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Chipcenter : Portable Meters Check AC Power Quality
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Portable Meters Check AC Power Quality

The Manufacturer Says ... ChipCenter's Alex Mendelsohn Says ...

Watts up? Power Analyzer, Watt Meter, Electricity Monitor

Watts up? incorporates sophisticated digital electronics that enable precise and accurate measurements in an easy-to-use format. State-of-the-art digital microprocessor design utilizes high-frequency sampling of both voltage and current measurements for true power. Power factor is captured so even phase-shifted loads such as motors are accurately measured. Fast, intuitive and easy-to-use, Watts up? quickly and accurately measures any 120 VAC appliance.energy service companies can now determine exact loading requirements for equipment enabling clients to see return on investment and energy costs, easily demonstrating replacement savings.

* electrical engineers can quickly and accurately measure any 120 volt lab device without cumbersome and timely leads or oscilloscopes.

* consumers finally have a convenient way to monitor and project energy costs and find out what their electric devices cost to operate.

* electricians and service repair - after outlets are installed, Watts up? can quickly identify problems, measure line voltage, diagnose voltage drop or loading problems and educate customers about true costs.

* conservation and environmental programs require accurate assessment. The first step in going solar or off-grid is a realistic measurement of your current and future capacity requirements.

* appliance designers can obtain accurate power profiles under different conditions, enabling optimization of different control parameters.

* teachers are finding Watts up? a great new tool in electricity education. The companion Teacher's Guide includes a review of electricity principles, instructions for use, lesson plans, student exercises and 2, 3, 4 and 5-day modules.

Watts up?PRO

* Downloads data to PC, includes software for graphing * Payback calculator for new appliance purchases * Quickly store power profiles of multiple devices * Non-volatile memory requires no battery

Watts up? PRO includes memory storage and the ability to download the data to a PC, in addition to all the standard features of Watts up?. One thousand data points are stored, starting with a sampling rate resolution of one second. The sample rate resolution increases over time (sample rate equals total time divided by 1000) so years of usage can be accurately recorded. The included serial cable and software program allows the data to be quickly downloaded to a PC for creating usage charts. Included in the software is a Data Table, Charting, and Payback Analysis, which calculates the time required for a new energy efficient appliance to pay for itself. The data can also be exported in a comma-delimited format to popular spreadsheet programs for further analysis.

Electronic Educational Devices, 2345 South Lincoln St., Denver, Colorado 80210

With the ability to monitor 120-V AC loads drawing as much as 20 A, the UL-rated Watts up? handhelds from Electronic Educational Devices lend themselves to measuring small to moderate-sized AC loads.

These true-RMS instruments are easy to apply too. All you need do is plug in an appliance or load into the Watts up, and then plug the instrument into a standard AC outlet. They're also easy to carry to a test site, measuring just 7 x 4 x 2 in. (18 x 10 x 5 cm) and weighing about 1.5 lb. (0.7 kg).

Thanks to their trim user interfaces and on-board firmware, these instruments offer a quick route to gleaning meaningful information. You can use them to quickly deliver readouts of parameters in a variety of terms, too.

Not only do these handhelds read out AC values such as line voltage, current, and power (with minimum and maximum indications), but they can also crunch numbers. That ability can dish up figures that reflect things such as cumulative watt-hours, cumulative cost, and average monthly costs.

With the ability to record minimum voltages, a Watts up is also a way to get a handle on voltage sags and dips. Minimum current and minimum power indications can also be used to monitor variances in loads that run continuously. With their fast sampling rates, these handhelds also let you see surges of power, especially when a load is initialized. A peak value display can captures such surges.

Looking at Power Factor

These portable instruments also indicate power factor (PF), or the phase shift that often occurs between voltage and current with large reactive loads such as multi-horsepower AC motors. They indicate PF as a calculation of the ratio between RMS watts and apparent power. They also perform calculations to dish up displayed values such as duty-cycle power (the percentage of time that a load was above a pre-set threshold between 1 W and a kW).

In terms of accuracy, these instruments provide reasonable---and therefore useful---indications. Accuracy is rated at ±5% (±3 counts for loads below 10 W, rising to an accuracy of ±2% (±2 counts above 10 W). Although this isn't what some folks would consider lab quality, a Watts up handheld certainly provides lots of meaningful data about a typical AC power-line environment. That kind of instant readout and analysis isn't too shabby, especially when you consider that these units sell for between $96 and $131.

Working With a PC

As the company's statement indicates, the Watts up? is also available in a so-called professional version called the PRO model. For its part, the PRO stores its data in non-volatile memory, permitting you to offload it to a PC.

In operation, data is stored at one-second intervals. When 1000 records are stored, the system's sample rate doubles and the data is stored every two seconds. When 1000 records are subsequently stored, the sample rate doubles again. This process continues as needed. The memory holds 1023 records, and each time the memory fills up (17 minutes at one second), every other record is deleted. Then the sample rate doubles, and the logging continues.

This process of the sampling-rate doubling as needed permits a PRO to record indefinitely. Moreover, if the unit is unplugged, or if power is lost, data in memory is maintained. Then, data will continue to be stored once power is restored.

The PRO model also time-stamps the occurrence of any power cycle, and stores data every second until a maximum of 1023 records are in memory. The PRO model also includes the Payback Calculator software mentioned by Electronic Educational Devices in its promo statement. In use, the Payback Calculator can determine the time required for an appliance to pay for itself, based on a utility's energy rates. Rates can be entered from 0.001 cents/kWhr to $2/kWhr., in tenths of a penny increments.

Supporting the PC software, the PRO model includes a cable that connects to a PC's serial port, transferring ASCII data at 9600 bits/s. Electronic Educational Devices can also supply a Universal Serial Bus adapter. Using these adjuncts, the Pro is capable of realtime logging and recording power interruptions. The supplied communications protocol includes commands specifically tailored for data logging.

Using the adapter cable and software, a PRO also lets your PC act as the platform for further data reduction and display. Supplied executables let you create user-friendly tables and charts, but gathered data can also be exported in comma delimited format files to spreadsheets or word processors.


Click for full-size PC display image

For more details, contact Electronic Educational Devices, 2345 South Lincoln St., Denver, Colorado 80210. Phone: (877) 928-8701. Web: http://www.doubleed.com.

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