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Measure AC Voltage

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Multimeter basics

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What happens here

Rotate the multimeter's central dial to the 'Volts' (V) setting. Since household power is alternating current, ensure the multimeter is set to AC voltage by pressing the 'Select' button if necessary until the AC symbol (~) is displayed. Carefully insert the red and black probes into the slots of a standard household electrical outlet. The multimeter will then display the AC voltage reading, which typically should be around 120 volts.

Goal: Measure the alternating current (AC) voltage of a standard household outlet.

Tools and materials

  • Black Test Lead — Probing the neutral terminal of the outlet
  • Electrical Outlet — The source of AC voltage to be measured
  • Multimeter Klein Tools MM400 — Measuring AC voltage
  • Red Test Lead — Probing the live terminal of the outlet

What they say

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your hertz, your temperature, everything else. This 10 amp port is designed for higher current measurements, which we'll get into in a future video. First one, volt. If you go down to select, you can choose between AC or DC. Right now we're in AC. As you can see, we're getting 120 volts. That's your standard outlet. And now we'll do direct current for cars, batteries, stuff like that. You can see this battery reads 20 volts. Next up is

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