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ransley ransley is offline
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Default Monitoring house current draw?

On Apr 24, 11:51*am, "peter" wrote:
I'd like to be more aware of the current draw in my house. This could help
me locate appliances I forgot to turn off, or device that draw large current
even when turned off, or hidden current leakage.

The easiest way is probably to add some sort of meter to the main electrical
panel. However I don't feel like rewiring the panel for this.

Are there circuit breaker with built-in amp meter? I guess the meter would
have to be very small. If such thing exists it would be the simplest
solution. Or it could transmit the reading via powerline (x10 or insteon)
that can be read with a PC interface.


What you want to do is an audit of your use, there is a 100$ or so
device that just clamps on your main meter and I think by RF it sends
what the use is to what looks like a thermostat sized unit. A 25$ Kill-
a- Watt meter which is very accurate you can use for whatever plugs
into the wall, it measures amp, watts, Va, Hz, volt, used over time so
you can accuratly figure out what your refrigerator uses it will tell
you how many watts is used in say 100 hours. A clamp on meter is good
to find any panel shorts, but best is one that goes to .01 amp and box
stores dont have them that go that low unless you spend alot, A 35$
greenlee at your electric supply store is good.