Electricity Meter

[raccon82]

Hi guys,

I having a idea of making a device for recording the power consuming from a power supply socket. Therefore after to able calculate the power, I should be able to calculate the price of the electricity for the amount of time used.

The Eletricity Meter should be able to plug onto the power supply socket and the electrical device's power supply will be plug it into the Electricity Meter.

For example I want to calculate the power used for watching an hour of TV. I will use the power taken for the hour and calculate the price for consuming within the hour.

Do you think this idea will work? Thanks for seeing.

[logan_dslasher]

HI raccon!  ;D

have you already started building your project?! please let us know of your progress with your work.. i think it is a great idea? have you checked if there is an existing device that functions like that of your "electrcity MEter"? Anyway, i wish you luck!  8)

[raccon82]

Hiya.. I still in the process of studying the workout of the device... Once ready I will start to make it.. But I think it will take a long time to experiment with it.

[logan_dslasher]

raccon :)

take a look at this:
http://www.energytools.com/pwrmeter.htm

[raccon82]

Ok thanks.. Think theres ppl making it already.. Hump.. :'(

[logan_dslasher]

hey! hey!!

i didn't mean to frustrate  :( you with what i found out.. i thought you could find useful info on the site.. you can still build one.. the site sells a product.. no schematic was included there.. maybe you could design one and post it here at eLab  ;D .. at least hobbyists can see your work!

c'Mon!!  ;)

[raccon82]

Yap.. Thanks for the resource.. I still will be trying to figure out using what to measure the current from the power supply to calculate the power.

[gogo2520]

hello raccon82
    They make AC amp meters, you might check them out to see how they work, Then see if you could convert the output to  a/d and use a uc to mesure the useage, sort of like a data logger.
                                      have fun
                                        gogo

[Enac]

Do a Google search on "kill-a-watt". You can buy one for around U.S. $20 - $30.
Of course, if you really want to build one, you could learn a lot.

[raccon82]

Thanks guys for all the comment..

[oldgrandpainmi]

Raccoon,

I'd build it, just for the fun of it!  There is allways a better feeling saying "I built it myself", than "I bought it"!!!

Besides, as you learn the circuit, there will be a little voice in you head that will say "Maybe it will be better if I .........."!!!!  Then you can say, "Mine works BETTER than that store bought unit.  Here's why!!!"

Happens to me all of the time!!!

oldgrandpaini

[indulis]

Measuring AC power isn't as straight forward as measuring DC power. Do you want to measure... real power or apparent power or average power or RMS power or real average power...etc. etc. etc. All of these are different and the cricuitry needed to measure them is different as well.