Fabrication of box containing AC power meter, AC volts meter and AC amps meter with AC outlet and power cord.

[Doodski]

Howdy Doods. In effort to encourage @amirm to meter out the voltage, current and power when metering AC powered gear I propose me fabricating a nice sized test jig box with the following features and capabilities.

- AC digital power meter.
- AC digital voltmeter.
- AC digital Amp meter.
- 1 or 2 AC heavy duty outlets.
- 1 power cord for AC mains connection.
- 1 project box to contain all these things.

@antcollinet stated that the power cannot be properly calculated from a amps and voltage reading due to the phase relationships of AC voltage versus the current. So I changed the meters to include a AC power meter too. Is this sufficient for ASR needs when metering the AC power used by gear on test?
If I fabricate such a handy little box for you at no charge @amirm will you use it?
Here are some ideas for the digital metering devices that I found.

https://www.amazon.ca/Current-Amperage-Voltmeter-Multimeter-Transformer/dp/B09F96JDR9/ref=sr_1_5?crid=BAG35TLQXC0S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XGElCqP-934_elnvKRPWjxUcMkgwNTDzSw7Z9-v_PlOjew71N2CORnjro-x3I0QYtkXQjbTa1dbFVFOI4x9Usa3ohXjZercJeshNfYCn9AQSJ4q34zOis99k23UOz5KlCVVT2swMegEkUeLfyDXr5AS8lof9fvd-EfFWGAaX8nvgQP0oXKOyzbAjAb4HGrBOVQTpQkqm_uFw7OnybxxUkI_sbCC36aS3tTj8WGfdy3lgk7MRIfFQ0j0YpXdTj3J4mWzzPr4ffWz4-6d_ri-jToSMa_ORiRhc3mhKJBi2xM4.b3QE-MFnfGTGW2bTfhGfd-CfRQYrNgs5rtX3An9aWcI&dib_tag=se&keywords=panel%2Bmeter&qid=1720810046&sprefix=panel%2Bmeter%2Caps%2C127&sr=8-5&th=1

Amazon.ca

Amazon.ca

Amazon.ca

 

[antcollinet]

Doesn't something like this do it. No additional box or wiring needed?

Power Meter

 

[Doodski]

Doesn't something like this do it. No additional box or wiring needed?

https://www.amazon.ca/Suraielec-90V-250V-Calculator-Protection-Electricity/dp/B0CR9Z19DQ/ref=sr_1_25?crid=1EMLX7R7EPQOL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Le5tBPfZRTzlEKj3mJfh9VMyshKUyDEMFQLzgUyCpj81ebh4yU7lm7Pv5c0lyhet-ov_RQDM1qRTWp3HV-srxGLIneLxgshA42L3YAhSachYL4sruSByMAsGxQgXuX2PlTlQcpU5KZ7nJlpi08dk5EaLCvx403byZ6-3WTi8aQqbH22nhjMRETynZYkYENOFrzHAdHlJb88L9nxrirV-8IkiI6z_CZFwduQXIlx0-wVa3kb-0RWGDbIFVld15e9bshxl4Vh-mdm-lQnmNDBzO_yhJTDUDeWR0uSym8yntTg.HIp83Iuu1u7IeLVLZN7r8QAgpmcLD9GqkjQULhdiSoM&dib_tag=se&keywords=power+meter&qid=1720818344&sprefix=power+meter%2Caps%2C306&sr=8-25

Yes it could but no voltage or current metering reading. Let me look into this suggestion... uno momento.

 

[antcollinet]

Second mode

 

[Doodski]

Doesn't something like this do it. No additional box or wiring needed?

Power Meter

Ahhh it does do current and volts. I never used one of these before nor looked at one. Thanks for the solution suggestion.

 

[Doodski]

Wow that power meter really does a lot for minimal cost. It's surprising!

 

[Speedskater]

My very old "Kill-a-Watt" meter reads Volts, Amps & Watts. The new ones have more ranges.

 

[Doodski]

My very old "Kill-a-Watt" meter reads Volts, Amps & Watts. The new ones have more ranges.

It's amazing what they crammed into those Kill-a-Watt meters for the price. I never imagined they did all that as I believed they only did Watts and kW. Thanks @antcollinet.

 

[AudiOhm]

I have a Kill-a-Watt, compared it to some ISO calibrated Fluke meters, right on...

Ohms

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I believe such ready-made devices, are for monitoring power usage over a long period of time.
They are not accurate enough over short periods.
I do use them regularly. Some have remote control facilities, timer functions etc. Good for home automation too, but as a test gear? I don't think so.

 

[Doodski]

I believe such ready-made devices, are for monitoring power usage over a long period of time.
They are not accurate enough over short periods.
I do use them regularly. Some have remote control facilities, timer functions etc. Good for home automation too, but as a test gear? I don't think so.

If it gets a accurate Volts, Amps and Watts metering then it is good to go even if it is low budget and not instrumentation grade. If it had Bluetooth/USB with PC interface that would be awesome...LoL.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Can Amir not get this already if he powers his gear with his lab power supply? He has done it in the past for some reviews.

 

[Doodski]

Can Amir not get this already if he powers his gear with his lab power supply? He has done it in the past for some reviews.

I too have wondered about this. It must have voltage and current metering but not a power meter. It needs a power meter to calculate for the phase relationship in the power calculation.

 

[restorer-john]

I too have wondered about this. It must have voltage and current metering but not a power meter. It needs a power meter to calculate for the phase relationship in the power calculation.

The plug in killawatt style products use extremely sophisticated power measurement ICs. They make any little box we can screw together look like a kids toy.

This IC in a $14 killawatt style unit on my desk... Look at the attached PDF.

 

[Doodski]

The plug in killawatt style products use extremely sophisticated power measurement ICs. They make any little box we can screw together look like a kids toy.

This IC in a $14 killawatt style unit on my desk... Look at the attached PDF.

View attachment 380614


View attachment 380618

Very cooL! Somebody is going to make a ton of moola off this IC. Very nice...

 

[restorer-john]

Very cooL! Somebody is going to make a ton of moola off this IC. Very nice...

And that's a 15 year old IC. There's literally tons of power measurement ICs available.

The upshot being: A good plug in "killawatt" style meter in 2024 is an excellent device for the non-technical (and the technical) people to use for non-invasive voltage/current/power/PF/usage testing in the home. I can confirm my cheap Aldi unit is dead accurate. They can capture mains switch on transients better than a current transformer and a logging typical fast response DMM.

 

[Doodski]

They can capture mains switch on transients better than a current transformer and a logging typical fast response DMM.

That is awesome. Nothing more annoying than a poor readout sampling rate on a multimeter.

And that's a 15 year old IC. There's literally tons of power measurement ICs available.

It's cool when you bring up technical IC chatter and your historical knowledge. I always simply focused on the ICs at hand which where mostly all in-house part numbers. So I have little to no knowledge of what is out there.

The upshot being: A good plug in "killawatt" style meter in 2024 is an excellent device for the non-technical (and the technical) people to use for non-invasive voltage/current/power/PF/usage testing in the home. I can confirm my cheap Aldi unit is dead accurate.

How things have improved... LoL. Stuff that used to cost dearly is now the price of a meal at McDonalds.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I too have wondered about this. It must have voltage and current metering but not a power meter. It needs a power meter to calculate for the phase relationship in the power calculation.

Amir has mentioned he has 5 different supplies for different purposes. I seem to recall one is the B&K precision supply. Those will give readouts of the various parameters.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

If it gets a accurate Volts, Amps and Watts metering then it is good to go even if it is low budget and not instrumentation grade. If it had Bluetooth/USB with PC interface that would be awesome...LoL.

A lot of them are WiFi enabled.
So with an app. they can produce graphs and all sorts of reports.
As I said, can be remotely switched and monitored.
I installed one on a friends house, so he could remotely switch his EV charger that was virtually on a pubic pavement.

 

[Doodski]

Amir has mentioned he has 5 different supplies for different purposes. I seem to recall one is the B&K precision supply. Those will give readouts of the various parameters.

I checked the B&K Precision AC power supplies and at this time there is only one AC supply in the lower price range below about US $2550. It has.>

• 0 to 300 V, low distortion AC power source with models delivering a maximum of 1500 VA, 12 Arms / 48 Apeak
• Output frequency adjustable from 45 Hz – 500 Hz
• Select 150 V / 300 V autoranging or 300 V range operation for continuous sweep from 0 - 300 V
• Displays Vrms, Irms, Ipeak, frequency, PF, apparent power, true power, and elapsed output time
• Adjustable phase angle control
• Built-in PLD and dimmer simulation
• Voltage and frequency sweep mode
• Downloadable LabVIEW driver and soft panel software for remote control
• Standard USB (USBTMC-compliant), RS232, and LAN interfaces
• GPIB optional on select models
• Pre-compliance testing for voltage dips and frequency simulation according to IEC61000-4-11 / 4-14 / 4-28

B&K Precision Corporation

B&K Precision designs and manufactures reliable and cost-effective test and measurement equipment, used for a wide range of applications by engineers and techs.

www.bkprecision.com

B&K Precision Corporation

B&K Precision designs and manufactures reliable and cost-effective test and measurement equipment, used for a wide range of applications by engineers and techs.

www.bkprecision.com