A few months ago a personal computer trade magazine reviewed surge voltage protective power strips for home use. The article offered an explanation of what “120 volts RMS” power (what we typically ...

In order to measure the RMS value of an alternating voltage an accurate converter is required to produce the true RMS value of its alternating input as a DC output. With simple sinewave inputs the RMS ...

If you measure a DC voltage, and want to get some idea of how “big” it is over time, it’s pretty easy: just take a number of measurements and take the average. If you’re interested in the average ...

The first time I was in school for electrical engineering (long story), I had a professor who had never worked in the industry. I was in her class and the topic of the day was measuring AC waveforms.

This article was originally fairly superficial and frivolous, but has been expanded (a little) to explain the matter better. Amplifier power ratings are usually honest in Hi-Fi equipment, but become ...

Understanding the causes, similarities, and differences between current and voltage distortion will help you pinpoint most power quality problems. When a writer or speaker mentions harmonic distortion ...

Machines programmed in the wrong units may operate poorly and give no sign that incorrectly entered data is to blame. Deeper understanding of servomotor nomenclature lets engineers properly compare ...