
11
1. Ammeter And Its Use
An ammeter is an instrument for measuring electric current.
Current electricity is actually electrons moving from one atom
to another through a conductor. In order to intelligently use
electricity, we must have a measurement of a quantity of
electrons.
The instrument we use to measure the number of amperes is
called an ammeter. These instruments have snap-around
jaws that will allow you to read the current through a wire
without detaching the wire from the system. Always buy an
energizer with the instrument so that you can accurately read
low current circuits. These meters also have volt meter and
ohm meter attachments so they are an excellent multi-purpose
meter. NO TECHNICIAN SHOULD EVER ATTEMPT A
SERVICE CALL WITHOUT ONE.
2. Ohm Meter And Its Use
An ohm meter or resistance meter indicates the resistance of a
circuit to current flow. Just as every water pipe or hose has a
resistance to water flow or every air duct has resistance to air
flow, so does every wire have resistance to the flow of electric
current. There is no such thing as a conductor with zero
resistance to electron flow although sometimes we will be
measuring the resistance of a conductor and find it so low
that we cannot detect any resistance; so we call the resistance
zero. What we mean is that the resistance is so low that we
can’t find it. The amount of resistance or holding back force
of the wire or conductor depends on:
a) The material the conductor is made of; silver, copper
and aluminum are good conductors. This means that
in any given size wire, these materials will have low
resistance. Silver has the lowest resistance, but its
price is too high, so we use copper.
b) The diameter of the wire. The longer the wire, the
greater the resistance because there is more metal to
carry the current.
c) The length of the wire. The longer the wire, the
greater the resistance. In fact, the resistance of any
wire varies in direct ratio with its length.
d) The temperature of the conductor. The resistance of
most - but not all - conductors increases as the
temperature of the conductor rises. Hence, the
resistance of the filament of a light bulb is rather low
when it is turned off and cooled down; but when the
power is turned on, the filament temperature
increases until it glows and the resistance increases.
Resistance to electron flow is measured in units called ohms.
An ohm is actually the amount of resistance that will hold the
current down to one ampere (one coulomb of electrons per
second) if there is one volt of pressure.
An ohm meter is really a resistance meter that is calibrated in
ohms. The ohm meter has its own power source, a small dry
cell, which forces a small amount of current through a
conductor via the meter probes. The meter must be calibrated
to read 0 ohms when the probes are touched together each time
it is used because as the dry cell loses its charge, the meter will
get out of calibration.
If the probes of an ohm meter are attached to the terminals of a
closed switch, the meter will read 0. This means that there is
virtually no resistance to current flow through the switch.
Now, if the switch is turned off, the contacts will be open and
there will be very high resistance. In fact, the resistance is so
high it is an infinite number of ohms so we call this reading
infinity.
With the switch open, there is not a continuous conductor
through it so we say there is no continuity. If the ohm meter
reads anything other than infinity, we say we do have
continuity. As can be seen from the above example, an ohm
meter is a good instrument for checking to see if the contacts
of a switch, thermostat, relay, overload, etc. are closing
properly or creating continuity.
The previous examples show two conditions that can be
detected by an ohm meter; (1) a closed, 0 resistance conductor
and (2) an open circuit which reads infinity or no continuity.
Now let’s consider something in between – the windings of a
compressor. If we attach the ohm meter probes to the common
and run terminals of the compressor, we can read the
resistance of the main or run winding. The winding is a solid
and continuous copper wire so there will be continuity through
it; but instead of 0 ohms, as there was through the closed
switch, this winding is of such small wire and so long that
there is resistance. Now let’s attach the probes to the common
and start terminals to get the resistance of the start of phase
winding. Since this winding is made of even smaller and
longer wire, its resistance will be greater than the main
winding. Now let’s attach the probes to the start and run
terminals to read the resistance through both windings. This
reading is the same number of ohms as the total of the two
previous readings.
If the reading between any two terminals is infinity, we can
determine that the winding is open – the wire is broken or
burned in two. If the reading between any two terminals is 0
ohms, the insulation is burned off the winding and we can
determine that the compressor motor is shorted. If the reading
between any terminal and the compressor housing is anything
except infinity, we can determine that the compressor motor is
grounded. An open, shorted or grounded compressor must be
replaced. The fan motor windings can be checked by the same
method as the compressor motor winding. The only difference
being that the windings are made of smaller gauge wire and
the resistance will be higher. The fan motor has no push on