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Glossary
B–2 975-0251-01-01
Glossary of Terms
Alternating Current
(AC)
An electric current that reverses direction at regular intervals. Sources
of alternating current are shore power, utility power, inverter output
power, generator power or household current.
Ampere (Amp, A) The unit of measure of electron flow rate of current through a circuit.
Ampere-hour
(Amp-hr. AH)
A unit of measure for a battery’s electrical storage capacity, obtained
by multiplying the current in amperes by the time in hours of
discharge (Example: a battery which delivers 5 amperes for 20 hours
delivers 5 amperes times 20 hours, or 100 Amp-Hr. of capacity.)
AWG American Wire Gauge, a standard used to measure the size of wire.
AH Capacity The ability of a fully charged battery to deliver a specified quantity of
electricity (Amp-Hr, AH) at a given rate (amp, A) over a definite
period of time (Hr).
Circuit An electric circuit is the path of an electric current. A closed circuit
has a complete path. An open circuit has a broken or disconnected
path.
Circuit (Series) A circuit which has only one path for the current to flow. Batteries
arranged in series are connected with the negative of the first to the
positive of the second, negative of the second to the positive of the
third, etc. If two 12 volt batteries of 50 ampere-hours capacity are
connected in series, the circuit voltage is equal to the sum of the two
battery voltages, or 24 volts, and the ampere-hour capacity of the
combination is 50 ampere-hours.
Circuit (Parallel) A circuit which provides more than one path for current flow. A
parallel arrangement of batteries (of like voltage and capacity) would
have all positive terminals connected to a conductor and all negative
terminals connected to another conductor. If two 12 volt batteries of
50 ampere-hour capacity each are connected in parallel, the circuit
voltage is 12 volts, and the ampere-hour capacity of the combinations
is 100 ampere-hours.
Current The rate of flow of electricity or the movement rate of electrons along
a conductor. It is comparable to the flow of a stream of water. The unit
of measure for current is the ampere.
Cycle In a battery, one discharge plus one recharge equals one cycle.
Dip Switch A series of small switches used for special programming of the
Freedom inverter/charger. These switches are located on the rear of
the Freedom remote panel.
Direct Current (DC) Current that flows continuously in one direction such as that from
batteries, photovoltaics, alternators, chargers and DC generators.
Discharging
(Discharge)
When a battery is delivering current it is said to be discharging.