System Power Usage Measurement OR do I use my Kil-A-Watt meter all the time?
23 Dec 2022 14:36:41 UTC
Topic 228783
(moderation:
I wanted to see if anyone had an opinion on using a Kil-A-Watt meter on a continuous basis?
If you don't exceed it's design limits (about 1500 Watts, I think) is it a good idea to use it continuously?
Tom M
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Tom M wrote: I wanted to see
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Tom, I believe there is a time limit on how long the Kil-A-Watt meter stays active so you can read it. I don't know what the time limit is, but I do know that when it goes blank it still remains connected and your machine is still operational.
Proud member of the Old Farts Association
Tom M wrote: I wanted to see
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I've left one plugged in for almost a week and didn't notice any problems other than the numbers were hard to decipher as they were multiple days not individual days
I have owned about half a
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I have owned about half a dozen meters in this category--at least five distinct models of at least three different brands. I have run several computers, an electric blanket, and a refrigerator on them for many months at a time.
Sometimes one loses its wits. For the kind without some kind of reset button that means you get nothing useful until the next time it is convenient to disconnect power, but then you are no farther behind than had you been running without it.
I have at least one for which the internal clock function is unreliable. So I just make a practice of logging date and time from a watch and using a spreadsheet to calculate the elapsed time by difference.
Some brands lose resolution for higher total kWHr totals. Some brands don't display long times conveniently (I have a couple which display the days on a completely different page than the hours within a day).
My one concrete suggestion for people considering a new purchase is: don't buy a model without a reset button. You don't want to have to disconnect power to start a new measurement interval. You don't want to include the PC boot time power consumption in some measurements.
My concrete suggestion in usage is that you'll get much better time average power by dividing the accumulated kWHr by time than by just eyeballing the instantaneous W reading now and again.
My suggestion is one with
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My suggestion is one with bluetooth like "Voltcraft SEM6000". Have seen a test and it was very accurate. You can reset and read it with an App which is very convenient (no crawling or need for a flashlight). I love it.
Markus Windisch wrote: My
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Is that round thing something you wrap around your wire to check the voltage etc?
Amazon has it for @$14US