
Safety Notes
4
This instrument complies with CAT III safety requirements.
To ensure safe operation of measurement instruments, IEC
61010 establishes safety standards for various electrical
environments, categorized as CAT I to CAT IV, and called
measurement categories. These are defined as follows.
CAT I Secondary electrical circuits connected to an AC
electrical outlet through a transformer or similar
instrument.
CAT II Primary electrical circuits in equipment connected to
an AC electrical outlet by a power cord (portable
tools, household appliances, etc.)
CAT III Primary electrical circuits of heavy equipment (fixed
installations) connected directly to the distribution
panel, and feeders from the distribution panel to
outlets.
CAT IV The circuit from the service drop to the service
entrance, and to the power meter and primary
overcurrent protection instrument (distribution panel).
Higher-numbered categories correspond to electrical
environments with greater momentary energy. So a
measurement instrument designed for CAT III environments
can endure greater momentary energy than a instrument
designed for CAT II.
Using a measurement instrument in an environment
designated with a higher-numbered category than that for
which the instrument is rated could result in a severe accident,
and must be carefully avoided.
Never use a CAT I measuring instrument in CAT II, III, or IV
environments.
The measurement categories comply with the Overvoltage
Categories of the IEC60664 Standards.
Measurement categories (Overvoltage categories)