DC Power Supplies and Multimeters


The purpose of this exercise is to get familliar with DC power supplies and multimeter.

A power supply is a device that provides the energy required to power up a circuit and a multimeter is capable of measuring circuit and device parameters such as voltage, current, resistance and continuity.


  1. Set the function on Agilent E3631A to +6V. Adjust the voltage to 4.5 Volts. Measure the voltage using Fluke 179. Write down the results. Make sure you turn the output power on.
  2. Set the function to +25V. Adjust the voltage to +10 volts. Measure the voltage and write down the results.
  3. Set the function to -25V. Adjust the voltage to -8 volts. Measure the voltage and write down the results.
  4. Press and hold "Track" button. What do you see on screen and what do you measure as the voltage?
  5. Connect the red lead to +25V and the black to -25V. Measure the voltage and write down the results.
  6. At this point, you should see "Track" displayed on the display of E3631A. Set function to +25V and set the voltage to 25 volts. What do you measure while red lead is connected to +25V and the black lead to -25V?
  7. Using the resistance function of the Fluke 179, measure the resistance values of the three samples provided and write down the results. Using the color codes on the resistors, find the theoretical value of them. For each sample, find out the range of tolerance and compare that with the measured value. Is the measured value within the tolerance range?
  8. For all the above measurements, calculate the error using the following equation:

    %Error = ((Theoretical – Measured)/Theoretical) * 100%

  9. Fluke 179 has a continuity function. Set it to that function and check the continuity of a piece of wire. If there is no cut in the wire, you should hear the buzzer sound. Write down the value of the resistance the multimeter shows.

Please show me your results at the end of the session.

Here are pictures of equipment we will use plus the resistor color codes:


Agilent E3631A
Figure 1 - Agilent E3631A DC Power Supply
Fluke 179 Multimeter
Figure 2 - Fluke 179 Digital Multimeter


Resistor Color Codes
Figure 3 - Resistor Color Codes