A lot of devices consume electricity when they appear to be turned off or while they are inactive, such as your TV or your microwave oven. For example, a typical microwave oven consumes more electricity powering its digital clock than it does heating food. Of course, heating your food requires much more power than the clock, but a microwave ovens is idle more than 99% of the time in standby mode. This power consumption is known as standby power and can be a significant contributor to product energy use. The standby power of household electronic devices is typically very small, but the sum of all these devices within the household can easily become significant.

Products

UNI-T UT210E current clamp

The UNI-T UT210E is a handheld multimeter with an integrated current clamp. By means of the current clamp, AC and DC current up to 100 A can be measured safely. Furthermore, this multimeter can also measure DC/AC voltages, resistance and capacity. The 2000 counts display shows just enough for all basic applications.


UNI-T UT71E multimeter

The UT71E is a multimeter with a very good price/quality ratio. The model offers a 40,000-count display and precision up to 0.05% for DC voltages. The multimeter offers True-RMS” and can perform two measurements per second at the 40,000-count resolution. The meter can store up to 100 samples, which can be retrieved later. The Bar Graph is a useful feature of this multimeter, which updates 10 times per second, and shows how a measured value changes during the measurement. This graph has 40 segments and therefore only shows a rough image. In addition to the 40,000-count main display, the UT71E also has two secondary displays with 4,000-counts. These can display other useful information at the same time as the main display. For example, the phase angle and VA values are displayed during a power measurement, or the frequency during an AC voltage measurement. The UT71E comes with a USB cable that allows you to connect the multimeter to a computer. With the included software, the multimeter can be used for multiple applications. This way data can be logged, or a Pass/Fail evaluation can be done. Furthermore, the UT71E comes with an accessory that allows the multimeter to measure power from a wall socket. This allows you to perform power measurements of all equipment with a plug.


Matrix MPM-1010 power meter

The Matrix MPM-1010 is a simple power meter which performs measurements on a mains socket port instead of more traditional terminal posts. This way you can more comfortably measure common appliances up to 3000 W. The real power can be measured with a power meter without cutting the power cable. This power meter can measure, for instance, the RMS voltage, the RMS and peak current, the active power, and the power factor.


Aim-TTi HA1600A harmonics, flicker & power analyser

The HA1600A is an affordable and simple solution to measure power quality according to EN61000-3-2 (harmonics) and EN61000-3 / EN61000-4-15 (flicker). The Aim-TTi HA1600A is provided with a socket and measures power, voltage, current, THD, power factor, frequency, inrush etc. of the connected device, up to 16A RMS. The 40 harmonics are shown in tables or graphs, voltages and currents are visible as waveform. Automation is possible via the RS232 and USB interface.

Video

Bas explains in this video several concepts, such as the difference between active, reactive, and apparent power, the power factor, kilowatt-hour (kWh), and (true) RMS. Furthermore, several examples are given on how to measure the standby power consumption of products.