Make your own multimeter

PARTS AND MATERIALS

Sensitive meter movement (Radio Shack catalog # 22-410)
Selector switch, single-pole, multi-throw, break-before-make
(Radio Shack catalog # 275-1386 is a 2-pole, 6-position unit that
works well)
Multi-turn potentiometers, PCB mount (Radio Shack catalog # 271342 and 271-343 are 15-turn, 1 k and 10 k "trimmer" units,
respectively)
Assorted resistors, preferably high-precision metal film or wirewound types (Radio Shack catalog # 271-309 is an assortment of metalfilm resistors, +/- 1% tolerance)
Plastic or metal mounting box
Three "banana" jack style binding posts, or other terminal
hardware, for connection to potentiometer circuit (Radio Shack
catalog # 274-662 or equivalent)

The most important and expensive component in a meter is the movement:

the actual needle-and-scale mechanism whose task it is to translate an
electrical current into mechanical displacement where it may be visually
interpreted. The ideal meter movement is physically large (for ease of
viewing) and as sensitive as possible (requires minimal current to
produce full-scale deflection of the needle). High-quality meter
movements are expensive, but Radio Shack carries some of acceptable
quality that are reasonably priced. The model recommended in the parts
list is sold as a voltmeter with a 0-15 volt range, but is actually a
milliammeter with a range ("multiplier") resistor included separately.
It may be cheaper to purchase an inexpensive analog meter and
disassemble it for the meter movement alone. Although the thought of
destroying a working multimeter in order to have parts to make your own
may sound counter-productive, the goal here is learning, not meter
function.
I cannot specify resistor values for this experiment, as these depend on
the particular meter movement and measurement ranges chosen. Be sure to
use high-precision fixed-value resistors rather than carbon-composition
resistors. Even if you happen to find carbon-composition resistors of
just the right value(s), those values will change or "drift" over time
due to aging and temperature fluctuations. Of course, if you don't care
about the long-term stability of this meter but are building it just for
the learning experience, resistor precision matters little.

CROSS-REFERENCES

Lessons In Electric Circuits, Volume 1, chapter 8: "DC Metering

Circuits"

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Voltmeter design and use

Ammeter design and use
Rheostat range limiting
Calibration theory and practice
Soldering practice

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

ILLUSTRATION

INSTRUCTIONS
First, you need to determine the characteristics of your meter movement.
Most important is to know the full scale deflection in milliamps or
microamps. To determine this, connect the meter movement, a
potentiometer, battery, and digital ammeter in series. Adjust the
potentiometer until the meter movement is deflected exactly to fullscale. Read the ammeter's display to find the full-scale current value:

Be
very

careful not to apply too much current to the meter movement, as

movements are very sensitive devices and easily damaged by overcurrent.
Most meter movements have full-scale deflection current ratings of 1 mA
or less, so choose a potentiometer value high enough to limit current
appropriately, and begin testing with the potentiometer turned to
maximum resistance. The lower the full-scale current rating of a
movement, the more sensitive it is.
After determining the full-scale current rating of your meter movement,
you must accurately measure its internal resistance. To do this,
disconnect all components from the previous testing circuit and connect
your digital ohmmeter across the meter movement terminals. Record this
resistance figure along with the full-scale current figure obtained in
the last procedure.
Perhaps the most challenging portion of this project is determining the
proper range resistance values and implementing those values in the form
of rheostat networks. The calculations are outlined in chapter 8 of
volume 1 ("Metering Circuits"), but an example is given here. Suppose
your meter movement had a full-scale rating of 1 mA and an internal
resistance of 400 . If we wanted to determine the necessary range
resistance ("Rmultiplier") to give this movement a range of 0 to 15 volts,
we would have to divide 15 volts (total applied voltage) by 1 mA (full-

scale current) to obtain the total probe-to-probe resistance of the

voltmeter (R=E/I). For this example, that total resistance is 15 k.
From this total resistance figure, we subtract the movement's internal
resistance, leaving 14.6 k for the range resistor value. A simple
rheostat network to produce 14.6 k (adjustable) would be a 10 k
potentiometer in parallel with a 10 k fixed resistor, all in series
with another 10 k fixed resistor:

One position of the

selector switch
directly connects the
meter movement
between the black
Common binding post
and the red V/mA
binding post. In this
position, the meter
is a sensitive
ammeter with a range equal to the full-scale current rating of the meter
movement. The far clockwise position of the switch disconnects the
positive (+) terminal of the movement from either red binding post and
shorts it directly to the negative (-) terminal. This protects the meter
from electrical damage by isolating it from the red test probe, and it
"dampens" the needle mechanism to further guard against mechanical
shock.
The shunt resistor (Rshunt) necessary for a high-current ammeter function
needs to be a low-resistance unit with a high power dissipation. You
will definitely not be using any 1/4 watt resistors for this, unless you
form a resistance network with several smaller resistors in parallel
combination. If you plan on having an ammeter range in excess of 1 amp,
I recommend using a thick piece of wire or even a skinny piece of sheet
metal as the "resistor," suitably filed or notched to provide just the
right amount of resistance.
To calibrate a home-made shunt resistor, you will need to connect the
your multimeter assembly to a calibrated source of high current, or a
high-current source in series with a digital ammeter for reference. Use
a small metal file to shave off shunt wire thickness or to notch the
sheet metal strip in small, careful amounts. The resistance of your
shunt will increase with every stroke of the file, causing the meter
movement to deflect more strongly. Remember that you can always approach
the exact value in slower and slower steps (file strokes), but you
cannot go "backward" and decrease the shunt resistance!
Build the multimeter circuit on a breadboard first while determining
proper range resistance values, and perform all calibration adjustments
there. For final construction, solder the components on to a printed-

circuit board. Radio Shack sells printed circuit boards that have the
same layout as a breadboard, for convenience (catalog # 276-170). Feel
free to alter the component layout from what is shown.
I strongly recommend that you mount the circuit board and all components
in a sturdy box, so that the meter is durably finished. Despite the
limitations of this multimeter (no resistance function, inability to
measure alternating current, and lower precision than most purchased
analog multimeters), it is an excellent project to assist learning
fundamental instrument principles and circuit function. A far more
accurate and versatile multimeter may be constructed using many of the
same parts if an amplifier circuit is added to it, so save the parts and
pieces for a later experiment!