I'm currently making arrangements to store and work on a boat. The owner
of the land can probably supply electricity, and I have offered to pay
for what I use. I'm looking for a suitable meter that can be wired
inline (probably into a conventional extension lead) to record usage. I
would just use one of the myriad plug-in meters, except that these tend
to forget the cumulative figures when unplugged, and that could be very
inconvenient. I don't need ultra-accurate calibrated metering, and want
to spend as little as possible on something I probably won't use again.

Any suggestions?

Pete

On 11 Nov, 14:21, Pete Verdon
d wrote:

for what I use. I'm looking for a suitable meter that can be wired
inline (probably into a conventional extension lead) to record usage. I

Any suggestions?

Have a look on eBay. There are usually lots of electricity meters for
minimal cost.

John

Pete Verdon wrote:
I'm currently making arrangements to store and work on a boat. The owner
of the land can probably supply electricity, and I have offered to pay
for what I use. I'm looking for a suitable meter that can be wired
inline (probably into a conventional extension lead) to record usage. I
would just use one of the myriad plug-in meters, except that these tend
to forget the cumulative figures when unplugged, and that could be very
inconvenient. I don't need ultra-accurate calibrated metering, and want
to spend as little as possible on something I probably won't use again.

Any suggestions?

Pete

Cheap and cheerful:

You can buy a reconditioned electricity meter for £12 +VAT

e.g. http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/RDCRED60.html

You would need to make some kind of arrangement to put it in a box and
have inlet and outlet connections.

==========


A little more bijou and compact:

Buy a DIN Rail-mounting kWh meter and put it in an IP65 small consumer unit:

e.g. eBay http://preview.tinyurl.com/yghjr7t

and a box to put it in:

e.g. eBay http://preview.tinyurl.com/ygsc6qr

and glands:

e.g. aBay http://preview.tinyurl.com/yzjwbel

Use the DIN rail version with a boat - with an RCD :-)
Just check how long it handles outages depending on where you locate
it w.r.t. RCD if you need power on when not there (dehumidifier for
boat, heater, pump, missile silo whatever).

Where is the supply?
- Half a mile across a field means a long walk to reset an RCD, or you
need 526-06-6 compliant cable which means a long run of sized
accordingly armoured with CW glands.
- Relatively close means a short walk to the RCD and you can use
Arctic or H07RNF as necessary. Marque suppliers do cable cheaply
(about 89p for 1.5mm, 99p for 2.5mm).