Question--easy--

[jimbob]

Im wanting to check to see if this inductor i have is good.. But i suck at using my meter. Ok, the yellow inductor(dunlop) has 4 lugs at the bottom. Where do i place the red and black leads of my meter? What setting do i put it on? And what am i looking for on the meter..

BTW- its ok if you need to explain this as though im 4. :lol:

I just need to learn Man, just learn..Ya dig?

[Johan]

an inductor is basicly just a long wire wraped in round and round in little circles ( usualy around a core, but not allways). to see that its not broken, you can mesure the resistance. Depending on how big your inductor is, it could mesure anything from a short to a couple of hunded ohm's..
..what it does electricly is another issue and very hard to do calculations around...

Johan

[Michael Allen]

The core should have two pins both on the same side of the bobbin, and two pins on the other side. You should be able to tell which ones are on the same side.... Set your meter to Ohm (the upside down U) or the smallest possible K value. Maybe 1K (on mine). Then put one lead of your meter on one side and the other lead on the other side and measure the resistance.

[jimbob]

GREAT! THANKS..ILL GIVER A TRY.

After i get a reading--whats is it supposed to read if it is good? Its  yellow dunlop inductor.

[niftydog]

a multimeter won't be able to tell you if it's good or not. You need an RCL bridge or similar; Something that can measure impedances - not just resistance. Best way is to swap it into a working circuit.  :?

If you know it's inductance, you can build a resonant circuit and use a signal generator and an oscilloscope to check if the inductance is in the ball park... need more info, just ask!