A multimeter or a multitester, also known as a volt/ohm meter or VOM, is an electronic measuring instrument that combines several measurement functions in one unit. A typical multimeter may include features such as the ability to measure voltage, current and resistance. Multimeters may use analog or digital circuits—analog multimeters and digital multimeters (often abbreviated DMM or DVOM.) Analog instruments are usually based on a microammeter whose pointer moves over a scale calibration for all the different measurements that can be made; digital instruments usually display digits, but may display a bar of a length proportional to the quantity measured.
Vacuum Tube Voltmeters or valve voltmeters (VTVM, VVM) were used for voltage measurements in electronic circuits where high impedance was necessary. The VTVM had a fixed input impedance of typically 1c megohm or more, usually through use of a cathode follower input circuit, and thus did not significantly load the circuit being tested. Before the introduction of digital electronic high-impedance analog transistor and field effect transistor (FETs) voltmeters were used. Modern digital meters and some modern analog meters use electronic input circuitry to achieve high-input impedance—their voltage ranges are functionally equivalent to VTVMs.
Digital multimeters generally take measurements with accuracy superior to their analog counterparts. Standard analog multimeters measure with typically three percent accuracy,[4] though instruments of higher accuracy are made. Standard portable digital multimeters are specified to have an accuracy of typically 0.5% on the DC voltage ranges. Mainstream bench-top multimeters are available with specified accuracy of better than ±0.01%. Laboratory grade instruments can have accuracies of a few parts per million.[5]
Accuracy figures need to be interpreted with care. The accuracy of an analog instrument usually refers to full-scale deflection; a measurement of 30V on the 100V scale of a 3% meter is subject to an error of 3V, 10% of the reading. Digital meters usually specify accuracy as a percentage of reading plus a percentage of full-scale value, sometimes expressed in counts rather than percentage terms.
