Kill A Watt Power Meter for $20

[deranged]

There are others things that the meter would be helpfull. There are a lot of devices that don't truly ever turn off.

The last time I checked devices in my house about 4 years ago. ( I lent my meter out and it has never returned so no current datay. )

All the devices had been in the OFF state when measurements had been taken.
And yet they had been using......

Microwave 16 watts
coffe pot 10 watts
Kitchen under counter radio 13 watts.
alarm clock 8 watts.
treadmill 18 watts.

Entertainment center total 126 watts ( big tv, amp, sat reciever, dvd, vcr, powermax, dvdRW, etc. )

All those devices had been OFF, yet using what I consider an unreasonable amount of electricity.

StevenE

 

[MRL]

Just ordered 2 units = 39.94 + 6.55 Priority Mail ship = 46.49 total. Cheapest total price anywhere - even cheaper than listings on eBay. Some listings on eBay had a shipping and handling charge in excess of the price of the item.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I played around with mine a little and I like the fact that I can also see line voltage as well as current draw and even frequency.

So this can show various features of an appliance without the use of a multimeter!

 

[JohnBullard]

Received the four I ordered today.

One will stay with my generator, to monitor current, voltage and freg.

One in the truck to monitor the inverter.

One for misc use around the house, and the other one I'm giving to my brother so he can keep tabs on his generator's freq and stuff (running a well pump when he looses power, etc)


I was kinda disappointed that the max current is only 15 amps, was hoping for 20, but the web site did not specify.

Thanks for the heads up on this deal though.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

It would be cool to "hack" this thing and be able to "read" that LCD display via HomeSeer. You could hack the push switches to choose which reading you wanted displayed via relays.

Hmmm, maybe with smee's help......

 

[Bruce L]

I have 2 ordered also but was wondering if there was some product on the market that could monitor 220V. I have an electric water heater and would really like to know how much it is costing me to run it.
Thanks,
Bruce

 

[WayneW]

If you want to monitor the thing via computer, you want a Watts Up Pro, which has a serial interface and a documented protocol for a moderate price. Link

If you want to monitor a 220V water heater, use a relay across the heating elements and a digital input or two. Every electric heater I have seen has a fixed current draw when on. So you can measure your actual current once with a clamp-on amp-meter or just use the ratings plate, then multiply by the time that it is on to get power used.

 

[Steve]

As far as hooking to a pc (well maybe Homeseer if you were able to get the protocol), there is Watts Up Pro (frames page - go to products link). It has its own logging and software. Seems a little fancier than the Kill-A-Watt but more expensive (starting at $95).

As far as 220V that more complicated, especially for hardwired devices. Couldn't you just use a clamp on ammeter and calculate wattage knowing voltage and current? May not be exact, but anyway...

Also found this containing a few manufacturers and an article on using a regular house power meter...

Edit: Started this post before Wayne's post which he snuck in on me, hence the duplicate ideas Great minds think alike? Nah.

 

[upstatemike]

I have one of these Brand meters sitting around and it has a serial port on it. I wonder if it might interface to something?

 

[elcano]

I also got mine. Very cool. My M1G and the side UPS to which the router and XEP is connected are drawing ~0.4Amps in total. Very nice. Now I'm moving to the refrigerator and so on.

 

[JohnBullard]

Just wondering....

My power line freg measures at 59.9 Hz (TVA Power Grid)

How about in other parts of the US. Any different readings?

Anyone measuring exactly 60 Hz?

 

[electron]

I just ordered mine today. According to my UPS, I am running 60Hz exactly so will be interesting to see what the meter says.

 

[WayneW]

My power line freg measures at 59.9 Hz (TVA Power Grid)

How about in other parts of the US. Any different readings?

Anyone measuring exactly 60 Hz?

Right now mine is slowly oscillating between 59.9 and 60.0.

The power grid is not always exactly 60.0 Hz, but the long term average is 60 Hz. that is why cheap digital clocks that use the AC signal are much more accurate than cheap battery powered clocks.

 

[smee]

Mine's sitting at 59.9.

 

[Digger]

But who says the meters are calibrated? I have one of these meters for about a year and I took it to work once and compared it to a calibrated power analyzer. It was pretty much right on the money which is great for the price.

I wouldnt be concerned if a $20 meter shows 59.9 hz. Most likely the meter is a tad off.