MAPLIN plug in mains KwH meter

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VicMallows

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If anyone is interested in such things, I today bought one of the "Plug-in Power and Energy monitor's" that Maplin have on offer at £12.49.

Measures Vrms; Arms; Watts; VA; Frequency; Power factor; KwH; elapsed time.
At the price I was of course a bit sceptical.

Having checked the basic Vrms/Arms/Hz against known calibrated meters, I can report it is surprisingly accurate. Have also checked W and VA against known loads and again not bad. (the derived KwH and PF should also be OK, but havn't yet verified).

(to save anyone asking, this device is for measuring mains (180-250v AC). It is not suitable for monitoring 12v DC installations).

Vic
 
Agree. I have had one for a while and find it invaluable on caravan sites where the supply is quite often limited to 10 or even 8 amps per outlet with a trip that needs resetting by the site wardens if you exceed it! Situation is worse still in France where the campsite supply may be as low as 5 amps per socket.

Worse still, the trip will often take out a whole section of the site electrics if you blow it.....
 
Have been looking at the spec for this. It would seem that the Kwh and time functions will reset to zero if power is lost. Is this correct?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Have been looking at the spec for this. It would seem that the Kwh and time functions will reset to zero if power is lost. Is this correct?

[/ QUOTE ] Yes: there is no memory , so that unplugged or switched off everything resets to zero
 
I guess if you really were inclined, you could add a small rechargeable battery to keep the processor working .... but of course would never advocate interfering with a mains-powered unit in this way /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Vic
 
I never opened mine to find out - I have it because I need to know that my total load is not going to blow the trips and cause black looks - not only on caravan sites, but in the boatyard where if the trip blows on saturday morning thats it for the weekend for everybody unless we can persuade the man with the key to turn out.... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
At a certain local marina, before they totally rewired, I seemed to be the only person who knew where ALL the trips were. Then they put some new toilets up, and put one of the trips in the WOMENS! ...............(well, the power was off anyway).

Vic
 
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