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| Thread ID: 107763 | 2010-03-01 05:41:00 | power meter for PC | Active (15098) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 862669 | 2010-03-02 09:21:00 | One wonders how accurate these cheap meters are when it comes to measuring the current waveform of a switch mode power supply. True RMS? | rumpty (2863) | ||
| 862670 | 2010-03-02 09:44:00 | Neither could I find specifically whether it measured power factor, though there were suggestions that it did. I thought power factor didn't matter in a residential scenario? (if you are talking about the electricity bill) |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 862671 | 2010-03-02 18:52:00 | I thought power factor didn't matter in a residential scenario? (if you are talking about the electricity bill) Well, households have quite a few motors running all the time, fridges, air conditioners, heat pumps etc, so it would be an advantage to know the power factors. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 862672 | 2010-03-02 21:06:00 | Why is it an advantage though? For the purposes of this meter - finding the cost of running a PC - I would have thought power factor wouldn't matter. As far as I know, only industrial customers are charged on power factor. Or have I got it wrong? I admit I do not know much about this, having only picked up what I know from reading websites about "Power factor correction" circuitry in PSUs and why it (apparently) is just a marketing point and serves no real useful purpose in the context of home use... |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 862673 | 2010-03-02 21:47:00 | Why is it an advantage though? For the purposes of this meter - finding the cost of running a PC - I would have thought power factor wouldn't matter. As far as I know, only industrial customers are charged on power factor. Or have I got it wrong? I admit I do not know much about this, having only picked up what I know from reading websites about "Power factor correction" circuitry in PSUs and why it (apparently) is just a marketing point and serves no real useful purpose in the context of home use... I meant advantageous in the sense it would be interesting to know the power factor for different appliances, not that there is anything that can be done about it :) On the practical side, if the meter does not measure power factor, as I believe some such meters do not, then the power readings and the cost calculations will be in error by around 2 percent or so. This may be less than the accuracy of the meter, so may not be worth worrying about unless there is a device with a very poor power factor. So I agree with you. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 862674 | 2010-03-03 04:52:00 | Thanks Terry and others for your advice and contributions to this thread.:clap | Active (15098) | ||
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