Using multimeter

[Yorkshireman]

I took delivery of a multimeter from e-bay after reading supershineys stickys,but the readings are bouncing about all over the place.I put it on 200 on the omh setting and put the leads together and the reading is anything from 127 to 2.0,any advice please.I also tested a 1.8 coil that read 4.7.

[markm]

Check the connection of the leads
and make sure the probe tips are spotlessly clean.

[Yorkshireman]

I have done both but no difference.

[Greg]

Take the leads out and short the 2 connectors on the multimeter with another piece of wire or an opened up paper clip if it's long enough. It may be that the leads are faulty.

Make sure meter is set to ohms first.

[Yorkshireman]

Do you mean put the wire in the holes where the leads go?

[Yorkshireman]

Just tried again and it jumps around a bit and eventually settles at 1.2,could this be right,watching the stickys there meters seem to settle at .6 ish

[Greg]

Jan 4, 2014 12:29:55 GMT Yorkshireman said:

Do you mean put the wire in the holes where the leads go?

Yes or a paper clip stretched out. It may be one or both of your leads have dodgy connections inside.

[Yorkshireman]

Thanks i will get back to you,just finding some wire.

[Yorkshireman]

Sorry about that,i have got a paperclip now,what omh setting should it be and what should it read please.

[Yorkshireman]

Inserted the clip and set the meter at 200ohms,it jumped for a bit and settled at o,tried the leads again and it settled at 0.01.Is this ok?

[Greg]

Put it on any ohms setting, it should read close to zero when you apply the paperclip across both terminals.
Put it on the lowest setting if you have an option as you're only going to be testing coils around 1-3 ohms once working or you have an auto setting you can use that

[Greg]

Jan 4, 2014 13:27:49 GMT Yorkshireman said:

Inserted the clip and set the meter at 200ohms,it jumped for a bit and settled at o,tried the leads again and it settled at 0.01.Is this ok?

Yep that's perfect mate, maybe you didn't have the leads pushed fully home first time 

[DiscoDes]

Jan 4, 2014 13:18:16 GMT Yorkshireman said:

Sorry about that,i have got a paperclip now,what omh setting should it be and what should it read please.

The lowest ohms setting.

When you plug in leads and touch the tips together the reading should be as near to Zero as possible. Unfortunately most cheaper leads are not that good and most cheap digital multimeters do not have a zeroing facility.
So if you touch the leads together and it reads 0.3 ohms then you need to take this off whatever your reading is:

i.e Touch the leads together and you get a 0.3 ohm reading

Measure across a coil and you get a reading of 1.5 ohm then take off the leads resistance (0.3 ohms) therefore your coil resistance is 1.2 ohms

[Yorkshireman]

Tried several times now and the reading is settling at 1.1,i guess that is what i deduct or does it seem too high?
When the meter is on the lowest ohms and no leads are touching it reads 1,is this right,sorry for being a pain in the butt and thanks for the help.

[giles]

Jan 4, 2014 13:38:48 GMT Yorkshireman said:

Tried several times now and the reading is settling at 1.1,i guess that is what i deduct or does it seem too high?
When the meter is on the lowest ohms and no leads are touching it reads 1,is this right,sorry for being a pain in the butt and thanks for the help.

Mine is 0.8, so 1.1 isn't outlandish

It reads 1 (not 1.0, just 1, to the left of the display) when there is no connection.