kiloWatt Hour meter -- will this work with 120v single phase???

[Bene505]

Does anyone know if this kWh meter will work on standard 120 volts? It says 240v on the outside, but maybe that's a maximum voltage or something.

I want to put this on the dock, to measure my electricity usage this winter.



Regards,
Brad

[hellosailor]

No picture posted, Brad. Name or model? Does it have a 120 or 220 plug and socket on it?

If you mean this:
General Electric Kilo Watt Hour Meter Utility | eBay

You could check with GE. I'd expect that one being rated for 240V is built with "240" in the "gearing" and if it worked, it would be measuring only half the real wattage if put on a 120V line.

For $25 you should be able to buy a Kill-A-Watt meter designed to run on 120 without any question of whether it was stolen from a utility company.

[Bene505]

HS,

That's the one. I'm going to take your advice and get a kill-a-watt instead, the version with battery backup (thanks Wikipedia).

Regards,
Brad

[sawingknots]

on my marina dock there are only 220 meters for houseboats,i removed the meter face and ran a wire to only one side plus the ground then ran the wire to a 120 outlet,it seems to work fine but i'm not sure of the accuracy

[Bene505]

Hellosailor,

Thanks for the suggestion. I bought a Kill-A-Watt and have it mounted by the marina's outlet. (The marina only has house-type outlets, so it works perfectly.) I used a short, thick gauge extension cord from the outlet to get the Kill-A-Watt to a more protected spot under an eve. Then I plugged the 15 amp to 30 amp converter to it. Some zip ties helps keep everything secure.

Right now I'm using about 3 amps, mainly for the 70 Watt engine compartment heater and for the battery charger. I've racked up $6.50 to pay the marina for January so far. (I added $10 to my December bill, for the few days in December that I was plugged-in.) The marina manager seems pretty happy and is interested in getting a few of them.



All -- If you get one, make sure it has memory so everything doesn't go to zero when unplugged or the power fails. I got the 4460 model, which has that feature. the others I saw dodn't have memory.

Thanks again HS.

Regards,
Brad

Originally Posted by hellosailor

No picture posted, Brad. Name or model? Does it have a 120 or 220 plug and socket on it?

If you mean this:
General Electric Kilo Watt Hour Meter Utility | eBay

You could check with GE. I'd expect that one being rated for 240V is built with "240" in the "gearing" and if it worked, it would be measuring only half the real wattage if put on a 120V line.

For $25 you should be able to buy a Kill-A-Watt meter designed to run on 120 without any question of whether it was stolen from a utility company.