At the present day scenario, the sight of multimeters with people in the electronic field is a common sight. Those of us not in the field lookup to those who are, just because they know to use devices that we don’t. Although it is not necessary for us to know, gaining the knowledge of how to use a multimeter might come in handy someday if we want to make sure some of the connections at home are working fine.
There are a multitude of these devices available in the market, and it is necessary that you know to handle at least one type properly. Basically, multimeters can be classified into two types – analogue and digital. You do not need to read an article to know the difference between the two, in , but there are a few marked differences between the two in multimeters that you definitely ought to know.
Analog multimeters are the older of the two. They were mainly electro mechanical in nature with a number of dials on the frontal face, requiring a lot of post processing of the observations made. Although this is required more often than not, obtaining details through analog readings is more complex in comparison to a digital reading where a glance can give you the data you require.
It was with the advent of digital displays in the mid 1900s that digital metering came into being. Digital multimeters are very easy to use and do not require much of practitheato know what you’re dealing with. Their easy construct and practical design makes them one of the best devices to carry around if you are in the field.
Also, another contrast between the two is their size. It is no news that electromechanical devices require extra space to carry out the same function that can be carried out by a digital meter. This is because semiconductors work to reduce the size of the device itself while the setup of the analog devices make their sizes larger. Also, the accuracy of digital meters is way better than that if the analog meters. This is evident from the scene of an impatient student carrying out an experiment in the lab. The lack of patience of the said student will cause a huge havoc in the analog readings while the digital one will display the reading almost instantly.
Thus, it goes without saying that, for a generation with reducing patience, digital devices work the best, and the same goes for multimeters as well.