A multirange ammeter operates on more than one range by connecting the meter movement to different shunts.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Sometimes
• D. Not applicable

Answer: (A)

A multirange ammeter is designed to measure a wide span of currents by using different shunts connected with the meter movement. The meter movement itself can only handle a small current safely, so to measure larger currents, a low-value shunt is connected in parallel to bypass most of the current around the movement. The coil still deflects in proportion to the small current it carries, and the instrument is calibrated so that the dial reading reflects the total current in the circuit. By switching to different shunt values, the fraction of current going through the movement changes, giving different full-scale readings on the same scale. This is why the device operates on more than one range. The approach of using shunts for different ranges is standard, not occasional, and doesn’t involve other unsupported methods for this purpose.