I have no idea how to use a mutilmeter

[Huffa]

I really want to learn how. Can anyone walk me through a coil test? I have the manual for a 200X & S and the test are the same for both except for the 85 200 M&S.

The very 1st step and I'm lost already!

Step 1 - Set ohmmeter to RX1 Where is that on my meter and where do I plug the red wire into? The female connections on meter are color coded so the black I know goes at the very bottom. Top one for red reads "10AMAX - unfused - max 10 sec - each 15 min" Middle one for red reads " V with a little head phone looking thing - mA - 750V AC - 1000VDC-2A max" Which one do I plug into?

I'm sure you can read it too, I just want to be clear as possible with what I'm using and trying to accomplish.

[Quickonstep]

well from the manual it is telling you to OHM the coil.. so this is what you do..

plug the black lead into the black spot on the multi meter, plug the red lead into the one right above that.. with the "omega" symbol or the OHMS symbol... or the little headphone lookin thing as you put it.

Then set your mutlimeter to about 6 oclock to the 200 on the ohms scale and proceed to test how the book says..

hope that helps you

Jesse

[hrc85250r]

to "ohm out" anything, you are just checking the connection of the part...all it is doing is seeing if there is a connection between the pos. and neg. leads....just put it on 200k ohms and touch the coil where it tells you and you will know if your coil is toasted or not....make sure your leads are plugged in where quickonstep told you to out them....

[Tri-ZNate]

to "ohm out" anything, you are just checking the connection of the part...all it is doing is seeing if there is a connection between the pos. and neg. leads


I'm curious, an ohm meter checks your resistance. If you wanted to see if there was a conection wouldnt you set it to volts?

[jmsmilin]

ME TOO lol I tried checking out an lt125 with one and my readings were no where at what the book said, so I got a new coil and it fixed it...

Im clueless with mulitmeters

[Quickonstep]

to "ohm out" anything, you are just checking the connection of the part...all it is doing is seeing if there is a connection between the pos. and neg. leads....just put it on 200k ohms and touch the coil where it tells you and you will know if your coil is toasted or not....make sure your leads are plugged in where quickonstep told you to out them....


that would be continuity .. hehehe

Jesse

[Huffa]

OK guys, here are my findings.

Manual calls for the following & tested with (MM) multimeter at 200 ohms

200S Pimary coil value = 0.2-0.4........I got 0.6 (coil at 70 degrees)

200X Pimary coil value = 0.2-0.8 .......I got 0.8 (coil at 70 degrees)

That seems good to me but the secondary coil resistance value which manual states test at same setting, I got nothing on both till I upped it to 20K on MM. Maybe the manual is wrong on what setting to use?.

200S secondary = 3-5k.......I got 4.03 WITH THE SP LEAD OFF & with on I got nothing

200X secondary = 8-15k.......I got 8.60 with SP lead ON

If I put the 200X lead onto the 200 coil then I got an 8.60 also.

So my conclusion is the 200X coil & SP lead is good and the 200S coil is good but not the SP lead. Seem correct to you?

Please feel free to fill me in on any info you can find on learning about electrics and multimeter use. I don't know an ohm from a volt!

I hate trouble shooting electrics but if enough help it may be a no brainer after a while. I'm sure lots on here don't understand it!

Thanks for your replies so far.

[Tri-ZNate]

200S secondary = 3-5k.......I got 4.03 WITH THE SP LEAD OFF & with on I got nothing

200X secondary = 8-15k.......I got 8.60 with SP lead ON




Is your reading in K ohms as well? because if not you might have problems

[Huffa]

Is your reading in K ohms as well? because if not you might have problems

I tested the secondary with the meter set at 20K in the ohm section of meter. That sounds like what you are asking, is that correct? This is a digital meter with no actual guage.

[Lots_Of_Nothing]

Any decent multimeter will come with a big instruction booklet telling you how to take readings on different things,, I picked up a real nice digital one from the local hardware store for $20 a couple months ago (monthly sale). If yours doesnt have one, and its analog, just save yourself the time, you can get nice digital ones for like $5 off ebay, better readings and alot user friendly.. If you ever need help on them, ask SmokinWrench on here, he has helped me a few times, he is real good with them.

[Tri-ZNate]

I tested the secondary with the meter set at 20K in the ohm section of meter. That sounds like what you are asking, is that correct? This is a digital meter with no actual guage.


If you were in the 20K range then yeah you reading is alright

[Yardbird]

A coil is nothing more than a long wire wrapped round and round alot of turns. You should check a coil on the lowest range of the resistance function. Some meters have a zero adjustment (usually the ones that have a pointer that moves and not the digital meters) on them and you should zero out the leads first so their resistance won't give you bogus readings. I couldn't tell by your picture what type of meter you have digital or analog.
To do this just put the two leads together and then adjust the zero adjustment for a zero reading on your meter. When you switch ranges on the resistance function you have to do this each time. If it doesn't have a zero adjustment just put the leads together and note the reading and then subtract that reading from you actual measurement.
Then you have to make sure at least one end of the coil is disconnected because you could get erroneous readings. Because there could be parallel paths that will give you bad readings also. A coil will either have a very low resistance or it will be open completely and it will show an infinity reading on the meter. Hope this helps and didn't confuse ya.

[Tri-ZNate]

Hope this helps and didn't confuse ya.


It confuses me :confused: and I know what the hell I'm doing :D

[Huffa]

A coil is nothing more than a long wire wrapped round and round alot of turns. You should check a coil on the lowest range of the resistance function. Some meters have a zero adjustment (usually the ones that have a pointer that moves and not the digital meters) on them and you should zero out the leads first so their resistance won't give you bogus readings. I couldn't tell by your picture what type of meter you have digital or analog.
To do this just put the two leads together and then adjust the zero adjustment for a zero reading on your meter. When you switch ranges on the resistance function you have to do this each time. If it doesn't have a zero adjustment just put the leads together and note the reading and then subtract that reading from you actual measurement.
Then you have to make sure at least one end of the coil is disconnected because you could get erroneous readings. Because there could be parallel paths that will give you bad readings also. A coil will either have a very low resistance or it will be open completely and it will show an infinity reading on the meter. Hope this helps and didn't confuse ya.

Every little bit helps Yardbird and THANKS! It is a digital and no one told me your info yet. I am testing coils with them completely off bike. Now I know to put the leads together each time I change the function.

Infinity would be a 0 then or what ever the meter zeros out at on that function?

Keep the good info a coming!!!!!

You learning too Wheeliepop? :D

[hrc85250r]

well, whats the point of checking the ohms of one of those, i mean arent they either toast or good? i figured he was looking for if it was burntup or not, thats why i posted earlier...

[bigredhead]

ok.. here's what I know.

The ohm's reading = resistance. ( the headset logo is it's symbol )
You would use this to see if a wire is broken or not, for example, take a regular single strand wire and set your meter to ohms, touch each lead to the ends of the wire and you should get a reading of what ever resistance that wire has. the biger the wire, the less the resistance i beleive.

now cut the wire and check again.. you will get a reading of " o " zero. since there is no circuit, no link ,no resistance and no reading.

If you coil reads zero, then it's " open " or toasted, if it gives a low reading it's not really shot, but it either got hot and has a poor connection .

You also have V-DC and V-AC, AC= Alternating current, and DC = Direct current.

a Battery is direct current, your wall outlet is AC, AC can travel a longer distance without loosing signal, that's why it's used in power lines.

Take a battery (* an AA battery = 1.5 v ) and set your meter to V-DC, check and you should get something like 1.7 on a fully charged one, to 1.1 on a near dead one.. Fun things to play with !!

Your meter has a FUSE , if you ever plug your meter in a wall outlet that is 120 v, 15 amps, 60 hz, and your meter is set to DC it will pop the fuse. If you check the Ohms with your meter in a wall outlet.. i beleive you will also burn the fuse. ( yes.. i've done this !!! :p )

Gotta go, but i'll be back with more later if i can . :D

[ATCnut]

Im an electrical engineer with 20+ years of experence in the field. Your problem is not that you do not know how to operate the meter, it is that you do not understand what you are trying to measure. Most community collages have a intro to electronics class offered at night. I would recommend something like that, then you would have a basic understanding of what your are measuring.

[Yardbird]

Since you have a digital meter an infinity reading will probably show up as 'OL' on the display. You should get the same reading when your test leads are not touching each other which is a open circuit. When you touch your leads together you should get a reading anywhere between 0.0 to 0.5 on the display. This would be a short circuit. Usually anything not 0.0 means you are seeing the resistance of your test leads. The longer the leads the more resistance you'll see just like a coil. The more turns in a coil the more resistance you should see. Some digital meters have an offset function where you can 'zero' out the test leads own resistance. But looking at yours in the pic I don't see one. So you'll have to subtract the reading you get when you short the leads together from your actual measurement.

I've been a test equipment calibration technician since 1986 and have calibrated thousands (not an exaggeration) of meters and other types of test equipment. It's good to put that to use and help you out. If you got anymore electrical questions don't hesistate to ask! But I can't help ya if you need to rebuild your engine. :D

[HaggLE]

atcnut and yardbird

If you have a poor spark or want to make your engine have better ignition, where are the week points in the circuit? What i mean is do coils on bikes either work or not work or do they degrade and affect the performance? If the charge coming from the stator in the bottom of the motor was stronger will that give you a better spark? The CDI unit, are they a case of working or not working or do they get affected with age etc and what are signs of these different components not functioning correctly?

Man im inquisitive...

[ATCnut]

IMHO, Trike electrics are the hardest part of the whole machine. The test procedures that are in the manuals are not really very good, it would take more equipment than a multimeter to do a good test. In my experence most of the problems with electrics are total failures, where the machine just does not run. The most common problem with CDI ignitions is the coil inside the engine case. The only effective way I have found to test electric components is with another running trike of the same model, and to swap parts back and forth. You can isolate the bad part that way. If a trike is running OK, I leave the electrics alone because I find no benifit to changing electrical components.

There were aftermarket electrical system upgrades available back in the day (RoostBoost comes to mind). Most of the people that tried them could not feel a difference.

[83185s]

if u want a new stator coil go to www.hyperparts.com ...they have them for 13.99 ..instead of trailprotrailpro dealers $60-70 ones that are the same thing