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Monitoring house current draw? peter 04-24-2008
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Posted by peter on April 24, 2008, 12:51 pm
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.



Posted by hallerb@aol.com on April 24, 2008, 1:04 pm
> 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 curre=
nt
> even when turned off, or hidden current leakage.
>
> The easiest way is probably to add some sort of meter to the main electric=
al
> 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.

a clamp on ampmeter is one approach...........


Posted by Jeff Wisnia on April 24, 2008, 1:47 pm
hallerb@aol.com 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.
>
>
> a clamp on ampmeter is one approach...........
>

But he'd prolly have to transfer the from one side of the incoming line
to the other, or use two meters, and I seriously doubt if doing that on
a continuous basis would meet codes.

There are "current transformers" available which could be placed over
the two incoming ine feeds with their outputs driving AC voltmeters, but
the OP has already said he doesn't want to get into the panel, so I
think he's probably SOL at finding the "easy" solution he's seeking.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.


Posted by ransley on April 24, 2008, 2:20 pm
> 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 curre=
nt
> even when turned off, or hidden current leakage.
>
> The easiest way is probably to add some sort of meter to the main electric=
al
> 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.

Posted by on April 25, 2008, 5:18 am
On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:20:51 -0700 (PDT), ransley

>> 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.

I agree. The OP should not forget to turn appliances off. Maybe he
should just unplug everything in the house when not in use. People
dont realize that those black box transformers all draw current when
not in use but still plugged in. The same is true for many tv sets,
computers, and other electronics. Rather than spend a fortune on
monitoring and metering devices, just put a power strip on each
location where there are electronic devices. Shut off the power strip
so the read light on it is not glowing and there is no power being
used. Ceiling lights are pretty obvious. Either they are on or off.
Light bulb consumption is simply wattage of bulb times time in use. A
100W bulb left on for 10 hours is 1KWH of power.
The amount of power used by electric heating devices such as baseboard
heaters, electric ranges and water heaters can be determined by the
wattage and length of time in use. That leaves refrigerators and
motors which are not as easy to calculate. A kill-a-watt meter might
help on those.

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