Voltmeter

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Voltmeter Mean?

A voltmeter is an electronic instrument used to measure potential between any two points in an electric or electronic circuit in volts. A voltmeter can display readings in analog (a pointer across a scale in fraction of the voltage of the circuit) or digital (shows voltage directly as numerals) form. A voltmeter can also be used to measure AC, DC as well as RF currents.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Voltmeter

Generally, an analog voltmeter has an accuracy of up to a few fractions of a given full scale, and it is used to measure voltages from a fraction of a volt to a couple of thousand volts. In contrast, a digital voltmeter has a higher accuracy and is normally used for very small voltage measurements in laboratories and electronic devices. Meters consisting of amplifiers can record very minute voltages, and their accuracy is in nanovolts. A voltmeter can be mounted to a transformer and other such huge voltage devices, and it can also be portable in the form of digital multimeters.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.