Avometer

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Final version of AVOmeter model 8 produced from 1951 to 2008 (Mk7 pictured)

Early version of the AVOmeter.

Avometer 15 Volt BLR121 battery

AVOmeter is a British trademark for a line of multimeters and electrical measuring instruments;
the brand is now owned by the Megger Group Limited. The first Avometer was made by the
Automatic Coil Winder and Electrical Equipment Co. in 1923, and measured direct voltage, direct
current and resistance.[1] Possibly the best known multimeter of the range was the Model 8,
which was produced in various versions from May 1951 until 2008; the last version was the Mark
7.
 The multimeter is often called simply an AVO, because the company logo carries the first letters
of 'amps', 'volts' and 'ohms'. The design concept is due to the Post Office engineer Donald
Macadie, who at the time of the introduction of the original AVOmeter in 1923 was a senior
officer in the Post Office Factories Department in London.

Contents

 1Technical features
 2Present times
 3Principal models
 4Other products
 5References
 6External links

Technical features[edit]
The original AVOmeter was designed to measure direct current (3 ranges, 0.12, 1.2 & 12A),
direct voltage (3 ranges, 12, 120 & 600V) and resistance (single range, 0 - 10,000 ohms, 225
ohms mid-scale). All ranges could be selected by a single rotary switch which set both the
function and the range value. A second switch brought a rheostat into circuit in series with the
instrument and could be used to control the current through a device under test and the meter.
The movement drew 12mA for full-scale deflection and used a "universal shunt" permanently in
parallel with the movement which increased the input terminal full-scale current to 16.6mA,
corresponding to 60 ohms per volt. It had a knife edge pointer and an anti-parallax mirror.