"Peetie Wheatstraw" wrote in message
...


I've never really understood about MM readouts for ohms.

I have here a Chinee-Sears digital MM (maybe $15 on sale) and a circuit
that
should measure 450-550 ohms. I set the MM to 2k ohms, the MM reads
say .500.

Is it telling me it measures .5 x 2000 = 1000 ohms? If not, what?

Being as it's digital, shouldn't it report actual integer ohms? More
expensive MM's do this?

Thx,
Peetie

When you set the MM scale to the 2K position, that is the full scale. It
will not read a resistance of a higher value than 2000 ohms and should show
an OL, OR or some other indication you have exceeded the range, just as an
open circuit will show. You could have a 4000 ohm resistor hooked up to
the leads and on the 2 K range it will show as an open circuit. Some
meters may have a slight overange and not top out at exectally 2000 ohms on
that scale.

When it shows .500 it is actually telling you that you have a 500 ohm
resistance between the leads.
In other words, the number is the actual resistance in numbers and you have
to place the decimal point in the correct place.