Advantages of Digital Meter Over the Analog

Digital and Analog multi-meter devices are both the same equipment in measuring various characteristics of an electronic components. However, there are some differences between these two tools. Many Technicians, Students and Hobbyist do prefer the use of the DMM (Short term for Digital Multi-Meter) over the traditional Analog VOM (Short term for Volt Ohm Meter) and vice-versa. For whatever reason, users have their own reason.

On this post, we will be dealing about the advantages of using the Digital Meter DMM over the classic Analog type VOM. It is already assumed that you have already seen these two types of electronic equipment, hold them on your hands and adjusted the settings to a certain level. If you are a student then you can go to the lab and borrow the equipment provided by your school. Hobbyist can buy this tool at a cheap prices and there are hundreds of them that are available on the market.

Anyway, what are the Advantages of the DMM?

Output Display

It is easy to gauge a reading through digital multi-meter since the output is automatically displayed in numbers through a Seven Segment Display. Unlike the analog type, you need to take a closer look into the meter scales and read the values. It takes time and human errors could occur especially for those who have poor eyesight.

Accuracy

Digital-Meters shows more accurate values than the Analog. Depending on the type of equipment that you are using, it can output up to four decimal places that the Analog type could never show.

For some reasons, the output generated by the digital type is unstable. It often changes with slight increment value that goes up and down. Most likely, anyway values within the range of fluctuations is considered valid.

Auto Polarity

You can read negative values and a good example is voltage. Placing the probes into the opposite polarity will result into a negative output. This is the huge advantage of making use a DMM over the VOM since doing this on the analog type can cause the equipment to be broken.

Today, both type of these tools are currently being improved by the manufacturers. You can find on the market some advance multi-meter tools that can provide you with graphical display and other data. This helps that user reduce the effort and time in manually calculating the data and minimize the errors that can be encountered.

The Construction of a Carbon Film Resistor

Our recent discussion was all about the Characteristics of Resistors and on this post, we will be dealing about it's constructions. We are going to learn the materials inside this small electronic component and understand more how it works. To refresh your memory, we have discussed that the primary function of a Resistor is to provide resistance limiting the flow of electrons which depends on the component's specification.

There are several different types of Resistors coming out from the market and perhaps there are even new types that we are not yet aware about. Anyway, the most common type is the Fixed Value Resistors. If you are a student taking-up a course in the field of electronics, you will be making use of this type of Resistor in your projects. They will teach you how to read its value either through the Multi-Meter device or Color Coding procedure.

So what are the material composition of a Resistor?

Inside the Resistor is a small Ceramic Rod. On the manufacturing process, complicated machines are able to insert thin films of carbons into the rods. The next process is to place the Resistive Coating around the ceramic rod through spiral rotation. The machine performing such delicate procedure is programmed to make sure that both ends of the rods will have the correct value.

You can easily find Carbon Film Resistors on the market. They come with cheap prices and there are several fixed values that are available for you to buy. However, these values ranges from ±10% or ±5% or the "Nominal Value".

Metal Oxide and Metal Film are made in the same process but the main difference is that they have higher accuracy in value which ranges from ±2% or ±1% of their nominal values. Although, the accuracy in terms of the nominal values does not have any effect on simple circuits thus complicated circuits are the once that rely on using these types of resistors.

If you want complete accuracy then the Wirewound Resistor is best recommended for your project. Such type of accurate resistors are made by winding-up thin wires around the ceramic rod. The application for this type of component are used in complicated reading devices such as Oscillator, Multi-Meters, and etc... The best part of using Wirewound Resistor's advantage is that it can pass a large amount of current without resulting into overheating. Thus, circuits that require high currents such as Power Supplies do use this type of Resistor.