measure power must account for both of these variables. A special meter movement designed...
View ArticleCreating Custom Calibration Resistances
Often in the course of designing and building electrical meter circuits, it is necessary to have precise resistances to obtain the desired range(s). More often than not, the resistance values required...
View ArticleWhat is a Meter?
A meter is any device built to accurately detect and display an electrical quantity in a form readable by a human being. Usually this "readable form" is visual: motion of a pointer on a scale, a series...
View ArticleVoltmeter Design
As was stated earlier, most meter movements are sensitive devices. Some D'Arsonval movements have full-scale deflection current ratings as little as 50 µA, with an (internal) wire resistance of less...
View ArticleVoltmeter impact on Measured Circuit
Every meter impacts the circuit it is measuring to some extent, just as any tire-pressure gauge changes the measured tire pressure slightly as some air is let out to operate the gauge. While some...
View ArticleAmmeter Design
A meter designed to measure electrical current is popularly called an "ammeter" because the unit of measurement is "amps." In ammeter designs, external resistors added to extend the usable range of the...
View ArticleAmmeter impact on Measured Circuit
Just like voltmeters, ammeters tend to influence the amount of current in the circuits they're connected to. However, unlike the ideal voltmeter, the ideal ammeter has zero internal resistance, so as...
View ArticleOhmmeter Design
Though mechanical ohmmeter (resistance meter) designs are rarely used today, having largely been superseded by digital instruments, their operation is nonetheless intriguing and worthy of study. The...
View ArticleHigh Voltage Ohmmeters
Most ohmmeters of the design shown in the previous section utilize a battery of relatively low voltage, usually nine volts or less. This is perfectly adequate for measuring resistances under several...
View ArticleMultimeters
Seeing as how a common meter movement can be made to function as a voltmeter, ammeter, or ohmmeter simply by connecting it to different external resistor networks, it should make sense that a...
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