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Best Power Meter?

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Just now, a.ron.a said:

i just wanted to know if someone could recommend me a good power meter, a budget one would be nice (30$ or lower, or just one thats over but works well)

When you say "power meter", are you looking for an outlet power measurement meter, that measures current power readings on a particular load?

 

If so, the "Kill-a-watt" meters are probably the most popular among computer folks:

Their standard entry level model is around $20 USD

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519965402&sr=8-3&keywords=kill-a-watt&dpID=41jXOUcM37L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

i just wanted to know if someone could recommend me a good power meter, a budget one would be nice (30$ or lower, or just one thats over but works well)

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Just now, a.ron.a said:

i just wanted to know if someone could recommend me a good power meter, a budget one would be nice (30$ or lower, or just one thats over but works well)

Like a multimeter?

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Just now, a.ron.a said:

i just wanted to know if someone could recommend me a good power meter, a budget one would be nice (30$ or lower, or just one thats over but works well)

When you say "power meter", are you looking for an outlet power measurement meter, that measures current power readings on a particular load?

 

If so, the "Kill-a-watt" meters are probably the most popular among computer folks:

Their standard entry level model is around $20 USD

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519965402&sr=8-3&keywords=kill-a-watt&dpID=41jXOUcM37L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

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1 minute ago, straight_stewie said:

Like a multimeter?

not quite

 

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

When you say "power meter", are you looking for an outlet power measurement meter, that measures current power readings on a particular load?

 

If so, the "Kill-a-watt" meters are probably the most popular among computer folks:

Their standard entry level model is around $20 USD

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519965402&sr=8-3&keywords=kill-a-watt&dpID=41jXOUcM37L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

thank you so much this is what i have been looking for

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scouter.png.e05f3f3c1262636ea63e57f75569da10.png 

 

(only because the question's already been answered, lol)

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  • 7 months later...

two dead kill a watt for dummies after a year just plugged in to wall.  got them $15 each. 

 

saw these meters on the ltt show, anybody know what they are?

 

power meter linus tech tips.PNG

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On 3/1/2018 at 8:55 PM, Canada EH said:

Kill A Watt is the best one, everyone uses it

Kill-A-Watt is NOT the best one.  That's shitty advice.

 

If you want "the best" consumer grade AC power meter, you need to use a Brand meter:  http://www.brandelectronics.com/

 

Saying Kill-A-Watt is the best is like saying WalMart brand American Cheese is the best cheese.

 

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2 hours ago, stevv said:

two dead kill a watt for dummies after a year just plugged in to wall.  got them $15 each. 

 

saw these meters on the ltt show, anybody know what they are?

 

power meter linus tech tips.PNG

NOT Kill-A-Watts because Kill-A-Watt is shit. They're $15 for a reason.  You use them once to see what your power draw is on average then throw them away.  The power meters built into APC UPSs are better than they are.

 

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18 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

NOT Kill-A-Watts because Kill-A-Watt is shit. They're $15 for a reason.  You use them once to see what your power draw is on average then throw them away.  The power meters built into APC UPSs are better than they are.

 

No offense, but you're not exactly an objective third party.

 

Kill-A-Watt meters might not be the absolute best, but they aren't garbage. If your product is better, please convince us why yours is better, and not trash talk a competitor.

 

My Kill-A-Watt meter works great every time I use it. Every experience I've heard from others mirrors my own experience. They aren't commercial grade - and I definitely wouldn't recommend an Electrician use one for industrial use, for example, but for consumer grade, they're quite fine.

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19 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

No offense, but you're not exactly an objective third party.

 

Kill-A-Watt meters might not be the absolute best, but they aren't garbage. If your product is better, please convince us why yours is better, and not trash talk a competitor.

 

My Kill-A-Watt meter works great every time I use it. Every experience I've heard from others mirrors my own experience. They aren't commercial grade - and I definitely wouldn't recommend an Electrician use one for industrial use, for example, but for consumer grade, they're quite fine.

Umm... I don't have "a product" so how am I not an objective third party?  "My product"??? What the fuck are you going on about?  I work for Brand now????

 

I have no horse in this race.  I've just used lots of products over the 20+ years I've needed to use ACCURATE power meters to measure power consumption on the AC side of a PSU.  And when a Kill-A-Watt doesn't die, I find the readings very inaccurate when compared with professional equipment.

 

I personally use more professional equipment like Chroma, SunMoon, IDRC, etc.  I don't mean to brag because I don't expect end users to fork over hundreds or thousands of dollars on a power meter.  I also don't expect people to assume that a $15 power meter is accurate or a long term solution.  The Brand meter is the best "in between" that's out there.  It's not shit like the Kill-A-Watt, but it won't cost you an arm and a leg.

 

Furthermore, you can get a version of the Brand meter that has data logging.

 

 

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1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

NOT Kill-A-Watts because Kill-A-Watt is shit. They're $15 for a reason.  You use them once to see what your power draw is on average then throw them away.  The power meters built into APC UPSs are better than they are.

Thing is, one of my Powermeters was like 6,95€ from an Electronics "Dollar Store".  They don't seem to have that model right now and it seems reasonable. And also we have a Brennstuhl BM231E for like 10€.

 

I'm kinda surprised that those things are that expensive oO

 

And the Prices I mentioned are with VAT...

 

Maybe because here you can (almost) get a Powermeter in a decent Super Market?

 

Here Review:

https://www.computerbase.de/2014-05/strommessgeraete-marktueberblick-test/3/

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36 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Umm... I don't have "a product" so how am I not an objective third party?  "My product"??? What the fuck are you going on about?  I work for Brand now????

You're listed as an Industry Affiliate - apologies, I assumed you worked for Brand. I have no idea who you are or what company/brand you represent.

 

Also, you need to chill. I made a mistake assuming you worked for the company - that's on me. But you came in here making extremely aggressive posts trash talking a device that many of us have used before with good experiences.

36 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

I have no horse in this race.  I've just used lots of products over the 20+ years I've needed to use ACCURATE power meters to measure power consumption on the AC side of a PSU.  And when a Kill-A-Watt doesn't die, I find the readings very inaccurate when compared with professional equipment.

Can you elaborate? How much variance are we talking here? Was this variance on all measurements, or just specific ones (Eg: amperage)? I'd like to know more.

 

36 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

I personally use more professional equipment like Chroma, SunMoon, IDRC, etc.  I don't mean to brag because I don't expect end users to fork over hundreds or thousands of dollars on a power meter.  I also don't expect people to assume that a $15 power meter is accurate or a long term solution.  The Brand meter is the best "in between" that's out there.  It's not shit like the Kill-A-Watt, but it won't cost you an arm and a leg.

How much does a typical entry level Brand meter go for?

36 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Furthermore, you can get a version of the Brand meter that has data logging.

Interesting, and useful for some - but not a feature I would consider essential for consumer use.

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Yes. I'm an industry affiliate, meaning I'm an affiliate for a similar product of every product mentioned in every thread posted on these forums..... Huh?

 

A number of us have used Kill-A-Watts with DC loads only to find that the load at the wall was being reported as lower than the DC load.  Obviously, this is impossible. We can only hope for free energy perpetual motion devices, but we're not going to find them in every day electronics.

 

The Kill-A-Watt is good for a "round about idea" of what your power consumption is.  But even a simple DMM can tell you how off they are:  

 

 

If the product lasts more than a year, GREAT!  IF you want something with any kind of accuracy, look elsewhere.

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On 10/3/2018 at 12:41 PM, dalekphalm said:

You're listed as an Industry Affiliate - apologies, I assumed you worked for Brand. I have no idea who you are or what company/brand you represent.

Jon works for Corsair as the Director of PSU engineering, he uses this equipment every day :)

Quote

Also, you need to chill. I made a mistake assuming you worked for the company - that's on me. But you came in here making extremely aggressive posts trash talking a device that many of us have used before with good experiences.

Jon isn't known for being soft, or particularly polite for that matter...

 

On 10/3/2018 at 1:49 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Yes. I'm an industry affiliate, meaning I'm an affiliate for a similar product of every product mentioned in every thread posted on these forums..... Huh?

TBF, you did come across a little shill-like, I know you don't work for Brand, but other don't know this :)

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