Power monitor for electric boiler

[FL Brewer]

I'm in the process of collecting the kit to electrify my half barrel (15.5 gallon) keg boiler; I've got a 5500W heating element (240V) and have ordered this power controller



This displays output voltage as a percentage of line voltage, and I'm looking for a voltage and current meter that will let me know, you guessed it, the actual voltage and current going to the element. The ones I've seen on Amazon, such as



specify you must supply pure sine wave power or the meter may be damaged. An SCR dimmer type regulator such as the one I've ordered puts out a chopped sine wave, so that does not seem compatible. Since I'm only going to be drawing a maximum of about 23A, am I OK with using something like this, maybe one significantly over rated, like 200A capability? Anybody actually use a power meter with their SCR chopper voltage regulator? Can you recommend something that works?

[FL Brewer]

Hmmm, looks like I can't post the link.... the description of the controller I'm buying is " 10000W SCR Digital Voltage Regulator Module Board Speed Control Dimmer Thermostat AC 220V 80A"

and the power meter is "HiLetgo Digital Multimeter AC 80-260V 100A PZEM-061 LCD Display Digital Current Voltage Power Energy Multimeter Ammeter Voltmeter with Current Transformer CT"

FB

[Yummyrum]

You can use that meter by connecting it to the input of the Controller . That will stop it burning out but it will safely measure the current .
Alas the voltage reading will be wrong . Depending on how the meter calculates the Power , it may give you a reading although the Input voltage remains the same .
( This because some meters simply multiply the displayed Current by the displayed Voltage whereas others are doing it in real time and sampling throughout the each cycle )

However , unless it is a True RMS reading meter , it will always give you an inaccurate reading when hooked up to a Phase controller as these cheap non TRMS meters are calibrated on use withe a Sinewave only .

Having said all that , there are some hacks around where folk have modified meters to avoid the burnout . I think Stevebrody posted one here a few months back .

[Steve Broady]

Having said all that , there are some hacks around where folk have modified meters to avoid the burnout . I think Stevebrody posted one here a few months back .

I did indeed. It’s a very simple modification, or at least it was in my case.
viewtopic.php?p=7769775#p7769775

As for the accuracy, I read somewhere around here that someone had tested these things against his much more expensive RMS meter and found them to agree with a few percent. I don’t know the details of that, but it seemed legitimate enough for me to have some degree of confidence in the numbers I’m seeing. At the very least, the numbers I’m seeing seem to be in the same ballpark as other reported figures here for comparable results. YMMV, of course.

[FL Brewer]

The controller I've ordered has a 0-100 display for the output voltage where 100 means output voltage = input voltage, although the description does note that its not a linear scale, so it's not a percent of input voltage reading. That's probably enough for me to have a rough idea of the power output, will set up without the meter and see how it goes. Probably no reason to make it too complicated anyway .....

[FL Brewer]

I'll be retired soon and have more time on my hands, so I will probably try Steve Broady's mod to the meter eventually as well. Only thing better than a few flashing lights and changing numbers is more flashing lights and changing numbers.