Re: control panel measurments

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-twfpowerelectronics-dot-com>

Hi Luke,

See:

http://www.themeterguy-dot-com/advertising/Kill%20A%20Watt/killawatt.htm

I have killed them in Tesla coil use, but they are pretty tough in 
general.  They work very well!!

Be aware that all the internal circuits are live AC and you should not hook 
into them without being very careful!!  They may be like 5 volt logic stuff 
but they are still 180V above ground!!

Cheers,

         Terry


At 12:27 PM 2/27/2004, you wrote:
>I recently saw a device in C Crane catalog.
>It was called the Kill A Watt.  It is something you plug into the wall and 
>then plug something into it.
>The literature stated it could measure the volts, amps, watts and 
>frequency.  It also said it could measure the power factor and VA of what 
>ever was pluged into it.
>
>This raises a couple questions.
>First what technically is the difference between VA and watts?  I thought 
>it was the same thing.
>Or does one have to do with power factor?
>Is power the apparent power (not taking the power factor into 
>consideration and VA the real power or vice versa?
>Or is there something else I am missing on this?
>
>
>The next question is can I build a control panel that will give me these 
>values for my TC?
>What I would like to see on my panel is measurements of the primary side 
>of my NST bank.
>The values would be volts, amps, true power, apparent power and the power 
>factor.
>If it is a huge undertaking then I probably will not go for it just yet 
>but if any of this can be obtained in a fairly simple manner I would like 
>to incorporate it into the coil I am designing now.  I know voltage and 
>amps is pretty easy just throw in a ct for the current and use panel mount 
>meters to read the voltage to the NSTs and the output of the ct for 
>current.  It is the power and power factor portion of this that has me at 
>a bit of a loss.
>
>Any one have some input for me?
>
>Luke Galyan
><mailto:Bluu-at-cox-dot-net>Bluu-at-cox-dot-net
>http://members.cox-dot-net/bluu
>