Electronic – How much Ampere is displayed on the multimeter

multimeter

here is a picture of a multimeter:

enter image description here

the display shows: 02,0
is it 2A or 2mA ?

Best Answer

The range switch on the front of the multimeter shows the maximum current that can be measured on that range. The range switch is pointing at the "200m" DC Amps range in the picture. Therefore, the full-scale readout for this range will be about[1] 200 milliamps. If more than 200 mA of current passes through the multimeter on this range, the multimeter will display an over-range indicator instead of the measured current. This means that a display of "2.0" or "2,0" indicates a measured current of 2 milliamps, not 2 amps.

Also, notice that there are two sockets on your multimeter for measuring current. One is for use with the milliamp and microamp ranges, while the other socket is for use with the amp range. The milliamp range is fused (notice how only the 5A plug has the label "unfused"). Passing more than 200mA of current through the milliamp socket will blow the fuse to protect the multimeter. That is another way you can tell that you are measuring 2 mA and not 2 A.

[1] The exact full-scale range of many multimeters is not exactly the same as the number printed on the range switch. For example, on a Fluke 77 multimeter, the 300 mV range actually measures up to 303.1 mV before displaying an over-range indicator.