View Single Post
Old 07-16-2010, 02:58 PM   #39
Bill
Site Team
 
Bill's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine
Posts: 10,088
Default

I think the Kill-A-Watts are great. I own two of them. I would use one for everything except when the air conditioner is on. First, the Kill-A-Watt is specified at 15 amps max, and although the running amps are less, the starting amps can exceed this. Second, I once saw a scheatic of the internals of a Kill-A-Watt. My memory may fail me, but I think it sensed current by passing it through a low-value resistor, and measuring the voltage across that resistor. A shunt, in other words. And a shunt causes a voltage drop. A small one, to be sure, but in a situation where you are already marginal on voltage, an extra drop may not be a good plan.

The Kill-A-Watt also has an internal fuse. If you pop it, it is not a big deal - except that it is soldered in, and no one seems to know the value (I'd guess 20A).

Just my thoughts.

Bill
__________________
2020 2720QS (aka 2720SL)
2014 Ford F-150 4WD 5.0L
Bill's Tech Stuff album
Bill is offline   Reply With Quote