Using a Multimeter Using the Multimeter to Measure Voltage and Resistance Multimeters are commonly used to measure voltage and resistance between two points. Current is rarely measured because you must alter the circuit to measure the current. Voltage and resistance are always measured between two points.
Voltage is the easiest and most common measurement.
To measure voltage you set the multimeter to either DC or AC voltage and choose the range based on what you estimate the voltage to be. Next, select a range on the multimeter and touch two metal points in the circuit. If the needle doesn t move or goes all the way to the end of the scale, select another range. You can not use this method to measure the resistance of a resistor in the circuit because there may be other paths between the nodes of a resistor. One leg of a resistor must be disconnected from the circuit to make sure that the only path between the two probes is through that resistor.