Alternating Current Terms

Alternations:

• Each time a wave form changes from zero to a peak value and back to zero, this is one alternation

Cycle:

• There are two alternations in one AC cycle

Frequency

• The number of times per second a waveform pattern repeats itself, measured in Hertz (Hz)

Peak Value:

• The maximum value of current or voltage in an AC waveform, may be negative or positive

Peak to Peak:

• The combination of the positive peak value and the negative peak value

Average Value:

• Average voltage based on the average of all instantaneous value

RMS Value:

• The Root Mean Square value, also called effective value is the AC wave that indicates the same energy potential as an equipment DC source
• Most common meters indicate in RMS Values

RMS = PEAK X 0.707

PEAK = RMS X 1.4114

AVERAGE= PEAK X 0.637