Shunt

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Shunt Mean?

In IT, a shunt is a conductive sleeve placed over a set of jumper pins to close or open an electrical circuit. Many of these items are made of plastic or similar materials.

Techopedia Explains Shunt

The role of the shunt is to enclose the metal jumper pieces or pins. These can change the setup of a motherboard or circuit board. It is common to see jumpers enclosed in a shunt on a circuit board. The jumper pins are arranged in jumper blocks that have particular contact points enclosed in the shunt. By putting on the jumper, users make an electrical connection that can change things like CPU speed, and generally configure elements of a board or items like sound cards.

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.

Advertisements