What Is a Wattmeter, How Does It Work?

A wattmeter is a measuring equipment that displays the electrical power of electrically powered devices. Wattmeter is a unique device for monitoring power consumption and managing energy savings. Commonly used once digital devices with an LCD display on it. Electrical power is measured and displayed in watts, the standard unit of measurement.

A typical wattmeter can measure voltage (V), current (A), power (W), power factor (pf) and energy consumption (kWh). Measurement accuracy varies within the range of ±1% to ±5% depending on the brand and model of the device. A wattmeter with a measurement accuracy of ±2% can show a power of 100 W of 98 W or 102 W. As lower this ratio of the device is measuring.

The wattmeter is a very sensitive instrument and can be damaged by excessive current. All wattmeter’s are rated for a safe maximum current rating. In many devices, the maximum allowable current is limited to 16 A. This means 3,680 W of power at 230 V AC mains voltage. In order to prevent damaging the wattmeter, this current and power value should be observed. Some devices also have overload protection.

It would not be wrong to say that the wattmeter also consumes some energy. Wattmeter’s usually have a power consumption which are less than 0.5 W.

There are plugs and sockets on most of the wattmeter’s available in the market. This allows it to be easily inserted between a standard wall socket and the plug of an electrical appliance.

The digital wattmeter measures the current and voltage on the circuit thousands of times per second. It calculates the electrical power by multiplying the current and voltage with the help of the microprocessor inside. This processor can also keep statistics such as lowest voltage, highest voltage, lowest power, highest power. Microprocessor, voltage fluctuations and interruptions on the power line can be monitored.

There are already many brands of wattmeter’s on the market. When popular products are examined on various websites, the brands ALLQSUN, Brennenstuhl, Polaxtor, UNI-T, TT Technic and WellHise stand out.

Power measuring equipment, called wattmeter, has become accessible to home users with technological developments and the corresponding decrease in prices, although they were expensive devices in the past.