Measurement of Resistance by Using

Wheatstone Bridge
Mohd Shaiful Iruan bin Mohd Aris, Quek Yeong Hua
Chin Yuen Ho, Mohamad Fadhlul Wafi
SEM 4722, Section 3, Group No. 5
Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Abstract - No text on electrical metering

could be called complete without a section

on bridge circuits. These ingenious
circuits make use of a null-balance meter
to compare two voltages, just like the
laboratory balance scale compares two
weights and indicates when they're equal.
Unlike the "potentiometer" circuit used
to simply measure an unknown voltage,
bridge circuits can be used to measure all
kinds of electrical values, not the least of
which being resistance. The standard
bridge circuit, often called a Wheatstone
bridge. A requirement To measure
resistance with a Wheatstone bridge the
system is to have a set of variable resistors
available whose resistances are precisely
known, to serve as reference standards. If
we connect a bridge circuit to measure an
unknown resistance Rx, we will have to
know the exact values of the other three
resistors at balance to determine the value
of Rx.

I. INTRODUCTION

various form of the Wheatstone bridge

can be used to accurately determine the
value of an unknown resistance,
capacitance and induction. For this
experiment our objectives is to measure
the resistance of unknown resistor by
using \Wheatstone bridge and then
determine the sensitivity of the quarter,
half and full Wheatstone bridge.
Figure 1 show the standard
circuit for Wheatstone bridge:

Figure 1 Wheatstone bridge Circuit

Wheatstone bridge circuit was

invented by Samuel Hunter Christie in

When the voltage between point 1 and the

1833 and was improved and popularized

negative side of the battery is equal to the

by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1843. A

voltage between point 2 and the negative side of

the battery, the null detector will indicate zero

and the bridge is said to be "balanced." To
measure resistance with a Wheatstone bridge, an
unknown resistance is connected in the place of
any R and labeled as Rx, while the other three
resistors are precision devices of known value.
Either of the other three resistors can be replaced
or adjusted until the bridge is balanced, and
when balance has been reached the unknown
resistor value can be determined from the ratios
of the known resistances.
The value of Rx can be determined by

Figure 1: Layout diagram required to set

up the null detector.

equation below:

(R2 / R1) Ra = Rx
We also conduct the experiment
to determine the value of unknown
resistor by using unbalance Wheatstone
bridge. The value of an unknown
resistance is determined from the value
of bridge output voltage produce by
bridge imbalance.

II. PROCEDURES
Initial Setting of DigiAC 1750 Trainer
Procedure:
1) To adjust the OFFSET control so
that zero input produces zero output
when gain is set to maximum.

2) Moving coil meter and amplifiers as

shown in Figure 1 was initially

connected with the + and inputs to
the Differential Amplifiers short
circuited so that the input is zero.
3) Amplifier #1 GAIN COARSE
control was set to 10 and the GAIN
FINE to 1.0.
4) Power supply was then switched ON
and OFFSET control was adjusted
until zero was approximately
indicated in moving coil meter.
5) To be more exact, GAIN COARSE

control was tuned to 100 and

OFFSET control was readjusted for
zero output.

Experiment 1:
Objective: To determine the Resistance of
an Unknown Resistor (Rx) By Using
Balanced Wheatstone Bridge
Procedure:
1) With the switch on the Wheatstone
bridge set to IN (connecting the
unknown resistor in circuit),
Amplifier#1 GAIN COARSE control
was set to 10 and then circuit as
shown in Figure below was
connected.

on the moving coil meter.

3) GAIN COARSE control in

AMPLIFIER#1 was set to 100 to get

a more precise reading.
4) 10-turn resistor control was
readjusted accurately to get zero
meter (NULL) reading to balance the
bridge.
5) The resistance of Rx can be
calculated by using the following
formula:
Rx = (R2/R1)*R3
6) The calculated result will be checked

by using Multisim software.

7) The result is recorded.
Figure 3: Layout diagram to get a

balanced Wheatstone bridge using

Figure 2: circuit connection with the

10-turn variable resistor

switch on the Wheatstone bridge set to IN

2) The controller of the 10-turn variable

resistor was adjusted so that zero

reading was approximately indicated

Experiment 2

Objective: Verification the accuracy of

control was readjusted accurately

to get zero meter (NULL)
reading to balance the bridge.

Wheatstone bridge

5) The value of dial reading is

recorded in the table.

Procedures:
1) With the Wheatstone bridge

switch set to OUT (removing the

unknown resistor Rx from the
circuit), 10 k slide variable
resistor terminals A & B were
connected to the Wheatstone
bridge circuit connection C &
0V.
2) The complete circuit connection
is shown in figure below:

6) Repeat step 3 to step 5 from 9k

to 1k.
7) Calculate the Rx value from dial
reading.
8) Compare the calculated value
with actual value.

Experiment 3: Determine the accuracy of

Quarter, Half and Full Wheatstone
bridge.
A) Quarter Wheatstone bridge
Procedure:
1. The circuit is connected as figure
below.

Figure 4: Circuit connection with the

switch on the Wheatstone bridge set to
OUT
3) The resistance of slider (Rx) is
set to 10k. The circuit is then
adjusted to balance by using
potentiometer.
4) GAIN COARSE control in
AMPLIFIER#1 was set to 100
and 10 k slide variable resistor

2. The Variable resistor, R4 is set to

2k. The voltage shown on

voltmeter is recorded in a table.
3. Step 2 is repeated by set the

variable resistor (R4) with value

4k, 6k, 8k and 10k.

4. The graph of Voltage Versus

Resistance of R4 is plotted.
5. The accuracy of Quarter

Wheatstone bridge is determined

by the gradient of the graph.
B) Half Wheatstone bridge

2. The Potentiometer (R3) is set to

2k. The voltage on voltmeter is

Procedure:

recorded in a table.

1. Connect the Circuit as figure

below:

3. Step 3 is repeated for

Potentiometer, R3 value for 4k,

6k, 8k and 10k.
4. The graph of Voltage versus
Resistance of R3 is plotted.
5. The accuracy of Full Wheatstone
Bridge is determined by the
gradient of the graph.

2. The Potentiometer (R3) is set

to 2k. The voltage on

I. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

voltmeter is recorded in a table.

3. Step 3 is repeated for

Potentiometer (R3) with value

Experiment 1:

for 4k, 6k, 8k and 10k.

From the experiment 1, the following data is

4. The graph of Voltage versus

Resistance of R3 is plotted.

obtained:
Resistance of R2

= 12k

Dial Reading

= 185

Wheatstone Bridge is

Resistance of R3

= Dial

determined by the gradient of

Reading x 10 = 1.85k

the graph.

Resistance of R1

5. The accuracy of Half

C) Full Wheatstone bridge

Procedure:

=
8.15k

1. Connect the Circuit as figure

below:

= 10k - R3

Resistance of Rx

= (R2/R1) x
R3

2.72k
The unknown value of Rx obtain in this
experiment is 2.72k.Besides that, the result
also verify by simulation using Multisim
software.
Set the Rx with 2.72 k (calculated value)

It can be observed that the Real

Resistance(read from the slider) of Rx is are
slightly different from the measured value of
Rx. It can be concluded that the value of Rx
can be calculated by using Wheatstone
bridge. Some of errors occured in this
experiment that cause the values of real Rx
and calculated Rx were different. One of the
According to the simulation result,

error is the reading at the slide does not

the voltage across the multimeter is

represent the actual resistance of Rx. This

0.000573913 V which is 0V. In the

because when slider is tuned to maximum

balanced condition, suppose there is no

value (10k) the value measured by

voltage across the multimeter. However this

multimeter is 11.51k which almost same

simulation result shown some voltage across

with

the multimeter and this error might due to

Wheatstone bridge).

11.3k

(calculated

by

using

the tolerance of resistance value of resistor.

Experiment 3:
The experiment 3 is mainly to measure the
Experiment 2:

difference between Full, Quarter and Half

From the experiment 2, the following data is

Wheatstone bridge in terms of accuracy. The

obtained:

following results are obtained from the

experiment:
Quarter Bridge,

If the Measured Gradient nearer to the

Actual Gradient (0.5mV/ ), then the
Wheatstone bridge is the more accurate in
measuring resistance.
Half Bridge,

Half Bridge,
Measured Gradient

(1.278 0.006) / (6k -2k)

=0.318mV/
Quarter Bridge,
Measured Gradient

(0.366 1.112) / (6k -2k)

Full Bridge,

=1.869mV/
Full Bridge,
Measured Gradient

(1.41 (- 1.487)) / (6k -0)

=0.483mV/
From the experiment, it can be seen that the
full Wheatstone bridge is the most sensitive
followed by half Wheatstone bridge and
The accuracy of the Wheatstone
bridge can be represented by the gradient of
the graph. Therefore,

quarter Wheatstone bridge. Thus, the quarter

Wheatstone bridge has 1 element in 1 leg is
the easiest to be influenced by the noises.

Actual Gradient= VR=

II. CONCLUSIONS

1-04k-2k

Actual Gradient = 0.5mV/

The Wheatstone bridge can be used

to measure the resistance of an unknown
resistor

by

using

configuration.
measure

varies

However,

might

differ

types

the
for

of

resistance
the

actual

resistance due to some error. Besides, it can

be

concluded

that

the

accuracy

of

Wheatstone bridge can be increased by

using different configurations. The most
accurate Wheatstone bridge is the full
Wheatstone

bridge

followed

by

half

Wheatstone bridge and quarter Wheatstone

bridge.

Recommendations
The

experiment

can

be

more

accurate if the value of actual resistance is

the value read from the digital multimeter
and not from the dial or slider reading. The
huge

different

can

be

observed

in

experiment 2 as the dial reading is 10k

while the reading from digital multimeter is
11.51k. It is also recommend to analyse
the data obtained by using Least Square
Method. The result analysed will be more
accurate.

REFERENCES
[1] www.efunda.com
[2] www.electronics2000.co.uk
[3] En.wikipedia.org