Multimeter nomenclature

coshoo · Jul 30, 2018

And from the "this is just silly" department, we have this: I bought an analog multimeter recently, and instead of marking it AC volts and DC volts on the selector switch, it has V~ on one side of "Off", and V followed by a solid red line above and 3 red dashes below the solid line on the other side. Anybody know which is which? Seems like it wouldn't have been too hard to label them AC and DC, as everything else on it is in English.

Kind of like the graphic markings on a copy machine- what does a little pile of BB's mean? Do we really have that many illiterate folks operating an office copy machine?

Bob · Jul 30, 2018

Afaik, the second setting basically means "DC or pulsing DC, vs. the first setting for "alternating current".

jeffcat · Jul 30, 2018

Well... 5he symbol~ means AC and a solid is DC. Havent seen any meter with a cououple of dots under the bar. Universal Euopean symbols. Others will chime in.

Uniballer · Jul 30, 2018

Same symbols as [img=https://www.fluke-direct.com/images/products/cache/fluke/multimeter/117_efsp/main/fluke_117_efsp_multimeter.jpg]Fluke[/img]

Janicholson · Jul 30, 2018

Yes the dashed line indicates the averaging capacity to present the Voltage on a non-continuous DC source. Jim

gregww · Jul 30, 2018

Little pile of bb's on a copy machine, I am guessing toner.

Southern Ray · Jul 30, 2018

Have you looked at a set of construction documents lately?
There are sheets listing all the hieroglyphics shown in the plans and their meanings.
Architectural, plumbing and air conditioning is bad enough but electrical tops them all.

docmirror · Jul 30, 2018

(quoted from post at 11:18:39 07/30/18) Yes the dashed line indicates the averaging capacity to present the Voltage on a non-continuous DC source. Jim

Negative. The dashed line below indicates the ground reference, and the solid line over it represents the voltage potential as being steady-state(direct current).

__________________________ +N volts

------------------------------ Grd

This is also as it would appear on a Oscilloscope where the dashed line is the reticule embossed on the face of the scope, and the solid line is the trace when a DC voltage is applied to the tip of the probe.

As for the reason this is done, it's an intl mime thing, where the iconic representation does not rely on the acronymic letters found in English.

Example: Alternating Current - AC in English is Courant Alternatif in French, which would abbreviate to: CA. and 'Voltage' would translate to 'Tension', so 'AC Voltage' in English is 'Tension CA', and so on and so forth for other languages. The "~" symbology is more international in understanding.

coshoo · Jul 30, 2018

Thanks, everybody.

Texasmark1 · Jul 31, 2018

+1. Nice dissertation. I like to have the "whys" behind the do this or that. Allows me to decide for myself whether or not the assistance provided
applies to my situation and if so how much of it.

Multimeter nomenclature

coshoo

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Bob

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jeffcat

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Uniballer

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Janicholson

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gregww

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Southern Ray

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docmirror

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coshoo

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Texasmark1

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