Measure Power Consumption With Multimeter

I want to use an inexpensive multimeter to measure the average power consumption in an appliance computer.

Measure power consumption with multimeter.

I was thinking that it should be possible to achieve this by connecting the measuring hands of the meter to the connectors in the power socket and then over a couple of minutes measure first the average voltage and then the average. Ya the kill a watt meters are not the greatest. This happened to me when i started using my desktop power supply. Furthermore measuring anything over 10 amps could blow a fuse or destroy the multimeter as well.

The kill a watt meter measures kilowatts and kilowatt hours. What i d like to know is if it is possible to do this sort of measurement with a multimeter perhaps just by wiring the multimeter to the head of the power chord then plugging it in and measuring the current of amps. Your multimeter might not be fast enough to register this and might not notice this if the power supply can handle this. You ve learned how to measure voltage current and resistance and how to check continuity.

Your multimeter might have completely separate ports for measuring amps while the other port is specifically just for voltage resistance and continuity but most cheaper multimeters will share ports. In this video you know about calculating ac volts amps and power consumption of your electronics. I had a dc motor that needed 3a current to start after it was running the current use dropped back to under 1a. Then amps voltage watts.

Available from amazon home depot hardware stores and other retailers for around 20 40 this power meter will let you take an accurate measurement of your pc s power consumption. In this beginner s guide we ve shown you how to use a multimeter.