Design and Fabrication of Bluetooth AC Bluetooth Multimeter

Mark Louie M. Narvaez

University of the Philippines Los Baos
April 2014

The study aimed to create a network of AC digital multimeters that can interact simultaneously

to a host computer through the Bluetooth protocol. Specifically, this study intended to: (1) Design
and fabricate a functional, microcontroller-based AC digital multimeter that can measure the three
basic electrical quantities: AC voltage, AC current and resistance, (2) Integrate a Bluetooth module in
the design of the AC digital multimeter to allow wireless communication to a remote Windowsbased computer, (3)

Extend the design to a system of three Bluetooth AC digital multimeters.

In this study, a design of an AC digital multimeter will be integrated with a Bluetooth

module so that it can function both as a measuring and networking device. The main advantage
of using wireless digital multimeters is the ease in which data can be simultaneously measured
and recorded by a remote computer The device is also intended to run on a custom firmware that
is suited to its function and that would ultimately enable data to be stored in databases for further
processing.
The design of the AC digital multimeter will be restricted to single range AC
measurements: AC voltage, AC current and resistance parameters. The measuring capability is
limited to the resolution of the analog-to-digital converter used. The study proper started by early
October 2012 and was completed by March 2014. During the fabrication and testing stages, the
laboratory works was done at the Department of Electrical Engineering, CEAT, UPLB.

Methodology
ADC Testing
An initial test was done to verify the functionality of the ADC in the gizDuino+ Mini.
AC Voltmeter Design
The high AC voltage to be measured was connected across the primary side of the instrument
transformer.
AC Ammeter Design
The testing stage of the ACS712 current sensor module include the monitoring of the output
voltages when no current is present and when AC current is present.
Resistance Approximation
Approximation of the resistance since the device intends to measure parameters from an
energized circuit
Bluetooth Module Integration
Bluetooth module was used as a wireless serial link between the MCU and a host computer.
Final Design, PCB Creation and Testing
The different block diagrams were incorporated into a single schematic diagram.
Bluetooth AC Digital Multimeter Network
After one unit was considered functional, two more units were fabricated.