How to Use a Multimeter to Take a Voltage Reading (In Your DIY Camper Electrical Build)

[@livergen]

Nate, The more I watch you The more I know you are as solid as a rock ,,, Thank You for all you are doing for us out here , God Bless You Man & stay safe ...!!!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

[@eaanderson9993]

I just subscribed to your channel. FYI. About a year and a half ago, my wife and I purchased our 1st TT. We purchased a new NoBo 19.5 and got one that was “solar ready”. We love it. Obviously, it already has an inverter. Now, we need to add a charge controller, solar panel(s), fuses, etc. and wire them all together. Properly. Without burning down the house. LOL. That’s where you came in. Sure glad that I came upon your tutorials. I really enjoyed your solar system components 101 video and this video familiarizing us with 2 minutes about each of the components. Looking forward to your other ones. You do a great job. You clearly know this area, are a very good teacher, are easy to listen to and have a good sense of humor. So, your videos are both educational and entertaining. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Keep up the good work!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Nice! Sounds like an awesome project!

[@TheMcBrowns]

Always appreciate the safety tips too - I'm definitely the person that makes dumb mistakes without thinking. Appreciate your help!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Hey The McBrowns, No problem! Glad it helped! :)

[@allenmay8850]

Hi Nate, I really like this series that you are doing. I'm not an electrician, but over the years I have done a lot of electrical work on both houses and RV's. I am fairly knowledgable about how to wire things correctly, however, I have learned something new on each of your videos.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Hey Allen May, Thanks so much! Cheers!

[@johnbergholm]

I’m very much a novice. I bought my mm 2 years ago but couldn’t find out how to use it. This tutorial helps. Now I want to learn how to take a watts reading off my solar panels AND understand what it means. I have a 100 a/h agm battery which will be charged by two 100 watt panels in parallel but one is mono and one is poly so I’m sure I’m not getting the full 200 watts, plus I understand you don’t get the full wattage anyways, so I’d like to know how much I am actually getting. I just discovered you on google while trying to learn about wiring which lead me to your youtube channel. Subscribed right away. I can tell you are going to be an invaluable resource for my project. You are easily equal to my other favs will prowse, adam welch, and amy at the alt estore. Thanks for what you do for the nomad community.

[@PlaidCatStudio]

Hi Nate, Thank you so much for this series! I'm new to 12V wiring and I'm learning a ton. Feeling much more confident about installing my own solar on a cargo trailer conversion. :)

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Nice! Sounds like an awesome project!

[@wobby1516]

Great site for help with all THINGS electric, I too have one of these meters and I though I new how to use it! but mine just wouldn’t work? That’s why I viewed this Vlog and yes I was doing everything right, was just about ready to take it back to the store and complain when I notice one of the protective tips hadn’t been remove from the negative probe. 🤬 LOL.

[@ritmolatino1627]

😂

[@MikeNewham]

Good tip at the end. Always treat electricity with respect. When I disconnect my lithium batteries that have 120mm2 cable between them I always wrap the lugs with insulation tape as they have a tendency to flap in a particular direction and I don’t know what they might hit (like the chassis of the vehicle) or something else. Probably not technically necessary but until I know for sure best to remain cautious.

[@markjerno]

😅😅 😮😅😅😮😅😅 K.k 😅 😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@nosaltiesandrooshere7488]

👍 Danke fürs Hochladen! 👍 Thanks for uploading!

[@leewaytoo]

also.... use only one hand if possible to avoid a mistake where the electricity travels up your arm and across your heart and out the other arm..... could stop your heart.

[@PatrickDickey52761]

Some advice for everyone. You want to follow the "Live Dead Live" method if you're using the multimeter to verify that something is shut off. Test it on a known live circuit. Then test the circuit that you're shutting off. Finally, go back to the known live circuit and test it again. This ensures that the multimeter is working properly and that your circuit is indeed dead. (The final test is to make sure the multimeter didn't die during the second test.)

[@buildingourdaydream9804]

Speaking of safety, I'm surprised you didn't get into the nuances of taking an amperage reading! Maybe another time. Great video though. Great series. Great channel. Solid subscriber here (and maybe more!)....

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Yeah, that'll be a whole different video eventually.

[@tombox4282]

Thank you

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Hey Tombox, No problem! Glad it helped! :)

[@clintstinytrailerconversio5560]

Is it normal for a selection of virtually identical 12 solar panels to "show" quite a variation in volts and amps measured? Testing was done on same day (sunny, no clouds, 77F) in about 1 hour time; all placed in the same place, with same angle. These used Trina Solar 250w panels (Polycrystalline) are the same age, type and rating. These are rated at 30.3v VMP (38.x VOC) and 8.27a IMP (8.54 ISC)... so they are 250w panels. Variations I measured were from 33.2 volts to 36.8 volts VOC and current ranged from 7.74a to 8.5a ISC using a decent VOM that can read DC amps. Calculated panels watts thus varied between 247w and 298w. Again, is this normal? Nate, what you are doing is so well done. If I had listened to you in the past, I could have saved a ton in smaller wire alone. Thanks, Earl.

[@mallorymcguire833]

The link for the multimeter is gone. Can you recommend another one (with link?) Thank you so much.(Also, Indeed the chassis ground kit for my Lynx (2/0)

[@buzzsah]

Another good info vid.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Glad it was helpful. Cheers!

[@arthicks4785]

Which economical voltmeter should I use for 12v LITHIUM batteries. How do you test them for voltage?? Thanks

[@PatrickDickey52761]

@4:30, it's not the volts that cause the damage. It's the current behind them. A 9-volt battery can kill if the current takes a pathway across your heart.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

If you're able to get the 9v battery terminals to contact your heart directly to complete the circuit, there are other issues going on that need to be addressed.

[@vulvo4763]

What are the things that i need for my home solar

[@abettermankind9761]

Hi Nate, I love your channel and thank you so much for all your instructional videos, Brilliant! I have a question and hopefully you could make sense of this problem please? I have a total of 4 panels I just wired up in series parallel. 2 lots of 2 panels connected in series which are then connected in parallel. When I tested the end result with my meter I'm getting reverse polarity although I am getting the correct voltage and amperage but reverse. The only thing I didn't do was check the polarity of each individual panel. Any clues as to what might be happening? Thank you in advance...

[@EXPLORISTlife]

I would very much recommend testing each panel individually to see if something is weird there (also verify that your leads on your multimeter aren't switched.)

[@abettermankind9761]

@@EXPLORISTlife Thank you for your reply Nate.

[@MykSr]

😎 Thanks Nate❗️👍

[@EXPLORISTlife]

You got it! :)

[@4314832]

I have the exact same voltage meter but it went haywire on me. How is yours holding up?

[@EXPLORISTlife]

For as cheap as it was; it's still holding up surprisingly well. 🤣🤷‍♂️ When this one goes out; I'll probably get a Klein or similar; but the cheapo is still chugging along.

[@bucsboy78]

Rookie here: I have my panels in series parallel. (6 panels). I’m getting volts off this same multimeter actually lol but when I switch it to amps. I get a zero amp reading. Taking the reading right after the solar panels. Before I run wires to the shed and batteries and solar controller. Why is this?

[@EXPLORISTlife]

If using the probles... Amps need to be read 'in-line' on the positive wire ( But don' exceed the amp rating of the multimeter). You can otherwise use the clamp around the positive wire with the dial set to amps; but there has to be current flowing (actively charging the batteries) to get a reading.

[@agroventuresperu5469]

Why do most units not measure DC current (A)?

[@timh5504]

You don't mention reading amps. Some meters do not read DC amps. Mine. It does have a clamp but no selection for DC amps. How often do you need to read DC amps? I would think down stream from the inverter it might be nice to know how many amps are flowing to a distribution box, for example. Your input please and thanks

[@EXPLORISTlife]

I rarely need to read DC amps. Most of the time, if I need DC amps for something, I'll just take that reading from the shunt (Victron BMV-712 or Victron SmartShunt) in the system.

[@winginitwithjohn8451]

The link no longer works.

[@robertvass2756]

My phisics teacher always said it's not the Volts that are dangerous, but the Amps! But that's all I know about electricity... So now I'm confused XD

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Yeah, I've heard that too and do understand that, but it's a REALLY confusing way of explaining things.

[@lennieloven4376]

volt is not most dangerous, the amp is.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

That's not necessarily true. I can touch my fingers to the positive and negative terminals of a 12v battery bank capable of flowing 1,000 amps all day long and nothing will happen because those amps aren't being delivered at a high enough voltage to do damage. Now... Touching a 120V source delivering only 15A? That will be deadly pretty quickly. How about a 50,000V source delivering .0036A like a police tazer? Not immediately deadly (usually) but definitely not pleasant and would be deadly or permanently damaging if not removed from the source for more than a few seconds. Point is... both volts AND amps are dangerous in the right combination.

[@lennieloven4376]

True and i agree that 12v car battery won't electrocute you, we have to much resistance in our skin :) i have been tazed it hurts a bit :P