Industrial Engineer · phase 2 of 16 · noun
0-10 V Signal
Voltage-based analog signal whose value is proportional to a configured engineering range.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- A 0 to 10 V signal reports a value as a voltage. Zero volts is the bottom of the configured range and ten volts is the top.
- Example
- A speed potentiometer on a panel door feeds 0 to 10 V into a drive's analog input. Half a turn gives five volts and the drive runs at half speed.
- Why it matters
- Voltage signals are cheap and simple, and they lose accuracy over long runs and pick up noise from nearby motor cables. Zero volts is also a legitimate value, so a broken wire looks exactly like a command for zero.
- Hook
- Easy to wire, easy to fool.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
Connect the pressure transmitter's 0-10 V Signal to the PLC analog input and verify the voltage at each test point.
Why these words
- 0-10 zero from Italian zero and ten from Old English tīen states the numerical span using two endpoints joined by a hyphen
- V symbol for volt, named after Italian physicist Alessandro Volta identifies the electrical unit associated with the numerical span
- signal Medieval Latin signale, a sign or indication names the transmitted electrical quantity
Where it came from
- Origin
- English engineering phrase formed from the numeric range 0-10, the unit symbol V, and signal from Medieval Latin signale
- Entered the language
- 20th century
- What changed
- Signal broadened from a visible or audible sign to information carried electrically, while compact range-and-unit notation became standard in technical writing.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- The endpoints are written as numerals joined by a hyphen.
- Pattern
- The uppercase SI unit symbol V follows the range with a space.
- Pattern
- Signal remains a separate word after the range and unit.
Spelled like
- 1-5 V signal
- 4-20 mA signal
- 0-20 mA signal
Broken into chunks
-
0-10
- 1-5
- 4-20
-
V
- mV
- kV
-
sign
- signature
- signify
What it sits beside
Same subject
- analog input
- analog output
- signal common
- shielded cable
- scaling
Same shape
- 1-5 V signal
- 4-20 mA signal
- 0-20 mA signal
analog signal formats
- 0-10 V
- 1-5 V
- 4-20 mA
electrical unit symbols
- V
- A
- Ω
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 2: PLC I/O and Field Signals
Where the controller meets the machine: discrete and analog signals, the wiring conventions behind them, and the field devices that send them.
