Kill a watt or similar power consumption meter

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saikatck

saikatck

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Hi,

Can someone suggest any power consumption meter. Apart from the usual home applainces, I would like to monitor my AC and geyser usage as well. My budget is less than 2K INR.

How good are the 16Amps smart plugs (qubo, Wipro and others) available on Amazon?

Thank you.
 
saikatck said:
Can someone suggest any power consumption meter. Apart from the usual home applainces, I would like to monitor my AC and geyser usage as well. My budget is less than 2K INR.
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You will have to up your budget some. What is needed is a meter that can handle RMS voltage and current as this will be more accurate. Being able to measure RMS is what makes kill a watt what it is.

MECO makes meters that can handle 16A and 6A. They are old school bulky and not networked. But they get the job done. You want the first one.



These also come with calibration certificates from the factory. Big plus.

In the measurement game, spending more gets you consistent results. Cheap out and your numbers will be worthless. These are meters that will be hooked up for weeks at a time so accuracy matters over time. If you want to know your weekly or monthly consumption for a specific appliance.

Another more DIY alternative that you can attach to a powerstrip if you are so inclined is this one


Helps to have a secondary way to measure as a check. Maybe later.

The variation is no more than 3% for monthly consumption. No calibration cert. Chinese import. Not bad. What the QA is i don't know but the one I got was ok.

saikatck said:
How good are the 16Amps smart plugs (qubo, Wipro and others) available on Amazon?
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As programmable switches they are great. As power monitors, they are not reliable. Don't bother with them.

Front loading or top loading washing machine?

What about regular water? isn't that available for longer? The corporation water is the regular water. The timing is from 7 am to 9am. I did have the delay wash functionality in mind but the longer wash cycle was a concern for me. The normal water also tastes a bit salty but not undrinkable. So...
techenclave.com techenclave.com

^Check that post out to understand how unreliable they can be at power monitoring.
 
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blr_p said:
Another more DIY alternative that you can attach to a powerstrip if you are so inclined is this one

Click to expand...
Please don't use these, they don't have dedicated amp measurement and the power is routed like
Main switch --> Meter --> Application
The problem is the screw socket provided can't handle any wire larger than 1sqmm/1.5sqmm and if you run 5kw on these wires they will melt, so what you need is dedicated amp measurement. With dedicated AMP measurement comes the problem of calculating wattage and keeping track of those, and these cheap ones with all in one package as listed above are not made for anything more than 700w peak and 400w continuous load.
 
b.life said:
Please don't use these, they don't have dedicated amp measurement and the power is routed like
Main switch --> Meter --> Application
The problem is the screw socket provided can't handle any wire larger than 1sqmm/1.5sqmm and if you run 5kw on these wires they will melt, so what you need is dedicated amp measurement. With dedicated AMP measurement comes the problem of calculating wattage and keeping track of those, and these cheap ones with all in one package as listed above are not made for anything more than 700w peak and 400w continuous load.
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5kW is 20A. Exceeds the specs of the MECO as well

How likely is 5kW to happen with any residential AC or Geyser? As individual devices no chance

If he hooks it up where the fusebox is where combined load occurs then something else is required

But if you're going to do that why do you need a meter in the first place. Just read if the units from the meter. They will be the biggest consumers of whatever consumption there is.
 
I don't think any single AC/Geyser or even a couple will ever pull 5kw continuous load, the reason I included 5kw as reference was the product from amiciSense was making the claim that it is rated for 5kw. As these product wiring cant handle more than 400w which is ~2A so its better to avoid them.
 
b.life said:
I don't think any single AC/Geyser or even a couple will ever pull 5kw continuous load, the reason I included 5kw as reference was the product from amiciSense was making the claim that it is rated for 5kw. As these product wiring cant handle more than 400w which is ~2A so its better to avoid them.
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Aha, well that won't be for the Amici one I linked. There is another variant with a coil that you thread the load-bearing wire through which I think that can handle up to 30A
 
Yes, the 20kw one rated for 100AMP has that option and its just 100rs more, that will provide a better value for the money then these(2kw/5kw/10kw)
These seems to provide rail mount option too, so if the OP wants to mount it in the EB box along with the trip switch, then this is a better option. I just searched the amazon to find it, I honestly have no idea about its reliability.
 
Thank you very much all for your responses. The question is if I should really spend to spend 3K for a device which will be used only once or twice. Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough to wade through the DIY path.

I will probably end up buying the Meco (1700 INR). Will it suffice or do I need to spend 3K and get the higher version?
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07D2DFBJJ/
 
saikatck said:
Thank you very much all for your responses. The question is if I should really spend to spend 3K for a device which will be used only once or twice. Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough to wade through the DIY path.

I will probably end up buying the Meco (1700 INR). Will it suffice or do I need to spend 3K and get the higher version?
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07D2DFBJJ/
Click to expand...
My geyser and washing machine consume around 9A, so the smaller one will just about work with them but what if your AC crosses 10A then you will damage the smaller Meco. You will be running it at its spec limit which is not a good idea.

If the wall socket is 16A then you need the 16A version. You likely will want to measure power draw in the future. It can be used to measure smaller loads too. Think of it as a long-term investment. It will last a lifetime.

Or you can wait for more reliable smart switches to come out in the Indian market. No idea when that will happen and who will be the one to point it out. I don't trust the present offerings.
 
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