Multimeter Fuse Blowing

Multi-Meter Fuse Blowing (Revisited)

Every day we are surrounded by electrical activity, from simple devices such as remote controls, to very complicated systems like wiring of homes and businesses. All of these electrical structures follow the same basic guidelines, and are determined by Ohms Law. Ohms Law consists of three elements, Voltage, Current, and Resistance. Voltage determines the flow of current, and has a proportional relationship to current; the greater the voltage, the greater the current. Resistance on the other-hand has an inverse relationship to current; if resistance is increased, the current will decrease. L lower the resistance and current will increase. The relationship of the three elements of Ohm's Law: Volts, Amperes, and Ohms must mathematically balance, and is stated as V=I*R. In order to safely build and maintain our electrical components, we must measure the voltage, current, and resistance of the components we use. We do this by using tools such as the multi-meter. It is important to know how to properly use electrical equipment such as the multi-meter, in order to avoid overloading the electrical current into the meter, and thus cause a fuse to be blown. Proper use of the multimeter will prevent short circuits that result in blown fuses.

Current is defined as a flow of electrons that allows electricity to travel along, and is ; it is measured in amperes, or amps. In order to measure current through a resistor you must make it so that your current flows through both the multi-meter and resistor, so that your meter becomes a part of the circuit. A little hard to understand You do this by taking one end of your resistor out of the circuit and replacing it with the proper lead from your meter. You then place the opposite lead on the other side of the resistor in order to measure the amount of current that is flowing through the resistor. This is a proper example of joining your meter to the circuit in series; by setting the meter up in series, you can properly measure the current in amperes.

Voltage, defined as electric potential energy, is measured in joules/coulombs. In order to measure voltage on a multi-meter you must set the meter up so that it is in parallel with the circuit that you are measuring. If you wish to properly measure the voltage drop across a resistor, you would take one of the leads from the multi-meter and attach it before the resistor. You then attach the other lead after the resistor to create a parallel circuit, allowing you to receive a proper recording of the voltage drop, measured in volts.

When measuring current the resistor inside the multi- meter is extremely low so that it can properly record the total amperes. When the leads of the meter are set up in series with the circuit, the current becomes equally distributed across all resistors, and the meter can accurately measure current. However, when the meter is configured