Direct Current Measurements (Current)

Abner A. Belmonte
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute, University of the Philippines
Velasquez Street University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines
abner.belmonte@up.edu.ph

Abstract Post laboratory report for Experiment 1 performed
last June 30, 2011.
I. INTRODUCTION
Electric current, the rate at which electric charges pass
through a medium, is one of the basic measurements needed
in any electric circuit [1]. An ammeter is used to measure
such currents. In this experiment, we will explore the
capabilities and limitations of an ammeter when it comes to
measuring DC currents.
II. SET-UP
A. Objectives
After the experiment, the student must be able to know the
different methods in making analog DC current
measurements and to know when each method is applicable;
and to be able to specify the degree of any measurements
made.
B. Materials and Equipment
The student will need: a 1mA movement, 2-variable DC
voltage supplies, a protoboard, 1 k, 10 k, 100 k resistors
(2 per value), decade resistance box (DRB), potentiometer
box, connector clips, and an analog multimeter.
C. Procedure
The students will follow the instructions in their handouts
to: determine the internal resistance of the 1mA movement;
find errors in current measurements due to loading effects;
and to extend the range of the 1mA movement. While
following the procedure, students should observe and record
any relevant data to the experiment. The figures used by the
students are as follows:
III. GUIDE QUESTIONS
A. Approximated Internal Resistance of Milliammeter
The method used in getting the internal resistance, R
M
is
just an approximation because of the preset values in the wire
of the moving coil in an ammeter. A movement with smaller
current reading has a higher R
M
because many more turns of
wire are needed [2]. The measured R
M
in our experiment was
81.3 .
Measured R1 = 9.84 k
R =
V
I


R =
9.8 V
1 mA
= 9.8

R1 is approximate to the actual value.
TABLE I
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS DUE TO LOADING EFFECTS
V (volts) R () R
actual
I
ideal
(mA) I
actual
(mA) %error
5 10k 9.84k 0.5 0.48 -4%
1 2k 1.97k 0.5 0.48 -4%
10 20k 19.7k 0.5 0.51 2%
B. Shunt Resistance
A meter shunt is a precision resistor connected across the
meter movement for the purpose of shunting, or bypassing a
specific fraction of the circuits current around the meter
movement. Usually, the shunt resistor is in series with the
circuit [2]

R
M
= 81.3

R
SH
=
I
M
I
T
-I
M
R
M


R
SH
=
1 mA
10 mA-1 mA
8. = 9.03
C. The 10 mA Movement
By using Figure 4 in the experiment, we can expand the
range of the 1 mA movement to 10 mA.
TABLE III
CALIBRATION CURRENT MEASUREMENTS
Calibration
Current (mA)
1 mA Movement
Reading (Deflection)
Corresponding
Reading of I
u
(mA)
2 0.20 2.0
5 0.48 4.8
8 0.78 7.8

The 10 mA meter has the same accuracy as a regular 1mA
meter. The resulting meter had -2-0% errors. Possible errors
encountered in this set-up could be wrong connections,
parallax readings, and the ammeters efficiency to get values.
The ammeter might have suffered from continuous
overstretched spring making it inaccurate.
IV. ANALYSIS
Making basic electricity measurements require the skill of
handling analog devices such as the multimeter and the
ammeter. From the experiment, an ammeter isnt 100%
accurate in making ideal circuit measurements. There is
always 1-10% error in the readings.

V. CONCLUSION
In reality, there is no such thing as an ideal ammeter
because of their internal resistance, but we can do
calculations to make a model of an ideal ammeter therefore,
all values we get from the ammeter and multimeter are
approximated values.
REFERENCES
[1] Electric current. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric
_current, [Jul. 12, 2011].
[2] Schultz, Michel E. Analog and Digital Multimeters in Grobs Basic
Electronics: Fundamentals of DC and AC Circuits 10
th
ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2007, pp. 238-243.