Simple Voltmeter

This circuit provides a simple means to determine the voltage of a low-impedance voltage source. It works as follows. P1, which is a 1-W potentiometer, forms a voltage divider in combination with R1. The voltage at their junction is buffered by T1, and then passed to reference diode D1 via R3. D1 limits the voltage following the resistor to 2.5 V. An indicator stage consisting of T2, R4 and LED D2 is connected in parallel with D1. As long as the voltage is not limited by D1, the LED will not be fully illuminated. This is the basic operating principle of this measurement circuit.