Oscilloscope Voltage Measurements

Ralph Arce, John Arvie Sarmiento, Simon Sugay

EE 12 D-1L

Department of Electrical Engineering – CEAT, UP Los Baños

I. Introduction

II. Results and Discussion

For the first part of the experiment is to construct the circuit in series with 3 resistors

(10kΩ, 3.3kΩ, 5kΩ) supplied by 6V power supply. The voltage of the nodes is measured using

the multi-meter in AC mode. Connecting the digital oscilloscope, power supply and the circuit,

the sine wave appeared on the screen of oscilloscope and measuring the same nodes given in the

experiment. When the calibration was shifted to 1V division, the sine wave appeared with a

longer height than the 5V division.

Oscilloscope Measured Average Voltage

Calculated Voltage VOM Measured
Test Points (V)
(V) Voltage (V)
5 V/div 1 V/div

A to B 3.2258 3.173 3.20 3.20

B to C 1.0645 1.048 1.00 1.08

C to D 1.8065 1.781 1.60 1.76

Table 1a. Measured Values While Using the DC Source

Based on the voltages measured by the multi-meter and the digital oscilloscope, the multi-

meter has the most accurate measurement based on the calculated values using ohm’s law since

the multi-meter can measure resistance and current with almost identical values and also noting

that it has more decimal places in the readings displayed. The voltage measured by calibrating
the digital oscilloscope to 1V division is the more accurate than the calibration to 5V division

since the voltage used in the experiment is 6V and with a division of lower volts, it has larger

range of values including the small decimal numbers to identify than the larger voltage division.

The peak to peak value of the voltage is the same as the highest voltage in any DC

voltage since the graph of a DC voltage was pulsating that it only reaches to zero when it is on

the minimum.

Figure 1 Digital oscilloscope supplied by 60 Hz wave generator

Figure 2 Digital oscilloscope supplied by 600 Hz wave generator

Figure 3 Digital oscilloscope supplied by 6 kHz wave generator

 The last part of the experiment was connecting the circuit and the wave generator. The voltage

was first measured using the multi-meter with different set of frequency (60Hz, 600Hz, and

6000Hz). Lastly, the root mean square voltage (VRMS) was measured using the digital

oscilloscope.

Voltage Measured (RMS) Oscilloscope (V) Voltage Measured (RMS) Multi-meter (V)
Test Points
60Hz 600Hz 6000Hz 60Hz 600Hz 6000Hz

A to D 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.16 5.17 5.06

B to D 2.20 2.20 2.20 2.449 2.431 1.763

C to D 1.40 1.40 1.40 1.544 1.529 1.107

Table 1b. Measured Values While Using the Wave Generator

Based on the measured voltages with different frequencies using the multi-meter and

digital oscilloscope, the readings of the voltage in the oscilloscope were identical even with

different frequencies while the readings of the voltage in the multi-meter were decreasing when

the frequency is increasing. The cause of the decrease in voltage in the multi-meter may be

because of the wave generator produces an AC or oscillating voltage that the multi-meter cannot

measure properly. While supplying different frequencies in the circuit, the graph of the digital

oscilloscope becomes taller while it increases the frequency.

The average value of the voltage in the oscilloscope must be closely to zero because in

AC circuit the voltage can have a negative value unlike since it follows the sine wave function

that the highest value of the voltage has the same magnitude as the value at the lowest voltage.

III. Summary

IV. References