Recommendation on Kill-A-Watt meter?

[Fallengod]

So, over the past few years or so, we have kind of been in the top tier of power consumption at the house. Out of curiosity, I want to get something to measure what each computer and hdtv, etc might be sucking up.

Is there any recommendation on a specific and cost friendly, bang4buck kill-a-watt meter? Does it matter which one? I dont know.

I was just looking at like this -> http://www.amazon.com/P3-Internation...3171379&sr=1-1

I really want to see how much power my computer is sucking up and was also considering comparing a Nvidia card to an ATI card.

Are these meters pretty accurate?

 

[Patrick Wolf]

That's the one I have, newegg has it on sale now actually. Seems to work very well. No complaints.
http://promotions.newegg.com/neemai...EFL081211-_-EMC-081211-Index-_-E0-_-PromoWord

 

[Fallengod]

Alright. Ill probably just get that one. Neweggs sale price is actually only like 30cents cheaper than amazon after tax (for me) but anyways. I just kinda wanted to make sure these cheap things are not inaccurate pieces of junk.

 

[BoomerD]

Wow...I didn't know Kill-a-Watt had so many models...I've had the same P4400 model since about 2004.

Probably not "accurate to within 1/1000 of a milliwatt"...but close enough for me.

 

[Fallengod]

Yeah I saw. Some of them are close to $100. I definitely didnt need one of those. I bought the cheapo 4400 heh. I cant wait to go around the house testing stuff. Ive always wanted to see how all the computers and tvs are doing...

Of course, When I say accurate, I essentially just mean reasonably close where its not going to be off by 20 +/- watts or some crazy thing. For a cheapo $18 item....kinda had to ask.

 

[Athadeus]

I got that one, but I'd look for something else next time. You can't put it on a wall outlet without blocking both plugs. It has no backlight, so reading it under a desk is difficult. Even if you put an extension cord on it, it usually lays on it's side. However, it does work fine and was cheap.

 

[KillerBee]

Add some visuals to your load meter ...

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2009/09/29/j...hanical-tumor-that-doubles-as-cpu-load-meter/

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you have a clamp on meter already, you can also make one of these:

Ensure to use at least 14 awg wire. 12 is even better, just because its exposed and will be played with more.

 

[Lemon law]

My vote is for a kill a watt meter, basically $25.00 or cheaper. why worry about a few pennies. To make it more versatile and more readable, get a short 3 prong plug extension cord, that uses 12 gage wire. that way its readable without crawling under desks to get direct readings of AC power watts power used by any appliance, light, or computer in your house.

Very useful information when it came down to selecting a DC power inverter to run my lap top, and useful when I found out I saved 20 Watts by actually turning off my LCD display compared to waiting for energy star power savings to kick in.

As JJ Thompson said, if you can't put a actual number on it, your knowledge is superficial and short.

 

[Mark R]

If you have a clamp on meter already, you can also make one of these:

I prefer the hard-core approach, and I built my own power meter out of some scrap transformers obtained off ebay.

Video showing construction and operation

 

[mikeford]

The 4400 is totally convenient and works, easy to move to other devices and plenty accurate with handy modes to track consumption etc. It also uses very little power, vs a transformer with likely loses a good 5% or more.

It doesn't have any battery power, so if you turn off power to it it will revert to KWH and lose any stored info. Some of the newer more expensive models have fixed this.


My 4400 is running right now tracking my new HTPC power consumption, 55 watts.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Just go to Lowes and get one..

 

[Fallengod]

Fyi, I already purchased the P4400 a few days ago. I already received it today from newegg. Ill need some free time some day to pull some stuff out and get to testing. So far today I was seeing which lights/lamps in my own room used the least amount of watts heh.

Also found a nice little 18 inch or so extension cord we already had which is almost essential for this thing. Glad I didnt have to buy something. I dont know how else you would be able to plug this into any outlet with others in the way.

Just go to Lowes and get one..

Lowes is $10 more than newegg/amazon.



Anyways, id have to say this is a pretty nifty little device. I like it. I should have bought something like this decades ago. I wish I had one of the more expensive models but meh, cant complain about something for $18...