What does it mean to have a single turn absolute encoder?/what is a multi-turn encoder?！

A single turn encoder give you an absolute value within 360 degrees, but will not give you any data on how many turns it has made.  This means that you have a total of 4096 distinct positions within those 360 degrees, each position is a binary or grey code word.

A multi turn encoder give you an absolute value within 4096 turns.  This means that within 4096 turns of the encoder shaft, you will know in which turn you are and where within this turn.  For instance, you will know that you have gone 31 turns, and that you are 3567 counts (of a total of 4096 per turn) within this turn.  There are 4096 x 4096 distinct positions (16777216 positions).  So if there is a power failure, you will know exactly where you are, very precisely, when the power is turned back one, even if the encoder has turned.

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