Experiment No.

1: Familiarization with Electrical Measuring Instruments

1

Familiarization with Electrical Measuring

Instruments
Ricardo D. Quintero Jr, Amilou Jane D. Suarez, Peter John Abel P. Tapitan, MIT
junjun_hapi777@yahoo.com.ph, malou15_jane14@yahoo.com.ph, peter_tapits@yahoo.com

Abstract– The purpose of this experiment is meters are widely used in experiments due to its
to help students familiarize with the common efficiency and precision. Analog meters, on the
electric devices utilized in the laboratory. It other hand provide students an intuitive
aims to help students learn the proper knowledge on the fundamental concepts of
connection of circuit trainer kit devices in electric circuits.
creating electrical circuits. It also aims to
demonstrate the characteristics and proper
connection of the electrical measuring devices
in order to enable students to analyze and
determine several parameters(i.e., voltage,
current, resistance) in a simple electric
circuit.

Index Terms – circuit, current, voltage,

power, resistance, galvanometer, Ohm’s Law,
analog and digital multimeter, analog
voltmeter and ammeter
Figure 1 (a) Digital multimeter, (b) Analog multimeter

The galvanometer, which is a type of an

I. INTRODUCTION
In the field of electrical and electronics
engineering, study of electric circuits is so
pervasive. As engineers, it is crucial that we
know how to analyze systems containing several
electric components. It is important to note that
the experimental analysis of electric circuits
requires the fabrication and measurement of
several parameters (e.g., voltage, current,
resistance). For this particular experiment, the
students were introduced to some of the basic
and electrical measuring instruments.
One of the instruments essential in the
study of electric circuits is the voltmeter,
ammeter and multimeter which usually
combines several measurement functions in one
unit. The typical multimeter is capable of
measuring voltage, current and resistance. It can
either be of analog or digital form. Digital
analog ammeter, is used to detect, measure, and
determine the direction of small electric currents
by means of mechanical effects produced by a
current-carrying coil in a magnetic field. For this
type of device, it is important to note that its
current sensitivity (pointer deflection, d) is
proportional to the amount of current in the coil
(I M).
In analyzing basic electric circuits, it is
important to have a basic knowledge in
measuring parameters such as current, voltage
and resistance. A voltmeter for example should
be connected in parallel with the component to
measure the voltage across it. Resistance is
measured by connecting the test probes of the
multimeter across the resistor. When measuring
current, the ammeter should be connected in
series with the component to measure the
current through it. Figure 2 shows a
 Experiment No. 1: Familiarization with Electrical Measuring Instruments
comprehensive diagram for measuring the said
parameters.
Figure 2 Schematic Diagram of a Simple Electric
Circuit
Other apparatuses that we need to be
accustomed with are the Circuit 1 trainer power
supply and the Circuit 1 trainer kit comprised of
several components like resistors, capacitors,
transistors, jump wires, etc. The trainer kit also
comes with a breadboard characterized by holes
arranged in matrices which are used to construct
temporary electric circuits. In creating a
particular circuit, the terminals of the
components are inserted into certain holes that
may or may not be connected with one another.
Figure 3 (a) Breadboard mounted on a power supply,
(b) Electrical components.
II. METHODOLOGY
The first and second part of the
experiment dealt with identifying and analyzing
the characteristics of an analog ammeter and an
analog voltmeter by means of measuring their
respective resistances.
The third part of the experiment
involved creating and analyzing the
characteristics of the simple electric circuit
shown in the figure.
2
Figure 4
For each particular resistor used in the circuit,
the voltage, current and resistance were
identified and recorded. The power consumed
was determined using the equation: P L=V L I L.
10 trials were conducted with each trial utilizing a
different type of resistor. The data gathered were then
used to solve for the following formulas:
VL
Formula 1:
IL
PL
Formula 2: ;
IL
V 2L
Formula 3:
PL
III. RESULTS
This experiment was divided into three
parts, the first two parts is about determining the
characteristics of the two commonly use
electrical measuring devices, the analog
ammeter and the analog voltmeter.
Table 1. Characteristics of Analog Ammeter
RT (input resistance) VM = ITRT
0.2Ω 60mV
From the results of part A of the
experiment which is about determining the
characteristics of analog ammeter, refer to Table
1, we determined the RT (input resistance of the
ammeter) and the Vm (voltage that will cause full
scale deflection). In this part, VOM was really
 Experiment No. 1: Familiarization with Electrical Measuring Instruments
3

useful because we use it obtain these data. The 8 21739.13Ω 23629.99Ω 20000Ω
data shows small amount of input resistance, 9 48756.10Ω 51160.02Ω 46465.13Ω
since ammeter is use to measure currents, small 10 1MΩ 1MΩ 1MΩ
amount of input resistance allows the flow of
larger currents. Using the given circuit in figure 4, we
have taken results by having different values of
resistor, as shown in table 3 and 4. This is the
Table 2. Characteristics of Analog Voltmeter last part of the experiment and considered to be
RT I m=V T /R T Voltmeter the important part. The proper use of the
(input resistance) Sensitivity measuring device is important to obtain accurate
results in this part, also the correct use of other
6.05kΩ 0.5 mA 2.02kΩ/V
electrical components.
In table 3, you can observe that when
the value of the resistor is larger, the value of
Referring to table 2, showing the results current is lower. This means that resistance is
of part B of the experiment, you can see that the inversely proportional to current. To test the data
input resistance for analog voltmeter is very we gathered, we determine the value of the
much larger than the input resistance of a analog resistor using 3 different formulas, as shown in
ammeter. The input resistance of the voltmeter table 4, and from these results, you can see that
here was obtained from measuring it across the it has small difference from the given resistor,
input terminals by means of the VOM. From the this may means that the resistors are in good
measured input resistance, we determine the I m conditions and the date we gathered was
by dividing it to the full scale reading of the reliable.
voltmeter. The voltmeter we use has sensitivity
2.02K ohms per volt, which is the reciprocal of
Im . IV. CONCLUSION
Table 3. Measured Data (Part C) In this experiment we determined the
Trials VL IL PL Given R characteristics and proper connection of
L
common electrical measuring devices, we read
1 19.99V 0.06A 1.2W 325.6Ω measurements of basic electrical measuring
2 19.99V 0.04A 0.8W 463Ω device and we familiarized ourselves with the
3 20V 0.03A 0.6W 677Ω basic circuit training kit and learned the proper
4 20V 0.02A 0.4W 987Ω
connection of trainer kit devices.
5 20V 9.18mA 0.18W 2177Ω
Practically all electric measurements
6 20V 4.3mA 0.086W 4660Ω
involve either the measurement or detection of
7 19.99V 2mA 0.04W 9830Ω
electric current. The measurement of electric
8 20V 0.92mA 0.02W 21.66KΩ
current can be accomplished by means of any
9 19.99V 0.41mA 8.6mW 46.5KΩ
one of the three principal effects of current:
10 20V 0.02mA 0.4mW 0.974MΩ
heating effect, chemical effect, or magnetic
effect. The galvanometer sensitivity exists
although there are numerous ways of expressing
Table 4. Continuation of table 3
it; current sensitivity, voltage sensitivity, and
Trials VL/IL PL/IL2 VL2/PL
mega ohm sensitivity, each involving a
1 333.13Ω 333.17Ω 333.33Ω
statement of the electrical conditions necessary
2 499.75Ω 500Ω 499.5Ω
to produce a standard deflection. In our
3 666.67Ω 666.6Ω 666.66Ω
experiment we only determine the characteristic
4 1000Ω 1000Ω 1000Ω
of ammeter and voltmeter and from there we
5 2178.65Ω 2178.65Ω 2178.65Ω
have the current sensitivity as current per unit
6 4651.16Ω 4651.16Ω 4651.16Ω
7 9995Ω 10000Ω 9990Ω deflection (k =I M /d ), voltage sensitivity, and
 Experiment No. 1: Familiarization with Electrical Measuring Instruments
4

voltmeter sensitivity as the voltage required per

unit deflection.
In the last part of the experiment, the
experiment shows the importance of the correct
use of the circuit 1 trainer kit, electronic devices.
This also shows the relationship between
voltage, current and resistance, and somehow
also proves the ohm’s law which states that the
voltage across the resistor is directly
proportional to the current flowing through the
resistor [1]. We can also test the electrical
components if they are in good terms using the
electrical measuring devices. We have also
learned that when measuring voltages and
currents, the voltmeter must be connected in
parallel across the circuit element so that its
inclusion in the circuit has negligible effect on
total resistance and current flowing in the circuit
while the ammeter must be connected in series
with the circuit element.

REFERENCES

[1] C.K. Alexander and M.N.O. Sadiku,

Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, 3 rd
Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007

[2] R. Nave, Ammeter Design,

http://hyperphysics.phy-
astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/magnetic/ammet.html

[3] Young, Freedman, University Physics with

Modern Physics, 11th Edition, Pearson
Education Inc., 2004 AI ______________
[4] Multimeter. (n.d.) In Sci-Tech Encyclopedia I ______________
Retrieved from M ______________
http://www.answers.com/topic/multimeter
R ______________
C ______________

P ______________

T ______________