Chip C wrote:
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"bumtracks" wrote in message

Matt wrote:

http://www.smarthome.com/9034.HTML


For anyone interested in this device, I found it for $27.50 (some
places sell if for $40) at:

http://www.supermediastore.com/kilwateldet1.html


Nifty idea. The biggest energy users are probably the most difficult

to

figure though. If you plug in a refrigerator, you get a reading while

it

runs, but no way of telling how long it will run on a given day. Or

how

often an AC compressor will cycle, etc.


In fact, the Kill-A-Watt will accumulate kWh over time, so you can
leave it plugged in for a while and the figure the average usage per
day or week.

My big complaints are that it doesn't store peak usage (which would be
useful for planning emergency backup power) and the kWh total can't be
reset without killing power to the appliance. It's also darn hard to
read from a distance or an angle and it blocks both plugs in a duplex
outlet, but putting it on an extension cord solves those.

Chip C


Instead of using electronics for the measurement,
why not use a regular kWh meter. All you need is
the meter, meter base, a board to mount it on, a
cord and a box with outlets. Plug into the wall
and plug the appliance into it. You can get
watt-hour meters off the internet. I use one all
the time to measure power consumption of various
electrical devices.