Wanted to evaluate my consumption. I'm using a kill a watt p3 to measure some common house devices. All readings are much lower than expected except for the vacuum, which was spot on. Cell phone charging- .1amp, laptop – .6amp, power strip with large led tv and console actively streaming netflix- .25amp.
Does this sound off to you? Maybe my kill a watt is defective?
Thanks
Do you find device actual power consumption to be much lower than rated specs?
byu/Max_Roc inFrugal
Posted by Max_Roc
2 Comments
All of those specs are maximums, not averages. They’re for determining if you’ll trip a fuse/breaker, not for efficiency. I’d trust those measurements.
Device regulations require marking devices with their maximum power consumption. That you’re seeing lower values isn’t surprising.
Also know that inexpensive energy monitors tend to become less accurate at very low power draws.