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Power Meters

Calculating Power

If you wish to find power dissipated in an electrical load, measure any two of the three basic electrical quantities- current, voltage, and resistance. For example, you will recall that power can be calculated by multiplying voltage by current: P = VI. Therefore, if you use a voltmeter to measure the voltage across a load, and a current meter to measure the current flowing through the load, insert these values into the power equation. Similarly, you can measure current through the load and the resistance of the load, and then calculate power with: P = 12 R. Or you can measure the voltage across the load and use the equation: p = y2; R.

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Amplified Current Measurements

To use the meter movement to make voltage and resistance measurements, the use of Ohm’s law is required so the current flow reading can be interpreted in terms of voltage or resistance. The amplified analog meter differs because the amplifier is voltage sensitive. As explained for amplified voltage measurements, a high input resistance is used with a range switch to tap down the voltage applied to the input of the amplifier stage. Since the amplified meter is a voltage sensitive device, the input circuit used for current measurements must convert the current to corresponding voltage levels and use Ohm’s law to interpret the related current flowing in the circuit under test.

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Amplified Input Voltmeter

The higher the ohms/volt rating of a voltmeter, the less the voltmeter will upset circuit conditions. And the less circuit conditions are upset, the more accurate the reading will be. Most of the higher-end voltmeters and multimeters available now are rated at about 20,000 ohms/volt; more accurate voltmeters are rated at 100,000 ohms/volt. In some of the high-resistance circuits found in some present-day equipment, however, even a meter rated at 20,000 ohms /volt will greatly upset circuit conditions, and result in an incorrect reading. While a 100,000 ohms/voltmeter will give more accurate readings, even more accuracy is needed with some circuits. To overcome this problem, a device with a high ohms/volt rating called an electronic voltmeter was developed.

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Voltage Measurements

With voltage measurements, the total resistance of the voltmeter must be considered. Reading an analog voltmeter scale is like reading an analog ammeter scale. Some multirange voltmeters have only one range marked on the scale and the scale reading must be multiplied by the range switch setting to acquire the accurate voltage reading. Other voltmeters have individual ranges on the scale for every setting of the range switch. When utilizing these meters, ensure that you read the set of values that corresponds to the range switch setting. Many digital meters also have range switches, but they may additionally have a special feature known as autoranging. This means you can either utilize the range switch or let the digital meter set the proper range by itself.

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