DC voltage symbol (V⎓)

How to read it

Fluke’s guide to the multimeter dial marks DC voltage ⎓ V and DC millivolts ⎓ mV, and Klein Tools and Extech list the same mark on their displays as DC, direct current. It is number 5031 in the IEC’s register of equipment symbols, which Philips’s symbol guide gives as equipment suitable for direct current only, and also uses to identify the relevant terminals. Unicode encodes it as ⎓, direct current symbol form two; form one is a single straight line, ⏤.

The mV position is the same measurement in thousandths of a volt (m is milli, 10⁻³, in Klein’s symbol list). On Fluke’s 114, 115 and 117 the DC voltage position reads from 0.001 V to 600 V and the mV position from 0.1 to 600 mV. A minus sign in front of the reading means negative polarity on Fluke’s, Klein’s and Extech’s meters.

Also searched as: ⎓, DC millivolts, DC volts symbol, direct current symbol, mV DC, VDC, V with a line and dashes, V with a straight line.

Look-alikes

A V with a wavy line is AC voltage. Some meters have one V position for both: Klein’s MM400 starts in AC and switches to DC with its SEL button, showing AC or DC on the display, and the Auto-V position on Fluke’s 114 and 117 selects AC or DC by itself from the input. The same line and dashes beside an A is DC current.