Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanJK
Hey everyone! So, this year the torch has been passed to me to be the electrical dude. Last year we had someone who actually was studying electrical engineering, but I have no clue and I'm in over my head. I've been able to wire the battery to the power distribution block through the circuit breaker, but now I'm trying to connect the cRIO to the block. I've read in the manual that I need to use 22-14AWG wire. I really don't know what that is, and looking through the inventory list, I don't think any came in the kit of parts.
Also, I know how to use a volt meter to check voltage, but I was wondering if anyone can describe to me how to use the voltmeter to check if the right amount of amperage (40A, 30A, etc.) is coming out of each spot on the power block.
Thanks everyone! I'm the one who knows the most about wiring in the team, but that isn't saying much. We have a mentor coming in a couple days, and he's gonna teach me what I need to know, but he asked me to do this before he came...  |
Seems like you think that if you plug the meter into a slot with a 40A breaker it will show 40A on the meter. This is not correct. When you use a meter to measure current, it will tell you the current flowing through at that moment (the amount of current needed to power the device).
You can use it to measure current for smaller devices. But like Eric said I do not recommend using one of those probe meters to measure the current going through a motor (sometimes up to 40Amps). Meters aren't able to handle that.
For motors and high current devices, what we use is a meter that clamps around a cable to check the current flowing through it (rather than the one with just probes).
To measure current with a meter with probes:
1) Plug the black probe into COM (common)
2) Plug the red probe into the ADC port (might say like 10ADC)
3) Turn the dial to point to the indicator for dc current (DCA or maybe A with a solid line over it)
4) Wire the meter in SERIES with what you would like to measure the current for. Voltage is measured in parallel, current in series.