Check Correct Polarity of Wires on Internal PC Speaker

[Boris_yo]

Hello,

Red is supposed to be positive while black is negative. If polarity is reversed will it damage motherboard?



I still want to check that polarity is correct and wanted to know if it is possible to do with multimeter but without powering speaker. If not then is there a way to power it with AA or AAA battery to check?

Thanks

[mariush]

You will not damage the motherboard inserting it the wrong way. 
Same applies for LEDs - you won't damage the motherboard and you won't damage the LEDs because the voltage and current "sent" to the leds is too low.

You can figure the polarity with a multimeter ... put the meter in voltage mode, connect to the two wires and gently press with the eraser tip of a crayon on the piezo element inside.

If the wires are connected to the multimeter correctly (positive to red probe , negative on black) you would see a very brief voltage rise on the multimeter. If it's wrong way you'd see negative voltage on multimeter.

[amyk]

PC internal speakers are mono and not hi-fi, so polarity doesn't matter.

[Boris_yo]

You can figure the polarity with a multimeter ... put the meter in voltage mode, connect to the two wires and gently press with the eraser tip of a crayon on the piezo element inside.

I don't have piezo element at home.

[tooki]

You can figure the polarity with a multimeter ... put the meter in voltage mode, connect to the two wires and gently press with the eraser tip of a crayon on the piezo element inside.

FYI, I think you mean “…of a pencil”, since it’s (graphite) pencils that often have an eraser on the end. The English word “crayon” means the colored wax rods mostly used by children. (Unlike the French word “crayon”, which means “pencil” in English.)

[pcprogrammer]

PC internal speakers are mono and not hi-fi, so polarity doesn't matter.

True for old style speakers with a coil, but those piezo speakers (buzzers) can be polarized and then it does matter. In most cases the piezo will have markings to show this, like a plus sign near the pin.

[wraper]

PC internal speakers are mono and not hi-fi, so polarity doesn't matter.

True for old style speakers with a coil, but those piezo speakers (buzzers) can be polarized and then it does matter. In most cases the piezo will have markings to show this, like a plus sign near the pin.

Polarity matters only for buzzers containing electronics. PC buzzers are just a coil. Piezo buzzers do not care about polarity as long as do not contain electronics. Computers are not compatible with buzzers which contain electronics and generate tone by themselves.