How to calibrate a volt meter?

[George]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

 

[Shaun]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

1.62 volts is ok for a brand new AA alkaline battery. A brand new 9 Volt
alkaline will often red 9.6 volts. Also try you meter on different ranges
and see if they agree keeping within the maximum for that range of course.

For a higher voltage measurement check the line voltage on AC volts. I'm
not sure where you live so I can't say what it will read, but within a few
volts of what it should be.

Also try measuring some resistors. Most resistors are 5% tolerance, see if
your meter agrees.

Another resort would be to compare readings from a friends meter. Or bring
to a Calibration shop.

Shaun

 

[Jon Kirwan]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

Calibration isn't easy, if you are looking for exacting accuracy. I
gather from your post that you aren't, though. Just wanting to know
if a 1.62V reading means there is a problem with your meter. On that
score, it's probably fine. I typically read voltages close to that on
fresh alkaline AA batteries. (1.59V and more.) The rating of 1.5V is
approximate, in the case of alkalines and if I read one that gave me
exactly 1.5V I would suspect that it had been used a little bit before
I got it.

Keep in mind that the meter doesn't load down the battery that much
and if you use it in some product (like a radio), the actual situation
found there will place a load on the battery and it still should
provide about 1.5V for the circuit. So you are measuring things in a
near-ideal case that is not usually found in actual practice. Some
folks will actually place a load on the battery and _then_ measure the
voltage, to find out if the battery is relatively fresh or not. A
battery that has been used for a while might show a voltage not far
from 1.5V, when not loaded at all by the meter, but show something a
lot less than that when loaded while measuring.

There are "standard cells" used for calibration. But they must be
designed to specifications and they last for a limited time, at a
limited temperature range, etc. A Weston Cell comes to mind, though
there are others. If you want to build something "kind of okay" and
not both accurate and precise to 5 digits, you could look into
"voltage reference" parts and drive them appropriately, as they will
yield pretty good values for hobby work. They aren't expensive or
hard to work with, by and large, and they will let you test various
meters very quickly.

Jon

 

[Ecnerwal]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

Just whip out your standard cell - doesn't everybody have one? Mine
lives in my millivolt potentiometer...

Lacking that, the serious user would send it to a calibration lab, but
the serious user might not start with an RS meter. Not that I have
issues with mine, other than its propensity to eat batteries. It's not
my high end meter, but then, I won't cry long if it dies in service, and
it's a lot easier to carry, plus dirt cheap.

If you have a friend with a "known good" (or actually calibrated) meter
you can both measure the same thing and see what you get.

Then you can delve off into silicon voltage references. They may not be
precise enough for the calibration lab, but they can more than
adequately help sort out if it's the meter or the battery at home.
Speaking of which, the battery voltage does not seem overly high; 1.5
volt is "nominal", not precise. Ugh, stupid websites without real links
- watch for wrap.

www.linear.com/pc/downloadDocument.do?navId=H0,C1,C1154,C1002,D4171

www.linear.com/pc/downloadDocument.do?navId=H0,C1,C1154,C1002,D4133

http://www.national.com/analog/power/voltage_reference

 

[Rich Grise]

Lacking that, the serious user would send it to a calibration lab, but
the serious user might not start with an RS meter.

A decent cal lab would cost you more than the price of the RS meter. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[neon]

throw the VOM away go to harborfreight.com buy a cheap 4 slots digital for $3.99 Radio schack is surviving by people like you.

 

[Shaun]

AC lines can't be trusted for cal, that's for sure. I live in the quasi-
boonies (i.e. a good way from town, but all my neighbors have 'urban'
jobs), and I see voltages on the line from 115 to 130, depending on the
time of day and what my neighbors are doing.

Yah,

The AC lines test was just to see if the meter would roughly measure AC
voltages and look for a ball park reading. Where I live in a medium sized
city I read 120vac +/- 5 volts. It's not a calibration check, just
function / meter check.

BTW: this is not meant to be insulting, but is something that is often
overlooked. Is the battery in your meter fresh?

Shaun

 

[David L. Jones]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

Simply get a precision voltage reference IC, they are only a few
dollars, or you can even get free samples from the likes of Maxim
easily.
More than good enough for your meter calibration.
2.5V is a common reference voltage, but they are available in all-
sorts.
If your meter is a 2000 count (1999) type then you'll either need a
reference under 2V or some precision (0.1%) resistors to drop the
voltage below 2V.
Forget batteries of any sort.

Dave.

 

[David L. Jones]

A decent cal lab would cost you more than the price of the RS meter. ;-)

And many will simply refuse to calibrate such a low end meter!

Dave.

 

[George]

George says...

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to
me that the DC volts shown for things like batteries may
be reading a bit high. What kind of standard
measurement could I make that would tell me if the meter
is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be
right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a
precise voltage when new, but I don't think they are
available anymore. What else could I measure around
1.5VDC that's a known value?

Thanks to everyone for all the responses.

The meter is R/S 22-803, which is an 18-range auto-ranging,
auto-polarity, digital multimeter. The ranges are based on
4 - 400mv, 4V, 40V, 400V. I see that I bought it in 1998,
and it has just seemed to me that every time I measure
voltage, it seems to be a bit higher than I expect - a zener
voltage or a voltage regulator, both under load, or
whatever. Close, but higher than nominal - never lower.

What brought this up, though, was that I just got a Canon
A590IS digital camera, which uses standard AA's. I put in
charged NiMH batteries and fooled around with the camera for
a few hours, and then the "low battery" indicator came on.
So I took the batteries out and measured the voltage, and
they were still something like 1.24V. So it didn't seem
right that the camera wouldn't still like them.

But of course these measurements weren't under load, so I
really don't know how far down they would be if actually
powering the camera (particularly the display).

So I guess the meter is GEFGW, and I won't worry about it.
But I do need to do something about the batteries and
charger. I got a Rayovac charger plus 2 AA's at Wal-Mart
for $6, originally for an old HP calculator, and that
works fine, but it turns out the charger is just a constant
1.4V, 200ma source, with no smarts, and the batteries are
unmarked as to mAH. Oh well. You really do get what you
pay for.

Anway, thanks again for the responses.

 

[Jamie]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

Take it for what it's worth, in the lab (years ago), we used fresh
carbon cells as the standard. They expected to generate ~ 1.58 VDC
into a meter under calibration.



http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"

 

[[email protected]]

I have a Radio Shack digital multimeter, and it seems to me that the
DC volts shown for things like batteries may be reading a bit high.
What kind of standard measurement could I make that would tell me if
the meter is correct? I measured a fresh Panasonic AA alkaline
2-pack and got 1.620 and 1.619. Does that seem to be right?

I have a vague memory that a mercury coin battery had a precise
voltage when new, but I don't think they are available anymore.
What else could I measure around 1.5VDC that's a known value?

Those voltages are normal for new alkaline cells. Leave your meter
alone, especially if it has multiple adjustments, unless you have both
a service manual and a voltage reference rated for at least 10 times
the accuracy of your meter. But leave your meter alone. Voltage
reference chips accurate to better than 0.1% can be had for approx.
$10. I repeat, leave your meter alone.