IntroductionHave you ever wondered how much power that microwave takes to pop that bagof popcorn? what about your toaster or coffee maker? how much power does that'energy efficient' refrigerator actually use? And does it really make adifference if you turn all those lights off all the time? the problem withwondering about this stuff is there isn't really much you can do to measure it.sure you can use a meter to measure an individual device here and there, butwhat does your whole house look like?
About a year ago I was hired to develop a web based power monitoring applicationfor data centers. the application was designed to monitor thousands ofindividual branch circuits using current transducers at the breaker panels.Among other things, the data logging requirments were to provide one year ofmin/max/mean measurement data with one minute resolution per circuit. SinceI had all the hardware for testing, I figured what better way to test thingsthan to install it in my own home.
I'm a software guy by trade, but have done my fair share of home improvementprojects (How to build a ceilingdome) and other construction hacks(Building a trade showbooth on a budget). I figured wiring current transducers to my breaker panelwould be a quick little project that would yield all kinds of really interestingdata about my house... in effect providing me with a 'sniffer' for my electricalnetwork.
A couple of warnings however...
- DON'T try this at home unless you know what you're doing. Aside from beingelectrocuted, incorrect wiring can burn your house down. if you think this iscool and try to do something similar on your own and kill/damage/burn/destroyyourself/friend/pets/computer/etc, don't blame me as you've been warned!
- If you live with someone, or in particular are married, and you feel liketrying to do something like this, make sure you have a pretty good idea of whouses more power before you start. I busted my wife for using the toaster(at 10 amps a pop) and leaving the lights on too much until she pointed out thatmy server rack consumes about 5 amps continuously (plus another 4 when thecooling system is running at max capacity)... ouch!
Anyways, what you see below is perhaps the ultimate in home power monitoringhacks.