Page 1 of 1

Intrepreting multimeter results

Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 7:55 am
by rossbryant1956
I have been battling what many think is a stray voltage problem in my tanks. Weird pH probe readings, salinity probe being off etc. I purchased a digital multimeter from Home Depot and am trying to figure out what it means when I use it. Using it for testing AC it has two settings, 200V and 600V.

I have two tanks, nothing hooked up to them right now but main pumps (eheim 1262's). When I test one tank I get a reading between 1.0 and 2.0. Testing the other tank returns the same value. One of the tanks has a grounding probe on it, and if plugged in, it comes out as 0.00. The only real difference between the two settings is decimal point accuracy

What readings should I see? Can anyone help me understand all of this? Thanks in advance.

Re: Intrepreting multimeter results

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:02 pm
by Sacohen
The lower the range, the more accurate it is going to be with small amounts of voltage.
I would use the 200V range.

When you test the black probe in in the ground of an outlet and the red probe is in the water, correct?