Q&A for How to Use an Ohmmeter

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What is the first thing to do when using the ohmmeter?

Daniel Stoescu
Master Electrician
Daniel Stoescu is a Master Electrician and the Owner and Operator of Home Tech Solutions, LLC in Hampton, Virginia. With over a decade of experience, Daniel specializes in wiring residential, commercial, and light industrial structures. The Home Tech Solutions team has over four decades of combined experience and offers comprehensive solutions for residential electrical needs.

Daniel Stoescu

Master Electrician

Expert Answer

Before taking any measurements, make sure the ohmmeter works by touching the leads together.

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Question

Can you use an ohmmeter on a live circuit?

Daniel Stoescu
Master Electrician
Daniel Stoescu is a Master Electrician and the Owner and Operator of Home Tech Solutions, LLC in Hampton, Virginia. With over a decade of experience, Daniel specializes in wiring residential, commercial, and light industrial structures. The Home Tech Solutions team has over four decades of combined experience and offers comprehensive solutions for residential electrical needs.

Daniel Stoescu

Master Electrician

Expert Answer

No, you can't. You should never use your ohmmeter to test any live circuits.

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Question

How do you use measured ohmmeter resistance directly?

Community Answer

You can use it by determining if a device is shorted or open. This type of test is called OUT-OF-THE -CIRCUIT test. Examples are: Testing a fuse, breaker, switch, filaments etc.

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Question

Where do I set the multi-meter dial when I measure a ripple?

Community Answer

If the ripple you are talking about is from a power supply circuit (diode, unfiltered and unregulated), ripple frequencies in a power supply circuit cannot be tested with an ordinary multi-meter. You should use a dual or single trace oscilloscope. From the screen of the scope, you can see the waveform of the ripple frequency.

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Question

How do I check the NPN transistor?

Community Answer

Measure diode resistance with the DVM one way and then the other. One measurement will be high resistance; the other low. Check collector to base diode; then check base to emitter. Some more sophisticated multimeters have transistor measurement holes too if it is out of circuit.

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How do I check a marine battery for a short?

Community Answer

Check the voltage directly on the positive and negative terminals of the battery. If you have a fresh battery rated at 9 volts and your voltage reading on your multi-meter is 20% below the rated voltage on the battery, the battery is defective.

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Question

What are the low and high values on an ohm meter?

Community Answer

Low for an ohm meter would be 0 ohms, or a perfect short. High readings are infinite ohms, which usually is an overload (OL) reading.

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Question

How do I test if I have power in an outlet with an ohmmeter?

Community Answer

Turn to volts and stick the probes in each side (red to small), then read.

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Question

Why should I never test ECU with an ohmmeter directly?

Community Answer

The battery that supplies power to the ohmmeter can feed back into the ECU and cause damage to the internal components.

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Question

can this steps be also used on analogue?

Samuel C. King

Community Answer

Absolutely! The steps are identical for both an analogue and digital ohmmeter. The only difference is how the ohms are represented on the device. Analog machines use a needle, whereas digital ohmmeters use a digital screen.

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Question

What does the hold button do on my multimeter?

Samuel C. King

Community Answer

All the hold button does is "lock" your reading into place on the screen so you can look at it for longer.

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Question

How do I test the heating element on my dryer?

Samuel C. King

Community Answer

First, remove the element from the dryer and disconnect it from any source of power. Then, touch one of the probes to one of the element's terminals, and touch the other probe to the other terminal. This should give you a reading on the element's resistance.

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Question

How do I check a boat battery?

Samuel C. King

Community Answer

First, disconnect the battery from any source of power. Then, isolate the length of circuit that you want to check. Finally, touch the ohmmeter's probes to the opposite ends of the circuit to get a reading.

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Question

Does OL mean the circuit is good or bad on an ohmmeter?

Community Answer

Open Line=meaning the circuit is not complete, i.e., the circuit does not have continuity.

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