Multimeter

Manuals and Datasheets

Tektronix DMM 4050 6-1/2 Digit Precision Multimeter

User Manual

Basic Tutorials

Powering on the Multimeter

1. Make sure the grey power cord is plugged in to the back of the multimeter, and that the power switch (found on the back of the multimeter) is in the “on” position.
2. Press the green power button (found on the bottom-right corner of the front panel) to turn on the device.

Measuring Voltage

1. Plug the black probe into “LO” port on the left-most side of the front panel.
2. Plug the red probe into the “HI” port in the upper-left corner of the front panel.
3. Make sure the circular “Front” button (located on the bottom-left of the front panel) is pushed in.
4. Select either the DC voltage or AC voltage setting
   1. If you’re measuring DC voltage (e.g. from a battery or Arduino), press the grey button on the front panel marked “DC V”
   2. If you’re measuring AC voltage, press the grey button on the front panel marked “AC V”.
5. Select the appropriate measurement range. The DMM4050 is able to measure voltages on the order of 100mV all the way up to voltages on the order of 1000V. Selecting a range that is too large will result in imprecise readings (i.e. fewer decimal places), while selecting a range that is too small will result in an “Overload” message.
   1. Press the “Range” button on the front panel to display the current measurement range.
   2. Press the up-arrow button directly above the “Range” button to increase the range.
   3. Press the down-arrow button directly below the “Range” button to decrease the range.
6. To take your measurement, touch the tip of the black probe (connected to the LO port––i.e. ground) to the reference point, and touch the tip of the red probe to wherever you would like to measure the voltage difference.

Note that the spot at which the black probe is touching acts as the “zero” point, so the voltage reading you’ll see on the multimeter display is the voltage at the red probe’s point of contact relative to the voltage at the black probe’s point of contact.

Measuring Current

1. Plug the black probe into “LO” port on the left-most side of the front panel.
2. Plug the red probe into either the 400mA port or 10A port (located on the left side of the front panel). The port you choose will depend upon the current consumption of your device or circuit. If you believe you will need more than (or close to) 400mA, then you should go ahead and use the 10A port for the red probe.
3. Select either the DC current or AC current setting
   1. If you’re measuring DC current, press the grey button on the front panel marked “DCI”
   2. If you’re measuring AC current, press the grey button on the front panel marked “ACI”.
4. Select the appropriate measurement range.The DMM4050 is able to measure current on the order of 100uA all the way up to current on the order of 10A.
   1. Press the “Range” button on the front panel to display the current measurement range.
   2. Press the up-arrow button directly above the “Range” button to increase the range.
   3. Press the down-arrow button directly below the “Range” button to decrease the range.
5. For an explanation on how measure current using a multimeter, see the tutorial on Sparkfun’s website:

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-multimeter#measuring-current

Measuring Resistance

1. Plug the black probe into “LO” port on the left-most side of the front panel.
2. Plug the red probe into the “HI” port in the upper-left corner of the front panel.
3. Select the “Resistance” setting by pressing the grey button with the Ω symbol (found toward the bottom of the front panel).
4. Select the appropriate measurement range. The DMM 4050 is able to measure resistance on the order of 10 Ohms all the way up to resistance on the order of 1 gigaohm.
   1. Press the “Range” button on the front panel to display the current measurement range.
   2. Press the up-arrow button directly above the “Range” button to increase the range.
   3. Press the down-arrow button directly below the “Range” button to decrease the range.
5. To take your measurement, hold the tips of the probes to either side of the area through which you’d like to measure resistance. To measure the resistance of a resistor, for example, you would touch one probe tip to each end of the resistor.

If you see an “Overload” message on the display, try increasing the range of your measurements using the instructions from step (4).

Additional Tutorials

Here is an application note provided by Tektronix that explains how to take more accurate resistance measurements: Application Note