What setting to use on multimeter

[Steve]

Steve, it depends on the meter. My Craftsman 821140 reads 1 instead of OL. Not that I like it, but that is what it does.

OK, yeah, different meter, different "out of range" indication. It happens.

Does it just show a "1" or is it "- 1 -"?

Steve, How do I hook up the leads to get all 12 readings? Just keep alternating the leads on all the tabs of the reg/rec?

Disconnect the R/R from the bike. You should have FIVE wires going to it, three stator wires (color does not really matter), one RED wire, one BLACK ground wire.
Connect the black meter lead to the black ground wire.
1. touch the red lead to one of the stator wires, record the reading.
2. touch the red lead to a second stator wire, record the reading.
3. touch the red lead to the third stator wire, record the reading.
Connect the red meter lead to the black gound wire.
4. touch the black meter lead to one of the stator wires, record the reading.
5. touch the black lead to a second stator wire, record the reading.
6. touch the black lead to the third stator wire, record the reading.
Connect the red meter lead to the red output wire.
7. touch the black lead to one of the stator wires, record the reading.
8. touch the black lead to a second stator wire, record the reading.
9. touch the black lead to the third stator wire, record the reading.
Connect the black meter lead to the red output wire.
10. touch the red meter lead to one of the stator wires, record the reading.
11. touch the red meter lead to a second stator wire, record the reading.
12. touch the red meter lead to the third stator wire, record the reading.

If you have a diode test function on your meter, it is the preferred setting. If you don't have it, use whatever Ohms setting gives you a meaningful reading.

Again SIX of one reading, SIX of the other, and you should see them in groups as outlined in the tests.
For the first group, they should all be out of range.
The second group should all be good.
The third group should all be out of range.
The fourth group should all be good.

If any ONE of them reads wrong, the R/R is no good.

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[koolaid_kid]

Steve, it just shows a 1. I also tested the Centech from HF and it also shows a 1. Curious.
And I agree completely about using the diode function. That is its sole purpose, and it is specifically designed for testing diodes, which is what we are doing.
I don't think my old, long since gone, mechanical meter had a diode function so I would use the Ohm meter function there.

[Steve]

I don't remember what my Fluke meter shows, but I just checked my Radio Shack meter and it shows "OL" in resistance and diode functions.

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[koolaid_kid]

If you send me your Fluke I will post what is shows.

[Steve]

No need to send anything, I'll just look at it when I get to work tomorrow.

By the way, it's not a Fluke to get excited about.
It's just a model 77, and about 15-20 years old, but it just got recertified today.
Since I use it to calibrate equipment in the hospital, it has to be calibrated, along with all the shop's test equipment, and gets a new sticker every year.

By the way, I had him check my Radio Shack meter. Since it did not need a certification sticker, he did it for free.
AC and DC volts are dead-on, right up to 1000 volts.
Resistance is dead-on, from milliohms up to 30Megaohms (where he stopped checking).
Temperature is within a degree (no decimal point on the meter) in all the ranges he was able to duplicate.
Frequency was dead-on.
Capacitance was dead-on.
The Amp scales had the only discrepencies.
On the 40 amp scale, it read actual plus 2, at the worst. That is, 30 amps showed as 32.
On the 400 and 800 amp scales it read just a bit low. 100 amp input showe as 98. 600 amp input showed as 595.

Plenty good for me.

By the way, they have dropped the price on the meter.

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[Super]

Steve...thanks for laying it out that way. I followed all you said and I think it's all good now.

Group 1...all 1's, which is the out of range setting
Group 2..583, 576 and 577
Group 3...all 1's again
Group 4...577, 567 and 576

So I think I'm good to go!! Thanks so much to everyone that helped. This is the greatest site there is. And thanks for your patience from one grateful dummy.

[Steve]

Steve...thanks for laying it out that way.

Might not have been the same exact words, but that's what the tests are in the second post, the one by BassCliff.

Now that you have done the tests, go back read the original tests again, you will see what I mean.

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[Super]

Yep..I see what you mean now. I think I was getting confused by the fact I didn't know that the readings I was getting,,the 576, 577, etc..were actually .576 volts.

I just couldn't understand "How do I get these darn volt readings in diode mode?"..And what was throwing me off is that there is on the multimeter specific areas labeled for volts and ohms and when I do the diode test, it's like...what kind of numbers are these?

The real problem is that the directions with this meter, for me anyway, just tells you basically how to do certain checks and then lists a chart to refer to. For someone who's not familiar with using a multimeter, like me, it leaves you scrambling to try and figure out what to do. And the more I tried to figure it out, the more frustrated it got. Does this make sense?

Anyway, I've got it now thanks to you and all the others. Thanks again.

[Steve]

Not sure if it was mentioned before (and it's quicker to type than to go back and search), but the reason there is a specific diode test is because the meter usually uses just a couple tenths of a volt to send through a device or circuit to measure the resistance. A diode will show slightly different resistances when measured in both directions, but it's still not a good picture. When presented with about 1 volt, the diode will "break over" and start to conduct (in one direction). That break over point is determined by the type of material used to make the diode. Evidently the break over voltage in your diodes is about .576 volt.

In a nutshell: the Ohms scale will show the resistance of the diode, the diode function will show the break over voltage of the diode.

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