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Ohm’s law
– what it is and what
an instrument tech
should know about it
BEAMEX Calibration White Paper

Ohm’s law – what it is and what an

instrument tech should know about it
In this white paper, I would like to talk you about the Ohm’s
law. Why? Because it is helpful in many practical every-day
situations, especially if you are an instrument technician.
We often get questions that can be answered with an answer
derived from the Ohm’s law.
Although it is called “Ohm’s law” – don’t worry, this is not
going to be any boring legal stuff… ;-)
First, I would like to talk a little about the theoretical side
of it, and then take some practical instrumentation examples
where you find this useful.
So, let’s take a look at this law:
to do the calculation.
Please also note, that for keeping the formulas simple and
easy to read, I have not always used the mathematically correct
number of significant figures/numbers. This post is anyhow
more for technical people, not for mathematicians...
Simplified example
Let’s look at the most simplified possible circuit:
I=20 mA

Background
Let’s start with the compulsory facts:
Back in 1827, a German physicist Georg Ohm published this
law. He discovered that when electric current goes through a
resistor, the current is proportional to the voltage drop over
the resistor and inversely proportional to the resistance of
the resistor. The relationship between current, resistance and
voltage is the Ohm’s law.
The Ohm’s law is often presented as a triangle:
U=24 V
R=1200 Ω
In the above example, we have a 24 VDC supply voltage
and we have connected a 1200 Ω resistance into it. There is a
20 mA (0.02 A) current going through the circuit.
If we add a 1200 Ω resistor into the 24 V supply and we want
to know what current goes in the circuit, we can calculate it
easily with the Ohm’s law:

U
I R
If we know the voltage is 24 V and we want a current of
20 mA, we can calculate what resistor is needed:

From the triangle, you can calculate each component and

you get these three formulas: Or, if we have a 1200 Ω resistor and we want to get 20 mA
• R = U / I current, how much voltage do we need to apply:
• I = U / R
• U = I × R

Where:
• R = Resistance (Ohms) Consequently, if we have the 24 V loop supply and we want
• U = Voltage (V) to get 4 mA current, we need to add a bigger resistance:
• I = Current (A)

E is also being sometimes used as the symbol for Voltage.

Please note that the mA current must be converted to Amps

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So, we need to add a 6000 Ω (6 kΩ) resistor to get a 4 mA
current.
Practical examples
Example 1
- A 250 ohms HART impedance
We have a normal circuit where the transmitter is supplied
with a 24 V supply, and we have a 250 Ω resistor in series with
the transmitter in order to use the HART communication:
24 V supply Transmitter
Resistor 20 mA
+
250 Ω
-
HART
Communicator
As the current goes through the 250 Ω resistor, there is a
voltage drop coming over that resistor, so some voltage is lost
there. How much supply voltage comes to the transmitter
when the current is 20 mA?
When the current is 20 mA we can calculate that over the
250 Ω resistor there will be a voltage drop of:
This means there is a voltage drop of 5 volts over the 250
ohms resistor, so we have 19 volts left to the transmitter, which
is of course enough for the transmitter to work. But if we had
a much lower loop supply voltage, say 17 volts, to start with,
there would be only 12 volts left to the transmitter, which is
on the limit for it to work.
Example 2
- Measuring transmitter’s current with a resistor in series
If you don’t want to break the loop or open the transmitter’s
cover to measure the current, you can install a precision
resistor in series with the transmitter and then measure the
www.beamex.com Ohm’s law – what it is and what an instrument tech should know about it
voltage drop over the resistor to calculate the current.
V
24 V supply Transmitter
mA
+
Resistor
-
The voltage drop over the resistor depends on the resistance
value and on the current going through it. For example, if you
install a 100 ohms resistor in series with the transmitter, the
voltage drop over it will be:
Of course, the resistance needs to be very accurate and
stable, because any error in the resistance value will give a
similar error in the calculated current.
The bigger the resistance is, the bigger voltage you get. It is
good to remember that if the resistance is very big, then you
will lose a lot of supply voltage over the resistor.
Example 3
- mA meter’s impedance with transmitter’s test diode connection
This is a topic I discussed in an earlier blog. In that example,
understanding of the Ohm’s law was also needed to understand
the issue. You can find that blog post in the below link:
Measuring current using a transmitter’s test connection –
don’t make this mistake!
Example 4
- Supply for high impedance circuit
You may have a circuit where the instrument has a high
internal impedance. Let’s say an old I/P converter that has 800
ohms impedance. You need to generate a 4 to 20 mA signal to
control the converter. How much supply voltage would you
need to do that?
Well, in order to generate a current of 20 mA over that 800
ohms circuit, you will need:
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So, you will need a loop supply that has a voltage of at least Conclusion
16 volts. The Ohm’s law is pretty simple and easy to understand. It
has many applications if you work with electrical circuits. It
is often very useful also in the instrumentation world, where
Example 5 you work with loop supply, current signals and impedances.
- Too much impedance in the supply line
I hope this post was easy and practical enough to give you
If there is too much impedance in the supply line to transmitter, some useful tips for your work.
the loop supply to the transmitter can be on the edge of being
too small, it may happen that the transmitter works perfectly
with lower mA signal, but when it needs to deliver high current
(for example over 18 mA), the voltage drops too low and the
transmitter will switch itself off. This is simply because the
voltage drop in the connection impedances becomes bigger
as the current become bigger. It can happen that with a small
current the voltage is acceptable and the transmitter gets
enough supply voltage, but with higher current there is too
much voltage drop in the connections and the transmitter
does not get high enough voltage, and switches off.
When the transmitter goes off, the current drops and the
supply voltage jumps back up again and the transmitter starts
to work again normally. This kind of intermittent faults are
very difficult to find.

Example 6
- mA meter / Volt meter
It is also good to remember that in practice, a mA meter’s
internal impedance is not zero ohms, but it has a certain
internal impedance (a few ohms or tens of ohms). So, there
will be some voltage drop over the mA meter in practice.
Also, a voltage meter does not have infinite impedance,
but it has a certain internal impedance (megaohms). These
impedances may cause some unwanted effects when you make
your measurements. So, the voltage meter will put some load
on to the measured circuit, although this is an issue only valid
in certain sensitive circuits/ applications. This is especially
important when you are measuring a low voltage (tens or
hundreds of millivolts) signal in a high impedance circuit and
you have a high accuracy requirements (± a few microvolts).
If the voltage meter has too small impedance, the measured
voltage will drop as soon as you connect the voltage meter, so
you don’t get accurate results. In some case connecting voltage
meter with too low internal impedance may cause the circuit
to trip as soon as you connect the meter.

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