Experiment 0: Basic Measurements

Matthew John C Santos, Jeremiah J Quinto

UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute
Velasquez Street, University of the Philippines Diliman,
Quezon City, Philippines
santosmatthewjohn@gmail.com
jeremiahquinto0627@gmail.com
AbstractFor us to learn to use the power supply,
protoboard, and analog multimeter, and to learn to measure
voltage, current, and resistance in simple circuits.

I. INTRODUCTION
Learning how to use the power supply, protoboard, and analog
multimeter is essential as well as learning how to measure voltage, current
and resistance. These are the basics that everyone should know as we do
more experiments.

II. EXPERIMENTATION
A. Measuring Resistance using Ohmmeter
First, choose a resistance range then short the two meter leads by
touching the metallic points together. Using the zero knob on the front of
the meter, adjust the pointer so it is aligned with the zero printed on the
Ohms scale.
Using the analog multimeter (AMM) as ohmmeter, select the resistance
range that will place somewhere in the middle or right-side of the scale
and measure the resistance value of the provided resistors.

B. Measuring Voltage using Voltmeter

First, set the function switch on the front of the AMM to DC voltage (

V DC

), and the range switch on the highest scale. Then, turn on the

power supply and set it to its maximum and minimum voltage. Measure
and record the output voltage. Repeat the process using a different power
supply.

Figure 1. Simple circuit setup.

Measure the voltage across the resistor R2 and the current across the
circuit. Using the measured values, compute the power dissipated by the
resistor R2.

D. Computing Resistance and Error

Replace R2 in part C with the resistors measured in part A. Measure the
values of voltage and current of each resistor then solve for resistance R2
using Ohms Law.
Compute for the percent error of the resistance measured in ohmmeter
and in using ohms law.

true valueactual value

%error=

C. Determining Resistance Using Voltage and Current

Measurements
First, set the power supply to 10V then turn it off. Set up the circuit
shown below on a protoboard using R1 = 1k and R2 = 5.1k.

x 100
true value

E. Power Ratings
Using the Fig. 1 but this time using R1 = 100 and R2 = 50, compute
for the voltage across, current through, and the power dissipated by each
of the resistors. Then, replace R1 with 1k resistor. Compare with the
previous case in terms of power ratings.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Measuring Resistance using Ohmmeter
The lowest scale in the resistance setting is the least sensitive and it
cannot be zeroed.
The table below shows the resistance of different resistors and the
measured values based on AMM:
TABLE I
RESISTANCE OF DIFFERENT RESISTORS

Resistor
s

Color Code

Ra

Green Blue
Orange Gold
Orange White
Brown Silver
White Brown
Yellow Gold

Rb
Rc

Resistance
based on
Color Code
56k

Resistance
based on
AMM
55k

390

370

910k

900k

B. Measuring Voltage using Voltmeter

The table below shows the measured output voltage of the power
supplies:
TABLE II
POWER SUPPLY VOLTAGES
Power Supply
Minimum Voltage
Maximum Voltage
PS1
0.01V
30V
PS2
0V
29.99V

Ohms Law (
Ra

10V

Rb
Rc

3.1V
10V

0.18m
A
7.5mA
11A

R=

55.56k
413.33
909k

The table below shows the percent error of each resistors:

TABLE IV
ERROR CALCULATIONS
Resistor
Resistance
Resistance
e AMM Resistance
s
Color
Ohmmeter
Ohms
Code
Law
Ra
56k
55k
1.79%
55.56k
Rb
390
370
5.12%
413.33
Rc
910k
900k
1.1%
909k

E. Power Ratings
C. Determining Resistance Using Voltage and Current
Measurements

Using voltage division and KVL for calculations:

R1 = 100, R2 = 50

VR1
I R1

= (10V)(

PR 1

10 V
100 +50

) = 6.67V

= 66.67mA

= (6.67V)(66.67mA) = 444.44mW

VR2

= (10V)(

Figure 2. Circuit setup to measure the voltage across R2

I R2

100
100+50

PR 2

50
100+50

10 V
100 +50

) = 3.33V

= 66.67mA

= (3.33V)(66.67mA) = 222.22mW
R1 = 1000, R2 = 50

VR1

= (10V)(

I R1

Figure 3. Circuit setup to measure the current through R2

The measured voltage across R2 is 8.6V and the measured current is
1.66mA. The power dissipated by the resistor R2 is as follows:
P = VI = (8.6V)(1.66mA) = 14.276mW

PR 1

The table below shows the measured resistance using ohms law:
TABLE III
USING OHMS LAW TO MEASURE RESISTANCE
Resistor
V R 2 I R 2 Resistance of R2 computed using
s

10 V
100 0 +50

= (10V)(

I R2

PR 2

) = 9.52V

=9.52mA

= (9.52V)(9.52mA) = 90.7mW

VR2

D. Computing Resistance and Error

100 0
100 0+50

50
100 0+50

10 V
100 0 +50

) = 0.48V

=9.52mA

= (0.48V)(9.52mA) = 4.53mW

e OL
0.8%
5.9%
0.1%

IV. CONCLUSIONS
A. Measuring Resistance using Ohmmeter

B. Measuring Voltage using Voltmeter

D. Computing Resistance and Error

Since weve used an analog multimeter, it is likely not that accurate
compared to the digital. This causes errors in computations and
measurements of each values.
The power supply can also cause error because as we saw at part B, its
not giving the exact voltage that we want. In addition of the precision
error of the AMM, the resistances computed using ohms law will likely
be not equal to its value based on color code.

E. Power Ratings
C. Determining Resistance Using Voltage and Current
Measurements
In fig. 2, since the voltage among parallel nodes are equal, we connect
the AMM parallel to R2 to measure its voltage.
In fig. 3, since a series connection has equal current, we connect the
AMM in series with the circuit.

With the combination of 100 and 50 resistor, the circuit in Figure 1

dissipates a total power of 666.67mW while with 1000 and 50 resistor,
it dissipates a total power of 95.23mW. Therefore, the higher the
resistance is, the lower the total power it can dissipate.