Real time power meter

[zpiloto]

Originally Posted by Brock

Is the four pole 200 amp breaker all connected together, as in one large breaker? Realistically the main 200 amp 240v breaker is really four 100 amp breakers, 2 paralleled for each side of the 240v then all connected to one master on/off breaker handle. This is pretty common (that?s what I have), most likely if that is what you have the TED should work.

The easiest way to tell is to pull the cover and see if you have just two wires coming in. But please if you feel uncomfortable pulling the panel cover get someone who knows about electricity or a licensed electrician to help. If you short the wires on the incoming side of that 200 amp main you short all the way back to the pole, very, very dangerous.

Here's what i'm looking at: The top 4 breakers are 200 amps.

[GasSavers_Brock]

Yes thats it. The lead with the red tape and the the one that crosses over to the other top side no tape, black wire are the two you want. Basically the two large ones leading up the left side, those are the two mains leading in to the panel. The other one with white on it is the main neutral.

So the TED would work for you

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by Brock

This has probably already been mentioned here but the watts-up or kill a watt are also both great meters that just plug in to the wall and then you plug any item in to them to see exactly how much power they consume.

The Kill-a-Watt is an especially good deal for testing 110v appliances "one at a time" (or rather, one per Kill-a-Watt you own). Somewhere around the house I have a Kill-a-Watt I was using to check individual appliances. I think I originally spent something like $60 for it, and it worked well. However, I can't seem to find the thing right now, and it would be a handy supplement to TED (with TED monitoring the whole house, and Kill-a-Watt letting me easily zero in on a single plug in appliance).

So I figured it was probably time to check about getting another Kill-a-Watt. And when I did a quick google search for them, I discovered that they have come down a lot in price. I saw some places selling them for as little is $22.50! However, my google search also showed that Amazon.com is currently selling new Kill-a-Watt meters for only $29.99 with FREE SHIPPING! While that is slightly more than the cheapest price I could get, the "free shipping" goes a long way towards closing the price gap. And one thing I like about Amazon, is that they are generally very good about shipping you what you ordered (whereas some company I've never heard about is more of a "crap shoot"). So considering the minimal cost difference (when the free shipping was factored in), I decided to order my replacement Kill-a-Watt from Amazon.

I figure that even though I now have TED monitoring "the big picture" for me (which is "a good thing"), the Kill-a-Watt is still a nice device to monitor/test "the small picture" (individual appliances, or maybe even multiple related gadgets hooked up to a common power strip). For example, Kill-a-Watt is very good at getting the true monthly cost of running a fridge, so you can make informed decisions as to if it is "worth it" to replace the fridge with a more "energy efficient" model. And it's amazing how many "small gadgets" don't give useful power usage info on them, but with Kill-a-Watt you just plug them in and read out how much power they really use (both when on, and when off).

Hmmm... If I had thought about it (before purchasing the Kill-a-Watt), I would have remembered that Amazon.com has an "affiliate" program, which doesn't cost the person buying the stuff anything more (but does give a little "kick back" to the "affiliate"). I don't suppose GasSavers.org is an Amazon "affiliate" by any chance? If so, what's the affiliate link? It would be real cool IMHO, if everytime I (or other GasSavers.org users) purchased stuff from Amazon, that purchase also made a small contribution to GasSavers...

[GasSavers_Brock]

Just got mine and installed it. I think this will be the scangauge for your house. I think it will be more helpful for my wife, well and for me so I can see if something is on that likely shouldn't be.

If you have a scangauge and like it, you need one of these