my father left me a multimeter (Ideal 61-360) and I would like to use it on
the following. I never used one before and was wondering if anyone could
help me with the following.
Test for ground.
Test if Fuse is working. im thinking that has something to do with ohms but
still dont know how to do it.
if anyone could help me with these things it would be great.
Thank you
John
Hi, John. The Test-Pro® Multimeter 360 Series is a good, rugged DMM.
Doesn't autorange, but it's a reliable piece of electrical equipment.
To test for ground, first put your DMM on AC Voltage, 600V range, and
measure for *any* voltage. Click the ranges down to the lowest AC
range one at a time, again looking for *any* AC voltage reading. If
you get down to the 2000mV range without any reading, then switch the
ohmmeter to the 200 ohms range, and touch the leads together to see
the reading for zero (should be tenths of an ohm). Now measure the
resistance between the point in question and a known ground point.
You should still be reading tenths of an ohm, possibly a few tenths
more than your "zero" reading.
To test fuses, a good first check is to measure across the fuse on the
600VAC range, and see if there's any AC voltage across the fuse. Most
electrical fuses of more than 1 amp rating have a resistance of less
than 1 ohm, and will basically read either 0VAC or a few tenths of a
volt AC, or if they're open, will read line voltage across them.
Household screw-in fuses and many others can't be measured this way,
though. You have to pull them out, and measure ohms. Again, fuses
rated for more than one amp should be either zero or a few tenths of
an ohm, measured on the lowest ohms range).
As always, be careful when measuring around line voltage. Make sure
it's safe before you take the measurement, and never measure line
voltage with the meter set on anything but AC volts. If you don't
know what you're doing, ask a friend. Take the time to go to the
library and take out a book on basic house wiring -- you'll learn a
lot.
Good luck
Chris
