EE 221 L CIRCUIT II

LABORATORY 2: MULTISIM & CIRCUITS ON BREADBOARD

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

OBJECTIVE
Learn to use Multisim from National Instrument (NI) for circuit simulations, measuring voltage
at each node and current through each component.
Compare the differences between LTspice and Multisim.

COMPONENTS & EQUIPMENT

Computer with Windows OS Breadboard
LTspice DC Power Supply
Multisim (offline software/online Live) Resistors

BACKGROUND
NI Multisim (formerly MultiSIM) is an electronic schematic capture and simulation program
which is part of a suite of circuit design programs, along with NI Ultiboard. Multisim is one of the
few circuit design programs to employ the original Berkeley SPICE based software simulation.

Multisim includes a comprehensive component library that even can perform microcontroller
simulation (formerly known as MultiMCU), as well as integrated import and export features to the
printed circuit board layout software in the suite, NI Ultiboard.

Multisim is widely used in academia and industry for circuits education, electronic schematic
design and SPICE simulation.

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Resistors and color coding:

Voltmeter and Ammeter

connections

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LAB DELIVERIES
PRELAB:

1. Read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NI_Multisim

2. Go through “Simulations Step-by-Step with Schematic Files” starting from Page 6

of this manual.

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3. Use both LTspice and Multisim to simulate the Circuit 1 (1) & (2) in Lab
Experiments 1, and fill in the tables.

4. Read the document about using breadboards. Review the use of DC power supply,
multimeter.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-use-a-breadboard
https://faculty.unlv.edu/eelabs/docs/equipment/breadboards.pdf

LAB EXPERIMENTS:

1. Simulation and circuit buildup for Circuit 1 (1) and (2), respectively.
• Run simulation on both LTspice and Multisim for 1ms for both Circuit 1(1) and (2), and
observe the readings of Vout, 𝑖𝑅1 , 𝑖𝑅2 , and 𝑖𝑅3 for each circuit.
• Build Circuit 1(1) on breadboard. Measure its Vout1, 𝑖𝑅1 , 𝑖𝑅2 , and 𝑖𝑅3 .
• Take photos and fill in the table. Compare with the results in Lab 1, and what can you conclude?

Circuit 1 (1) Circuit 1 (2)

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𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 (V) 𝑖𝑅1 (mA) 𝑖𝑅2 (mA) 𝑖𝑅3 (mA)

LTspice 3 -10 -2.5 -7.5
Circuit 1(1) Multisim 3 10 2.5 7.5
Measurement 2.95 9.82 2.52 7.32
LTspice 3 15 10 -10
Circuit 1(2)
Multisim 3 15 10 10

2. Simulation and circuit buildup for Circuit 2 and Circuit 3, respectively.

• Run simulation on LTspice for 1ms for both Circuit 2 and 3, and observe the readings of V1,
V2, 𝑖0 and 𝐼0 , respectively.
• Build Circuits 2 and Circuit 3 on breadboard, respectively. Measure their V1, V1, V2, 𝑖0 and
𝐼0 , respectively. Take photos and compare with your simulation results. Can you explain?
• Remove/Disconnect the DC power in Circuit 2 and Circuit 3, and use multimeter to measure
𝑅𝑒𝑞 . Compare the results in Lab 1. Take photos and compare with your calculations and
simulations. Can you explain?

Circuit 2 Circuit 3

Circuit 2 Circuit 3
V1 (V) V2 (V) 𝑖0 (mA) 𝑅𝑒𝑞 (Ω) V1 (V) V2 (V) 𝐼0 (mA) 𝑅𝑒𝑞 (Ω)
LTspice
6 4.8 -80 125 1.052 1.364 124.7 24.062
simulation
Measurement 6.01 4.81 -78.0 122.5 1.03 1.34 -126.0 28.8

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3. (Simulation only) Simulate the following Circuit 4 for 1ms, and write down the
voltage at each node and the current through each resistor.
• Please refer to https://userpages.umbc.edu/~psykes1/CMPE306Summer17/Lab2.pdf (page 17)
for current-dependent/controlled-current-source (CCCS) in LTspice.
• (Optional) Please refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlCkrK98SJc or other resources
for CCCS in Multisim.
• Compare the results of your hand calculations, LTspice and Multisim simulations.

Circuit 4

Circuit 4 V1 (V) V2 (V) I (R1) (mA) I (R2) = 𝑖0 (mA) I (R3) (mA)

Hand Calculation 173.3 156.7 4333.3 1666.7 8333.3
LTspice 173.3 156.7 4333.3 1666.7 -8333.3
Multisim 173.3 156.6 4333.3 1666.7 8333.3

POSTLAB REPORT:

Include the following elements in the report document:

Section Element
Theory of operation
1
Include a brief description of every element and phenomenon that appear during the experiments.
Prelab report
1) Screenshots of Multisim Live and offline software demo
2 2) Experiment 1~2 LTspice simulation results
3) Experiment 1 MultiSim (Live or offline software) simulation results
You may use the hand calculation and simulations from Lab 1.
Results of the experiments
Experiments Experiment Results
1 Experiment 1 with Circuit 1(1) on breadboard. Photos and table.
3
2 Experiment 2 with Circuit 2 and 3 on breadboard. Photos and table.
Experiment 3 on LTspice, Multisim and hand calculations. Screenshots
3
and table.

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Answer the questions

Questions
4
What can you conclude after comparing the results among LTspice,
1
Multisim and the practical circuit measurement?
Conclusions
5 Write down your conclusions, things learned, problems encountered during the lab and how they were
solved, etc.
Images
Paste images (e.g. scratches, drafts, screenshots, photos, etc.) in Postlab report document (only .docx,
.doc or .pdf format is accepted). If the sizes of images are too large, convert them to jpg/jpeg format
first, and then paste them in the document.
6
Attachments (If needed)
Zip your projects. Send through WebCampus as attachments, or provide link to the zip file on Google
Drive / Dropbox, etc.

REFERENCES & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1. C. K. Alexander and M. Sadiku, “Fundamentals of Electric Circuits”, 4th Ed。

I appreciate the help from faculty members and TAs during the composing of this instruction
manual. I would also thank students who provide valuable feedback so that we can offer better
high education to the students.

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Simulation Step-by-Step with Schematic Files

This manual aims to introduce how to use Multisim NI for circuit simulations in schematics.

Option I: Online Multisim Live

Step 1: Go to https://www.multisim.com/ and sign up for free.

Step 2: Create circuit

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Step 3: Add components and wire them up.

Step 4: Double click the component to edit values.

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Step 5: Add voltage and current analysis (probes), and configure simulation settings.

Step 6: Click “Start simulation” button to simulate/analyze the circuit.

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Step 7: Change signal observation mode for advanced circuit and settings.

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Option II: Offline Multisim

Step 1: Install Multisim NI and start the software (Click No if requested update). You can either purchase
activation code or use evaluation for 45 days. (Current version: 14.2)

Step 2: Add power source (DC voltage source), ground, resistors and multimeter (ammeter & voltmeter)
into the schematic, and wire (Ctrl-Q) them up. Double click the components for editing.

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Step 3: Run or stop the simulation. Observe the current and voltage readings on multimeters.

• Shortcut keys and buttons are available at

https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/documentation/supplemental/18/multisim-default-keyboard-shortcuts.html

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