Hi Bruggz,
Not a bad sort of a multimeter, and if it works then you've done well for the price.
Next thing would be to check to see if it turns on, or if it needs a new battery... probably a 9v one located in the back.
The 3 most useful functions are usually for measuring Voltage, Resistance (Ohms or the Omega sign) and Current (Amps).
So, if you want to measure 12v, put the black lead into the COM socket and red lead into the V socket on the right. Then push in the 4th button down on the left (20) to measure 20 volts and lower (0~20v).
If you want to measure 24v, then push in the 3rd button down to measure 200 volts or lower (0~200v). Buttons 7 and 8 should be out for measuring DC volts.
If you get the probes backwards then it will show a - negative sign but won't damage the meter.
If you want to measure AC, like 240v AC from the power point, then you'd push button 2 in (750/1000v) and button 7 in for AC. You'll probably read about 340v AC because most digital meters read peak values rather than RMS... and 240v AC RMS is about 340 peak (240x1.414) Make sure you're using good quality probes to avoid getting zapped.
If you want to measure Ohms (resistance, check fuses, globes, etc) leave the probes in the same sockets, push in the 8th, very bottom button, and the 6th button (200 Ohms) for low resistances. And if you short the probes together it may read about 0.1~0.3 Ohms, depending on the lead resistance.
The K sign in the Ohms column, like 20K, means 20 KiloOhms or 20,000 Ohms. The metric K for x1000.
Pushing in buttons 5 and 6 together should give you a continuity test - i.e. it'll give an audible 'beep' if there's a low resistance circuit (as opposed to a broken wire, blown fuse, dead globe, etc) so that you don't have to keep looking at the reading.
If you're measuring amps, then move the red probe across to the 10A socket on the left (leave the black lead in COM) and push in the 4th button down on on the left (10A/20mA). Remember to only use this in series with a circuit and not directly across a battery or power supply or you'll probably blow the internal 10amp fuse. Ideally a current meter should be like a short-circuit, so putting it directly across a voltage supply isn't good.
For low current, use the mA socket, and if you're not sure about how much current you're going to be reading then it's always best to start off at the highest setting and work your way down. i.e. start at 10amps, then move down to 200mA, 20mA and so on. To work out the amps in advance, for say a 10watt globe, you can use the formula Amps = Power divided by Volts. So for a 10watt 12volt globe, 10w divided by 12v would be about 0.83amps, or 830mA. So the 200mA range wouldn't be suitable and you would use the 10A range.
The other functions are for measuring capacitance and transistor gain (hfe), and probably not of much interest to you if you're just wanting to do basic measurements rather than checking components.
Disclaimer...
If it doesn't work as described above, it's because I haven't read the instruction manual
Cheers!
Old Multimeter
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