[Dclug] Monitoring Home Electronics Power

[Serge Wroclawski]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 03:43:21PM -0500, Maxwell Spangler wrote:

> http://www.p3international.com/products/p4460.html
> 
> If this were something besides power, I'd get a single measurement like
> gallons used (water), rpm (engine), mpg (car), but with this I get
> volts, watts, amps, etc.. and I don't understand how to use that
> information.

P=VI

That means Power (measured in watts) is voltage (V) times times current 
(I) measured in amps.

In very very crude and ugly terms, that means (using your water 
analogy):

The amount of water that has flowed out of your wall socket is the water 
pressure times the size of the pipe.

That's really ugly as analogies go but something to keep in mind is that 
power in a home in the US is 110 Volts. 

But anyway, your electric company charges you in watts (or actually, in 
kilowats) which is the aggregate value above.

- Serge