This was a supplementary to the aircon question. Can anyone recommend a plug in power meter which is reasonably accurate? Amazon offers gadgets around £10-£50 range but it is difficult to see if you get what you pay for. Cheers Dave R

The transient current when the air-con starts will probably only last for a fraction of a second - but if your power supply *can't* provide that peak current, it ain't gonna start. I'm not at all sure that you're going to find a meter which has a fast enough response to see the transient. Certainly none of my meters - both analog and digital - are likely to be any good. One other instrument which I've got is a hand-held digital oscilloscope. If I needed to do it, I'd power the air-con through a suitable shunt resistor, and connect the scope across the shunt on a voltage range. I would measure the steady running current using a clamp meter, and then use that to calibrate the scope. Then I'd stop the air-con and re-start it, and the scope would hopefully show just how big the transient is. I've never actually done this, so others may blow holes in it - but it seems to me that it would have a fighting chance.

Power meter?

Feb 26, 2016 21 Replies

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Roger Mills 10 years ago

Yes, but a cheap multimeter can't see transients. I was talking about a shunt you could get at to connect a scope across.

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David 10 years ago

Just chanced across the MASTECH MS2115B USB.

It seems to do roughly what I want, however....

...it only seems to be available on eBay direct from China which is never a good sign.

Amazon lists it as out of stock, not known when...

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B00Q2CFCR6

So it looks like an interesting bit of kit but if it is that good, why isn't there a stock in the UK?

Cheers

Dave R

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