Understanding Multimeter Terminology
Sinusoidal waveform: A signal that varies in a sinusoidal pattern without distortion.
True-rms digital multi-meter (True-rms): digital multi-meter that can** measure the rms value of sine and non-sine waves.
Accuracy (Accuracy): indicates the difference between the measured value and the actual value of the digital multi-meter. Expressed as a percentage of the reading or a percentage of the full scale.
Shunt (Current-shunt): digital multi-meter has a low value resistor for measuring current. The digital multi-meter measures the voltage across its terminals and uses Ohm's law to calculate the current value.
Digital Multimeter (DMM): A digital display of the value of a measured signal. Digital meters are characterised by higher accuracy, resolution and reliability than analogue meters.
Analogmeter: An instrument that displays measured values with an analogue pointer. The user can judge the reading by the position of the pointer in the stroke.
Annunciator: A multimeter used to indicate that a range or function has been selected incorrectly.
RMS: Measurement of an AC signal that is equivalent to a DC signal.
Average Responding: A digital multimeter that can **measure sine waves, but is not accurate enough to measure non-sine waves.
sine wave, but not accurate enough when measuring non-sinusoidal waveforms.
Word (Count): digital multi-meter * the last bit, often used together with the percentage to indicate the accuracy of the digital multi-meter.
Non-standard sinusoidal waveform (Non-sinusoidalwaveform): such as pulse trains, square waves, triangular waves, sawtooth waves, peak waves and other waveforms.
Resolution: The value of the smallest change that can be observed in a measurement.
