need a watt meter

[gloege]

What is the best watt checking meter for high and low wattage. Accuracy is a must. Also would like a detachable face screen like the roosewill one. And price is not factor

added a picture of the roosewill meter(mine was stolen)

[mariushm]

Anything commercial for around 15-30$ will have a reasonable accuracy ... give or take 1-2 watts.

It's good enough.

If you want more accurate, you get a clampmeter and you make a custom AC cable so that you can clamp over the live wire and log the current and then separate measure the voltage with another multimeter.

[gloege]

2 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Anything commercial for around 15-30$ will have a reasonable accuracy ... give or take 1-2 watts.

It's good enough.

If you want more accurate, you get a clampmeter and you make a custom AC cable so that you can clamp over the live wire and log the current and then separate measure the voltage with another multimeter.

i did trip over google and saw one that plugged in the wall but did not have a detachable head and it was .1 watt accuracy

[mariushm]

1 minute ago, gloege said:

i did trip over google and saw one that plugged in the wall but did not have a detachable head and it was .1 watt accuracy

Yeah, but some only get that accurate within some range like let's say from 50w to 500w. 

I'd say below around 50w, assume it's +- 1w.

Some won't be able to accurately measure less than 1-2 watts, so don't use them to measure how much your phone charger consumes without anything plugged in, for example, because the 0.1w or whatever the charger consumes idling is below the meter's capabilities.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, gloege said:

i did trip over google and saw one that plugged in the wall but did not have a detachable head and it was .1 watt accuracy

I wouldn't believe that number if its me.

 

If you want truly accurate devices you paying much more. Id just get a cheap one, there all ok for accuracy.

[Guest]

Just get a P3 Kill-a-watt from harbor freight. I think they are about 25 bucks. Probably find em cheaper online.

[gloege]

Just now, mariushm said:

Yeah, but some only get that accurate within some range like let's say from 50w to 500w. 

I'd say below around 50w, assume it's +- 1w.

Some won't be able to accurately measure less than 1-2 watts, so don't use them to measure how much your phone charger consumes without anything plugged in, for example, because the 0.1w or whatever the charger consumes idling is below the meter's capabilities.

 

yea it stated to the nearest watt it was .1 watt accurate

[gloege]

1 minute ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Just get a P3 Kill-a-watt from harbor freight. I think they are about 25 bucks. Probably find em cheaper online.

i heard it not as accurate. just wish mine was not stolen. now i might have to buy an extension cord to go with it. really looking for one with a detatchable head

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, gloege said:

i heard it not as accurate. just wish mine was not stolen. now i might have to buy an extension cord to go with it. really looking for one with a detatchable head

None of these are super accurate and calibrated. I wouldn't look at their specs much as there probably wrong.

 

Why not just buy the same one with the cord?

[CommanderAlex]

7 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Just get a P3 Kill-a-watt from harbor freight. I think they are about 25 bucks. Probably find em cheaper online.

That's where I got mine!!! Used a 20% coupon (wish they brought them back...now they got stingy) and brought it down to ~$20 or so. 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

That's where I got mine!!! Used a 20% coupon (wish they brought them back...now they got stingy) and brought it down to ~$20 or so. 

Haha yeah, stingy bastards.

 

I grabbed a power inverter from Wal-Mart last year. 1500w has a wattmeter built in. Had to run that off my car overnight when we lost power from a storm.

 

A few years earlier my generator died. 

 

Tell you what, idling the car all night with the inverter was the quietest way to run my fridge and living room, I'll never buy a generator again. With the fridge, TV, htpc, and some lights was able to average 450w on load with the fridge running. Fridge start up was peaking 800w though. The inverter was about 110 bucks vs 3500 bucks for a generator. I've changed the way I make power in recent years. Ran it off 2 point slow jetta motor. In 15 hours used maybe 2 gallons of fuel.

 

Old kill a watt confirmed the power draws. Within 1 to 2 watts, the extension cord 30a is 100 foot long, so probably loose a little there.

 

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, gloege said:

i heard it not as accurate. just wish mine was not stolen. now i might have to buy an extension cord to go with it. really looking for one with a detatchable head

Ah gotcha. Mine always seemed to be within a single watt. 

[gloege]

11 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Old kill a watt confirmed the power draws. Within 1 to 2 watts, the extension cord 30a is 100 foot long, so probably loose a little there.

 

going to try to keep mine between 1 to 3 feet for cord

[CommanderAlex]

15 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Haha yeah, stingy bastards.

 

I grabbed a power inverter from Wal-Mart last year. 1500w has a wattmeter built in. Had to run that off my car overnight when we lost power from a storm.

 

A few years earlier my generator died. 

 

Tell you what, idling the car all night with the inverter was the quietest way to run my fridge and living room, I'll never buy a generator again. With the fridge, TV, htpc, and some lights was able to average 450w on load with the fridge running. Fridge start up was peaking 800w though. The inverter was about 110 bucks vs 3500 bucks for a generator. I've changed the way I make power in recent years. Ran it off 2 point slow jetta motor. In 15 hours used maybe 2 gallons of fuel.

 

Old kill a watt confirmed the power draws. Within 1 to 2 watts, the extension cord 30a is 100 foot long, so probably loose a little there.

 

Yeah, generators can be pretty expensive and a lot of people don't maintain them after using them after the power goes out. They don't check it to ensure it's ready until the last second. I had an opportunity to get a power inverter once for my car from a neighbor's garage sale, but I never purchased it. I don't believe it was as high of a wattage as yours though, for $5. 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

Yeah, generators can be pretty expensive and a lot of people don't maintain them after using them after the power goes out. They don't check it to ensure it's ready until the last second. I had an opportunity to get a power inverter once for my car from a neighbor's garage sale, but I never purchased it. I don't believe it was as high of a wattage as yours though, for $5. 

Oh mine was just old as the hills. Was my grandfather's. Ran great. The regulator blew up. It turned fine but was only producing sporadic low volts.

 

I'm telling you though, couldn't hear the car running outside. Super quiet electricity production. Find an inverter for cheap, snag it up!!

 

I plan to get a "refurbished" deep cycle and use this in case of emergencies instead of running it off the car. Maybe a couple few batteries. Attached garage, both fridges are like 15 feet apart at the new place. 

 

 

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, gloege said:

going to try to keep mine between 1 to 3 feet for cord

I know they make power strips with wattmeters built in as well btw. Wanted to mention that.

[CommanderAlex]

2 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Oh mine was just old as the hills. Was my grandfather's. Ran great. The regulator blew up. It turned fine but was only producing sporadic low volts.

 

I'm telling you though, couldn't hear the car running outside. Super quiet electricity production. Find an inverter for cheap, snag it up!!

 

I plan to get a "refurbished" deep cycle and use this in case of emergencies instead of running it off the car. Maybe a couple few batteries. Attached garage, both fridges are like 15 feet apart at the new place. 

 

 

That sucks. Yeah, its a cheap way to produce electricity. I'm sure it probably costs less in gas to run that instead of a generator too (depending on the car and engine size).

 

That's not bad at all. Always be prepared. 

[Guest]

Just now, SpiderMan said:

That sucks. Yeah, its a cheap way to produce electricity. I'm sure it probably costs less in gas to run that instead of a generator too (depending on the car and engine size).

 

That's not bad at all. Always be prepared. 

I've lost food from power outages and not being prepared for it. Last time almost caught with my pants down. Thought of the inverter idea, I bought the nicest one they had on the shelf.

 

The wattmeter on it is nice.

 

 

 

[CommanderAlex]

Just now, ShrimpBrime said:

I've lost food from power outages and not being prepared for it. Last time almost caught with my pants down. Thought of the inverter idea, I bought the nicest one they had on the shelf.

 

The wattmeter on it is nice.

 

 

 

At my surveying internship, the crew I was with had to buy a converter (EverStart) at Walmart once as they forgot to put the batteries for the data collector on charge. We had to take a quick detour to Walmart so that by the time we got to the job, we had some juice in the batteries. No problems whatsoever, so they seem to hold up. 

[gloege]

5 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I've lost food from power outages and not being prepared for it. Last time almost caught with my pants down. Thought of the inverter idea, I bought the nicest one they had on the shelf.

 

The wattmeter on it is nice.

 

 

 

i have no combustion engine and only need a plug in one that does not invert

[Guest]

1 minute ago, SpiderMan said:

At my surveying internship, the crew I was with had to buy a converter (EverStart) at Walmart once as they forgot to put the batteries for the data collector on charge. We had to take a quick detour to Walmart so that by the time we got to the job, we had some juice in the batteries. No problems whatsoever, so they seem to hold up. 

I've only used it once heavily like that. So longevity of pounding I can't say.

 

So used 

Htpc is 2700x and 2060. B450-I gaming.

During gaming, I watched the meter. It maybe spiked 40-50w with Beam N G Drive with AI on and heavy loads. But most of the time the PC pulled about 85w on average. The fridge working power was below 350w and the lamp was like 6w leds. Spikes over 650w-750w startup.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, gloege said:

i have no combustion engine and only need a plug in one that does not invert

Yes, I'm sorry. Have derailed a little bit. Those posts where for the Spiderman. 

 

But you can get a lot of stuff with a wattmeter built in. I guess I wanted to show that thought.

 

My apologies.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Power Supplies

 

 

Please try to avoid off-topic, or I will cut it from this thread.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, gloege said:

i heard it not as accurate. just wish mine was not stolen. now i might have to buy an extension cord to go with it. really looking for one with a detatchable head

None of the consumer grade ones are very accurate.

 

[gloege]

53 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

None of the consumer grade ones are very accurate.

 

do tell the ones that are accurate