g'day from skippy land

[gunnadoo]

hi all, i am an old dog trying to learn new tricks . i buggered [ruined] the milliamp function on 2 dmm's today, trying to get a transistor to work , then i found "electronics point " and i am now 100% more learned than yesterday about [very basic] electronics........best regards.....dennis..

 

[(*steve*)]

Your multimeters may have fuses in them. It might be worth seeing if you can replace them. But do it after you understand how not to do it again in the future.

What were you doing when you damaged your multimeters?

 

[dorke]

Bush hunting again mate?

 

[Harald Kapp]

Welcome to EP.

Never make the mistake of tryying to measure current in a circuit without current limiting element (resistor, lamp, motro, whatever). Measuring the current between the two terminals of a power source (voltage source) will short circuit the soure and draw the maximum current the power source can deliver - until some component breaks, either the power source or your multimeter (or hopefully a fuse within one ot the two).

Good luck hunting more 'gators, or are these crocodiles? I never remember which is which .

 

[kellys_eye]

Call that a croc? <searching desperately for a picture of my wife....>

 

[Minder]

i buggered [ruined] the milliamp function on 2 dmm's today, trying to get a transistor to work ,.

Two DMM's! Hope they weren't Fluke!
Usually the fuse is in the higher current ranges, 10amp e.g..
Make sure you go to a higher range first, you can always come down.
M.

 

[dorke]

I believe they call them Salties down under.

 

[gunnadoo]

thanks all , they were cheap dmm's, and i was trying to measure base current with various resistors while at the same time measuring C/E current until i got to the known load current [115Ma] .i did have loose wires with alligator "ha ha" clips holding probes and all together. i possibly o/loaded base and it shorted.i just assumed the Ma function would go up to 1 amp.then i tried the auto dmm thinking it would say O/L but apparently not,[live and learn]