So I wanted to get myself a Kill-a-watt. Being who I am, I wanted information regarding its accuracy, especially at low power draws. I found a comparison with a industry grade equipment (Fluke is about the best out there in handheld electrical meters). It’s not encouraging, so I thought about a more proper meter, but it’s not easy to find an actual power meter that is accurate at low loads, isn’t a hassle to install and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
What do you use? Am I overthinking it?
Edit: thanks everyone for chiming in! To clarify a few things:
- I wasn’t (at least initially) looking for a permanent installation on my home server, but rather a good instrument to measure things around the house once I’m done fiddling with the server.
- the comparison with Fluke was just to illustrate what kind of error we can expect from a Kill-a-watt. It would be nice to have a Fluke power meter, but there’s nothing I do at home would even come close to justify it. The kill-a-watt is such an old design and the company behind it seems to focus on cheap trinkets. I was just hoping to find something a bit better than what P3 offers. Wouldn’t mind paying up to $75 for the same features and better accuracy.
- I looked for a multimeter that measured power somehow as I need a better one that can measure capacitance too anyway. Didn’t find it.
if the draw is so low, does it matter?
Yes. Low power draws add up. 5W here 10W there and you’re already looking at >3€ per month.
I realize my situation may not be your situation but… Seriously?
The problem is that it’s not just 15W; I merely used that as an example of how even just two “low power” devices can cause an effect that you can measure in euros rather than cents.
You kind of have a point, but only to an extent. If the error in your measure is around 20%, are you really measuring anything?