Multimeters

Regardless of the types of components and targets that you’re working on, you will need a multimeter. This is what you will use for your initial survey of your device for things such as measuring voltage, resistance, current and checking for continuity. When choosing a multimeter, make sure that you review the available voltage and current ranges and that they match the ranges of your expected targets. Some multimeters will also have an “auto-range” feature, which will attempt to automatically select the appropriate range for measuring voltage/current/resistance, etc. This feature can be helpful when measuring unknown voltages; it will save you a few button presses when measuring points on a target. The two multimeters listed below are the ones that I keep in my toolbox. I have also included different probes sets, allowing smaller pads/pins to be measured.

If you’ve never used a multimeter before, Sparkfun has a great tutorial here that can help get you up to speed and measuring in no time!