Duane Bozarth wrote:
unknown user wrote:
...

Thanks. I'll try that. My multimeter is a digital one, and can't make a
sound. It has 3 areas on the dial: voltage, current and resistance.
I guesss it must display some numbers on the display to indicate the
continuity.


I answered the mechanics but on reflection your above wording made
another response seem justified...

"Continuity" is determination of a path of possible flow through a
completed circuit. So, the measurement is one of measuring a
low-resistance path. When the switch is open, it creates a break in the
path so the resistance is essentially infinite. When closed, there's
essentially nothing but a short piece of wire between the base and the
other end so it's going to be a very low value--a few tenths of an ohm
will probably show up.

The continuity scale is provided for simply the purpose of finding
open/closed ciruits as a convenience since for the purpose the actual
resistance is not really of any interest--you're just interested in
whether the circuit is open or closed. Thus the sound indicator is
handy so you don't even have to see the scale.

HTH...

Thanks to Doug and Duane.

This is great. There are always something to learn each day.

I'll test the old tool (10 years) with the new trick tonight.