Power meter test and teardown

[@almanzoli1736]

I enjoyed that video ! I am a retired electrical contractor , 81 years old and I went through a few Amprobes . They were very reliable ! Thanks !

[@riesmoos]

Oh yes ! Beer + Mains Voltage ! And this isn't even his Christmas Special yet ! GO GO GO !

[@gregsdesigns3923]

He could light up like a Christmas tree!😊

[@caulktel]

I have that same unit and use it for testing old vintage tube radios before and after restoration. It works very well to trouble shoot shorted and leaking caps. Thanks for the video.

[@patprop74]

Thanks that is exactly why i would want one.

[@ZenInnovations]

I found your Analog Clamp meter so Fascinating! Wow.

[@weirdboyjim]

I was very interested by everything you had to say about the power meter, I should get myself one, but sometimes I worry the electronics stuff gets in the way of the beer review.

[@owengreene7659]

Wow it is cool to see the old Amprobe. I had a very similar one back in the day when I was in Air conditioning and refrigeration

[@marcelf.9747]

Thanks for the vid. Very easy to understand.

[@Gossamer2]

Glad you did this test because I have the exact same device. :)

[@dennismccarty9459]

What is the residual load of the power meter, subtract that from the fluke measurement, then compare.

[@pabloyesid]

I have this same powermeter.. I thought it was a supercapacitor inside, but it's a tiny battery :V ... thanks for doing this video !!

[@sl9sl9]

The battery seems to be a 3.6V Ni-Mh rechargeable (3 x 1.2V cells in series) which is a surprise. I thought it would be a primary CR2032 lithium coin cell for simple data logging, or perhaps even no battery at all with flash memory holding data during a power blackout. Looks like the this battery keeps power to the UI screen and buttons after unplugging. So I guess the main purpose is portability; you can unplug it from the wall and write down any logs/stats from the meter. A quick Google for *V9261F Tinkerman* shows a cheap mod to turn this unit into a smart meter with Wi-Fi, supported by Domoticz and Home Assistant. Great find!

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

somebody was going to ask! i would have but you nailed it at the last minute. :) by the way i was drinking PG tips at the time, it makes a nice cup of tea.

[@stopPlannedObsolescence]

hey, may u help me, the mine just show up ceros and doesnt take values? is a break one ?

[@pileofstuff]

It is possible. Can you return it and get a replacement?

[@jstro-hobbytech]

I have an amprobe that's almost identical.

[@gregsdesigns3923]

I was going to ask about the beer and you answered the question before I could hit 'Send'- thanks, and nice job on tonight's video. Any up-date on the outdoor Christmas light program?

[@pileofstuff]

The outdoor lights are still working flawlessly, even after some snow, wind and several nights of -25C

[@gregsdesigns3923]

Terrific!

[@salvadorjr.deluna7800]

Hi Sir, may i know the value of the resistor between the electrolytic capacitor and mylar capacitor cx1 of the power meter. I tested the wattage output of a modified sine wave inverter and it burned. Thank you for sharing and more power.

[@phiilvy]

it is 120 Ohms 1/2 watt resistor. same thing happen with me. got the value from different video and tried the replacement and it is working now.

[@subhan1641]

can you please explain what's the purpose of the tiny battery inside, mine has only 1.5v,.and the small resistor below the cap is slightly burnt... the only issue i face is sometimes its just dies,.. but the power keeps transferring.. i just have to turn off and on again. and it just gets reseted..

[@pileofstuff]

It's to retain the device's memory of user settings when the device is not in use.

[@johndii2194]

The backup battery. Does it store the elapse watt-hours?

[@pileofstuff]

Yes. It holds the elapsed time and KWH until you push the reset button.

[@johndii2194]

@@pileofstuff Thank you. And I forgot about the reset button in the other video.

[@ronaldd.1355]

@@pileofstuff How do i replace the battery? when completely depleted? i had to dump my first one thinking it was damaged. Thanks in advance

[@pileofstuff]

@@ronaldd.1355 Just de-solder the old one and solder in a new one. The harder part is going to be finding one, but searching ebay for "nimh battery solder 3.6v" finds a few.

[@patprop74]

how confident would you be to plug it in permanently in a variac to use as amp meter for things like vacuum tube radio and amp repairs...?

[@pileofstuff]

Interesting thought. I wonder how it's low voltage performance is. I'll have to test that.

[@ronm6585]

Thanks.

[@frankhovis]

4:26 I don't like the look of the soldering on that shunt.

[@whuzzzup]

The problem is not if power meters can measure 60W or 12W. This is trivial and even crappy meters can do this quite well. The important question is the accuracy at low Watts like 1 W or even 0,5 W, to see standby consumption. This is where you can actually see the quality of the power meter.

[@leonardocastillo5243]

My wattmeter is also 120V AC, is it ok if i use it to 220V AC?

[@pileofstuff]

There are some different component values used for the 220Volt version

[@leonardocastillo5243]

@@pileofstuff is that the zener diode?

[@jw200]

ˇBought recently this one. havent tested yet.

[@Shmbler]

A power factor of .9 is suspiciously good for cheap LED bulbs. Maybe tear it down for us? ;-)

[@kjur18]

Probably incorrect reading. I have one of these and it also showed high power factor on some leds that supposed to have about 0,5 power factor. So I got one of these panel mounted ones with backlit lcd and it showed correct power factor. At least for this one led light bulb.

[@donaldhenke2750]

like your videos

[@martinmertens8476]

I have very simular looking power meter model (same manufacturer), but european version for 230 volts. Good thing is that it also works with lower voltage (e.g. 110 volts) so I use it with my variac. Before I had a different model/brand which worked only above 160 volts - not really useful when using it with a variac. Of course I cannot say whether the US (120 volts) version also works with 230 volts, but it could be that both European and US version differ only by the plug/socket.

[@Shotiv889]

i got mine with (120v marking), but i'm using it on 220v (Phils).. i works fine for a couple of months, then it suddenly didnt read, its still powers on but cannot read anything.. i dont know if its something to do with the voltage.

[@ArjanvanVught]

Funny seeing the Euro symbol for a not Europe device ;-)

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

they are going to have to make room for the "UKCA mark " in the UK post Brexit. :)

[@jimb032]

Ooohhhh. That one is my favorite one to hack and add wifi to it for home automation.

[@pileofstuff]

That's intriguing. Do you have a relevant link that I could check out?

[@jimb032]

@@pileofstuff absolutely. Best spot to learn about is Jose's espurna firmware page. Mine is a derivitaive of it. Google "connected power meter tinkerman" and you'll have it. If you do it and get stuck let me know. The 120v ones have a little different signaling than the 220v. Also that same thing comes with 2 different monitoring chips..be careful. Those are two tricky parts but mine has been in Operation for 2 years now. I use it on my washer to signal me with a message the laundry is done. Also, it's wise to use an optocoupler between the d1 mini and the IC. If you don't never hook the USB up with the power connected as it's referenced to the mains. (Obviously)

[@squalazzo]

i hacked mine and made it wireless, thanks to Espurna firmware and some cheap components :)

[@squalazzo]

tinkerman.cat/post/connected-power-meter/

[@HazeAnderson]

Live sound days eh? Did I tell you that I know a German engineer? And a Czech one too? I said ... a Czech one too?

[@pileofstuff]

Love it!