Setting Up and
Reading the Ammeter
1
Setting Up an Ammeter
• The ammeter is used to measure electrical
current in a circuit.
• In order to connect an ammeter to a circuit
you must break the circuit and insert the
meter. The ammeter is hooked up in
series.
2
3
• The negative terminal (-) of the ammeter is
connected to the positive terminal of the
battery.
Negative Terminal
4
• The ammeter has three positive terminals
labelled 50, 500 and 5.
• This indicates that the ammeter can
measure current using three different
scales – 0 to 50 mA (milliamperes), 0 to
500 mA, and 0 to 5A.
• Since 1000 mA = 1A, the last scale is the
highest scale.
5
Increments on
AMMETER
500 mA scale by 10 mA
50 mA scale by 1 mA
5 A scale by 0.1 A
NOTE:
1 mA = 0.001 A or 1/1000 A
6
50
500
5
7
50
500
5
8
50
500
5
9
50
500
5
10
50
500
5
11
50
500
5
12
Setting Up and
Reading the Voltmeter
13
Setting Up a Voltmeter
• The voltmeter is used to measure
electrical potential (voltage) in a circuit.3
• In order to connect a voltmeter to a circuit
you connect the meter to either side of the
circuit component. The voltmeter is
hooked up in parallel.
14
15
• The negative terminal (-) of the ammeter is
connected to the positive terminal of the
battery.
Negative Terminal
16
• The voltmeter has three positive terminals
labelled 3, 15 and 300. This indicates that
the voltmeter can measure voltage using
three different scales – 0 to 3V, 15V and 0
to 300 V.
17
Increments on
VOLTMETER
300 V scale by 10 V
3 V scale by 0.1 V
15 V scale by 0.5 V
18
3
15
300
19
3
15
300
20
3
15
300
21
3
15
300
22
3
15
300
23
3
15
300
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