Definition
An ohmmeter circuit configuration in which the unknown resistance being measured is placed in parallel (shunted) across the meter movement, rather than in series with it. This arrangement is used for measuring low values of resistance, where a low resistance reading produces a small meter deflection and zero resistance produces zero deflection — the opposite of a series ohmmeter.
Plain English
A type of ohmmeter built to measure small resistance values. The thing being tested is connected across the meter, so the smaller the resistance, the less the needle moves.
Context Anchor
Seen in aircraft electrical maintenance when checking low-resistance parts, wiring paths, or continuity with a meter.
Derivation
‘Shunt’ comes from an old English word meaning to turn aside or divert. In electrical work, a shunt is a path that diverts current around something. The name reflects how the resistance being measured sits in a parallel (shunting) path across the meter.
Why Pilots Care
Most ohmmeters a pilot or technician picks up are series-type and read low resistance as nearly zero. A shunt ohmmeter behaves in the reverse direction on the scale, so misreading it can lead to wrong conclusions about whether a circuit is good, shorted, or open.
Analogy
Think of current like water reaching a fork in a pipe. If one path is very easy to flow through, more water goes that way and less goes through the other path.
Intuition Check
A shunt ohmmeter is not just an ohmmeter used to test a shunt resistor. The word shunt describes the way the meter circuit works: the tested resistance forms a bypass path around the meter movement.
Example Sentence 1
The technician used a shunt ohmmeter to check the resistance of the engine bonding strap, since its value was too low to read accurately on a standard series ohmmeter.
Example Sentence 2
Before reinstalling the alternator, check the field circuit ground with a shunt ohmmeter.