Where to buy P3 Kill A Watt

[GoChris]

http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html

locally, I know where to get it online.

[benyl]

I have yet to see one. I order it from the states, but that was 2 years ago.

I did however see this:

http://www.blackanddecker.com/Energy....mc_id=BD00039

at superstore the other day. $99. But it tells you how much your entire house is using, not just plug-in appliances in one outlet.

[GoChris]

Newegg.ca has it for $23 + ship. I just thought if anyone had seen these locally I wouldn't have to wait. I mainly need it just for computers, want to see how much my file server uses and try to get that to use as little as possible while idle.

[nobb]

If you want something cheap to quickly measure power, you can make your own. 1ohm resistor in series with the neutral wire, measure the voltage drop, then solve for the current.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1067898

[GoChris]

Originally posted by nobb
If you want something cheap to quickly measure power, you can make your own. 1ohm resistor in series with the neutral wire, measure the voltage drop, then solve for the current.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1067898

wow, ninja DIY project, but for $30 I'd rather not put in the effort lol.

that black and decker one might be cool to monitor usage in the house as a whole, neat idea.

[benyl]

Yeah, I am thinking about getting the B&D one and wiring up an XBee or something so that I can capture datapoints. Then I can do some trending to see how much power my "habits" take up. Things like TV or running the HVAC fan all the time.

[Ashers]

Canadian Tire have the Blue Planet brand Kill a Watt. They have them for @24.99. It's near the Compact Fluorescent lights, and it's called "Blue Planet Energy Meter". SKU 52-8851-2

[GoChris]

Originally posted by Ashers
Canadian Tire have the Blue Planet brand Kill a Watt. They have them for @24.99. It's near the Compact Fluorescent lights, and it's called "Blue Planet Energy Meter". SKU 52-8851-2

awesome, thanks!

[Cos]

be careful with the resistor idea. if you are using it on a large current source you could blow it up and hurt someone.

With a $100.00 meter, how much electricity does that buy you on a said product. To me it seems like a waste of money, the $100 can cover a lot at $0.07 a khw

[nobb]

Well, I built the resistor based amp meter a while back and it seems to be accurate enough (testing it on some items with a known power drain). The danger is that it might overheat, so you need to know how much wattage the resistor is capable of dissipating and solve for the maximum current based on that.

But yea, $100 for a meter is expensive. Dont some libraries have kill-a-watts that you can borrow out like a book? I read on the internet somewhere...

[Zero102]

I have a kill-a-watt, had to order it on EBay and ship it from the US. Its a great toy, I take it to LAN parties and we have power competitions and such. I saw lately that Canadian Tire had some advertised in their flyer, and IIRC Rona also had either the kill-a-watt or a copy of the kill-a-watt in their flyer last month.

The B&D one you need to be careful with. Technically it is illegal to mount anything on/over your electric meter and if the meter reader likes they can remove the device for you or fine you for having it attached. Yes you are acting in everybody's best intentions but they may see it as meter tampering and the fine is quite hefty. If your meter is inside then I'd recommend getting one because you can remove it for them.

[Cos]

Originally posted by Zero102
Technically it is illegal to mount anything on/over your electric meter and if the meter reader likes they can remove the device for you or fine you for having it attached. Yes you are acting in everybody's best intentions but they may see it as meter tampering and the fine is quite hefty. If your meter is inside then I'd recommend getting one because you can remove it for them.

When you say (on/over) i assume you mean in parallel with the meter or upstream from your meter. In that case you are correct. I do not see the point in running your own private meter in conjunction with our meter as ours have to be calibrated and submitted to the government.

If you just want to measure a certain load within your house you can do what you want (panel tie would be the farthest up stream you can do) and that is customer's property so we dont care.

[benyl]

The $100 B&D one is just an optical reader of the spinning disk. It doesn't measure any power directly, only the usage.

You could save yourself $100 by walking outside and taking measurements at certain intervals, but why?

[Zero102]

Originally posted by Cos


When you say (on/over) i assume you mean in parallel with the meter or upstream from your meter. In that case you are correct. I do not see the point in running your own private meter in conjunction with our meter as ours have to be calibrated and submitted to the government.

If you just want to measure a certain load within your house you can do what you want (panel tie would be the farthest up stream you can do) and that is customer's property so we dont care.

I mean, I recall reading that you cannot obscure or tamper with the electrical meter itself in any way. By mounting this device to the meter itself that would be against the law, no?

It is just an optical reader, there is no tapping of the wires involved, however it does mount directly on the meter itself. I remember reading a while ago about a guy who was selling devices that mount on the outside of your electric meter to trick it into reading lower than the real usage, and I recall those devices being highly illegal (whether they worked or not is a different issue...)