Why do MOST multimeters use 9V batteries??
- Thread starter danny4x4
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Mine does too. But if you were to shop around, you would more than likely see that most would require a 9V battery. I would think it would be more convenient to use either AA or AAA batteries as most people would have them somewhere in the house. Especially if you have kids. 
I have no idea why, but I can theorize that the controller chips require a certain voltage to work. if you get a DC-DC controller to use AA or AAA batteries, it would have to pulse the voltage, and maybe get more erratic of a reading.... just a theory though.
Older tech. There was a day when 9v batteried were much more common... Like 30 years ago. They lasted longer, too. My RS multimeter uses AAA, and it's a couple months old. I had a pocket multimeter that used watch batteries, once.
Sounds better than anything I came up with, Neal. I have wondered for decades why backup batteries in digital alarm clocks always used 9v.
That's what I thought would be the most probable reason too. Something along the lines like the more reliable chips require 9V to operate. Does anyone know for sure? This has been bugging me for many many years.
I'll go with this answer. Back in the day- I'm talking 50 years ago ( yes, we had electricity then, but it was a new thing)- most battery operated stuff I remember ran on either D cells or 9 volt. If it was small and had to run for a while without a battery change- like a shirt pocket transistor radio-, 9 volts were the ticket. With a multimeter, I imagine it was form factor and battery life that dictated 9 volt batteries, and because they were all analog meters, there were no chips or displays to power.
Also, there were no alkaline batteries or other fancy hybrids, all of them were carbon post technology. Ever Readys and Ray o Vacs were the best- in a high demand usage situation, you might get a couple weeks out of them.
That's what I'm thinking... I still think (maybe erroneously, because I don't think about it much) 9 volt batteries would be more common. I've got a box full of them in my house & I'm always buying more. Then again, I use a lot of guitar pedals & none of them run on AAAs. The only think I can think of off the top of my head that runs on AAAs are my remotes.
the circuitry in the unit requires on avg 5V for the display etc, and when in ohm mode, the higher voltage ( 7-9) results in a better reading of ohms... if you have 2 meters, put one in ohm mode and the other in volt mode and read the voltage of the leads of the one in ohm mode
Bunnykiller:12722992 said:the circuitry in the unit requires on avg 5V for the display etc, and when in ohm mode, the higher voltage ( 7-9) results in a better reading of ohms... if you have 2 meters, put one in ohm mode and the other in volt mode and read the voltage of the leads of the one in ohm mode
Hmmm, do you mean it would be more accurate?
From my understanding it's because of the internal resistance of the battery.
Keep in mind allot of those "portable" units are not very accurate. Any HDMM need to be calibrated; funny part is the best tool to calibrate it with is generally a VTVM. The HDMM's are good tools and have there place In field service for troubleshooting; they are accurate enough to tell if a circuit has an open or short and to find which components are faulty. However; If you are looking to get good accurate readings or designing and analyzing circuitry you're gonna want to use desktop tools like a VTVM or an OSCOPE,
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Keep in mind allot of those "portable" units are not very accurate. Any HDMM need to be calibrated; funny part is the best tool to calibrate it with is generally a VTVM. The HDMM's are good tools and have there place In field service for troubleshooting; they are accurate enough to tell if a circuit has an open or short and to find which components are faulty. However; If you are looking to get good accurate readings or designing and analyzing circuitry you're gonna want to use desktop tools like a VTVM or an OSCOPE,
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Low current draw and high voltage. 9V are best used for those requirements. Not a continuous draw. There are I believe 6 cell in the battery if you rip one open. Each cell would be 1.5V. Basically the volts are there when you need them type.
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