Real-Time Power Monitoring Options?

tedpearson writes "I've wanted for quite a while to be able to look at my electricity usage in graphed form, both real-time and historical data. There seem to be a number of options for power monitoring in existence: some that hook into Google PowerMeter, others to Microsoft Hohm, and some that are standalone units. I've also seen DIY projects using Arduinos for reading the data and sending it to a computer. But I haven't found anything that is quite what I'm looking for, and I am hoping the Slashdot community can give me some advice. What I'm looking for currently: Some sort of device(s) that a) accurately measures power usage, b) allows me to access the data for storage in a database for my own graphing/analysis purposes, c) will work with MacOS (doesn't require Windows), and d) doesn't cost more than $150 or so. DIY is fine, though I don't understand circuit design, which is keeping me from designing something myself."

Go round the side of your house

[2.7182]

And check how fast the dial in the electric meter is spinning.

"Dad monitor"

[NevarMore]

1) Wander around house, see if lights, appliances, devices are on/plugged in.
2) Make arbitrary decision about power usage.
3) Turn off/unplug device.

There. Now go play outside.

Re:Watt's Up Pro

[smellsofbikes]

You joke, but I've done that: put a handheld digital multimeter face-down on a flatbed scanner, and used gocr to get data. It was *very* awkward, and once I got gpib running, I've never looked back at that without shivering.

Re:Tweet-A-Watt

[eln]

So register one twitter account per outlet, have them all tweet power usage, then register another twitter account that retweets all the others and then tweets the total usage. Once you start generating that much twitter traffic, CNN will eventually start publishing your tweets on the front page of their website, since their primary news gathering activity these days is reading and re-posting "hot" twitter feeds. Then, you can just log on to cnn.com whenever you want to know your power usage.

Sheesh, do we have to think of everything?

Re:Go round the side of your house

[jpapon]

Yeah Winter, that's when it rains occasionally, right?

Sincerely,

The Bay Area

Re:Go round the side of your house

[Dishevel]

It rains in the winter?
Sincerely,

So Cal

Re:Go round the side of your house

[Jane Q. Public]

The Newcomer's Guide To Bay Area Weather:

Gray = Winter

Blue = Summer

You can sort of do a running average to figure out Fall and Spring.

Re:Go round the side of your house

[Jane Q. Public]

Sure. But the difference between 120" of precipitation a year (Olympic Peninsula) and 18" a year (far Eastern edge of the state) is pretty large. Even larger if you're talking about the stinkin' desert in the center. But let's not.

It even snows in Pullman once in a while. The real spectator sport in Pullman during the winter is watching all the Freshman from the West side of the state, who have never driven in the snow, slide down Stadium Way toward Main Street. Or even better, down the hill behind the campus hospital to Stadium Way.

Once after a good snow I saw a young woman drive around that corner onto the downward slope of the hill, try to stop at the bottom, slide out a bit onto Stadium Way, and get stuck. A few minutes later a small blue pickup with a pizza delivery sign on the roof went around the same corner, slid down the hill, hit the back of the woman's car, and pushed it further out onto Stadium Way. Someone must have called the police because after a few more minutes, a police car turned onto the same hill and slid all the way down into the pizza truck, knocking it into the car again.

In a situation like that, I wonder who gets a ticket?