subject: Some Tips to Connect the Leads in Digital Multimeters [print this page] Some Tips to Connect the Leads in Digital Multimeters
The digital multimeter is known as a highly accurate device for making voltage, resistance, and the amperage measurements when you make a test on the electronic circuits. This multimeter consists of the rotating selector switch, LCD digital readout screen and also three sockets on the front in which for connecting the wired test leads into the device. The test lead plugs should be placed into the proper sockets for general use. At this time, this article is going to give you several tips that will guide you to connect the leads in digital multimeters. So, just take a look at the tips below.
The first thing that you have to do is to turn the dial of the multimeter so that its yellow or white indicator mark is pointing to the "OFF" position of the meter.
The second thing that you have to do is to install the leads. If you want to make measurements for the resistance, the voltage, or the amperage that below 10 amps, you have to connect the elbow-shaped ends of red and black lead. What you have to do us just press them into the sockets until they are firmly snapped into the sockets. It is important for you to know that the red lead in the socket is labeled "V ma", while the black lead in the socket is labeled "COMM" (stands for COMMON or GROUND). If you want to measure the amperage of 10 amps or higher, you should keep the black lead plugged into the "COMM" but make sure that you snap the plug of the red lead into the socket that labeled "10A".
The third thing is to check for ensuring that the leads are plugged completely into the multimeter by turning the selector of multimeter from the "OFF" position to the "OHMS" position and then touch the pointed metal tips of the black and red leads together. If you find that the digital display shows the reading of "0.000" when touching leads together, the leads installation is successful. On the other hand, if you find that the display shows the reading of "1 -" when touching the tips together, you should follow all of the tree steps once again, as it means that the leads are not snapped completely into the sockets.
