Applications for Multimeters

To find out why things dont work..

One morning your car is dead as a Dodo....Get your meter...check if you have any volts on the battery.

Apply the same principle to any other elecrical/electronic situation and that is a good start.

That light bulb in the kitchen drawer ? Put the meter on ohms and you can check if the buldb is ok.

Those papers on the desk by the window..put the meter on top and they won't blow away...

Well apart from all the obvious uses (measuring voltage, current, resistance, polarity, component testing, etc) we use our calibrated multimeter to accurately measure voltages as low as a few millivolts (mV) to three decimal places for a laboratory test (at this end of the measurement scale you have to be a bit careful as things such as heat from your hand and solar radiation start to become big factors when trying to ensure accurate and repeatable results).

I have also found that a multimeter can make a good paper weight (well its a different use).

You have right mr.Jack of all trades !

An good example for precise DMM is model FLUKE 189 IV !

Guest, I've been reading/participating in this site for a long time now. And I have to rate you question in the top ten most ridiculous questions ever asked. Have a nice day. I have noticed they can give you a headache when used properly.

jowens,

Why such an unkind response?

Sorry everybody, I just realized I put my shoes on the opposite feet this morning. A neat little trick is to straighten out a paper clip, grasp it with the alligater clips TA TA! micro probe points (that will fit in very small connectors)

I have sucessfully used mine a few times as a storage unit for corroded batteries, but that's not exactly a new application . . .

I have used mine in a similar, but slightly different way. I put new batteries in and then use the meter to contain my corrosion rate/corrosion damage experiments.

At one point, I successfully shut down a very large piece of industrial equipment by using my meter in a novel way in which I bridged two conductors with a probe. I decided that in the future, I'd stick to using the main breaker, however.

Also, the probes can sometimes be used to pry bits of nuts, etc from between teeth.

..."Other niche applications..."?? Well, along-the-lines-of Jack's reply ("...(measuring voltage, current, resistance, polarity, component testing, etc) we use our calibrated multimeter to accurately measure voltages as low as a few millivolts (mV) to three decimal places for a laboratory test..." ... The high input impedance of today's modern multimeters has rendered obsolete (as far as I know) the old-time "Potentiometers": (the Leeds & Northrup on the right is mine)

One of the uses of these puppies ... now performed with multimeters ... is to measure corrosion potentials.

Any two dissimilar metals placed in a given electrolyte (seawater for example), with electrical continuity between the two, will exhibit corrosion on the more active metal.

Measuring the dissimilarity between the two will provide data relating to how quickly that more active metal will be consumed. Corrosion causes billions of dollars of waste to our country's economy and infrastructure every year, and corrosion measuring and monitoring (including the cathodic protection against same) is one function that is highly dependent upon these tools.

Share what you know ... learn what you don't.

Did anyone understand the original query? It may be a sincere question, but probably needs some clarification. That's mine.