DIY BYO Power Monitor Current Volts Amps

Bicycle Generator Power Monitor Video Clip Of School Science Fair Night

WATCH NOW--> http://youtube.com/watch?v=QM8W76nGc0o

#	Descriptions for above picture
1	This is the input side of the voltage/current/ power monitor. You connect this side directly to the generator.
2	This is the output side of the power monitor
3	This is where you hook into the LabJACK data acquisition unit.
4	The red box is the LabJACK data acquisition Unit which captures the voltage and current waveform with sampling rates up to 8,000 times per second. The data is transferred to your computer via a USB cable. It talks to the WattsVIEW program on your laptop. At has the capability of sampling 10,000 times per second to give you actual waveforms of your power.

Free schematic diagram for a DIY BYO Make your own ac / dc power monitor bke generator

	Description for schematic above and below	Purchasing Information
TB1	This is where you hook up the thing you are trying to deliver power to, like an AC inverter, a water heater, or television.	Buy Now
TB2	This is what you connect your voltage source to, like your bike generator	Buy Now
TB3	This terminal block is what hooks up to the LabJACK	Buy Now
LabJACK	The LabJACK USB Data acquisition box is what measures your voltage an current. I have bought 7 of these for many different projects, they work great!	Buy Now
R1 R2	This is what is known as a voltage divider. It will lower the voltage down to 1/100 of its value to allow the data acquisition LabJACK unit read the signal with out frying it. WARNING: if you pick resistance values that create too much power dissipation, you could start a fire, or burn your hand when you touch these resistors. If you want recommend resistance values send an email to support@scienceshareware.com	R1 Buy Now R2 Buy Now
R3	This is what is known as a precision current measurement resistor. If you want to know how this works, click here. If you want recommend resistance values send an email to support@scienceshareware.com	Buy Now
Software	You can write your own visual basic or C++ or LabVIEW software program to collect data from the LabJACK data acquisition unit. You can use this LabVIEW based program that I wrote called WattsVIEW. More about WattsVIEW software HERE

Free LabJACK Power Monitor Wiring Diagram Bicycle Generator

Buy a power monitor

If you want to buy a power meter here are some options that I recommend:

The Astro Flight Digital Watt Volt Meter shown (Order information here) I bought two of them and they work pretty good. It is limited to 60 Volts and you will have to be able to change the connectors on the ends to meet your needs. Take a look at the specifications below.

Maximum Voltage 60 volts
Minimum Voltage with no receiver battery 4.5 volts
Minimum Voltage with receiver battery Zero Volts
Maximum Amps while discharging 70 Amps
Maximum Amps while charging 10 Amps
Maximum Power 4,200 Watts
Current resolution 10 Milliamps
Voltage resolution 20 Millivolts
Power resolution 0.1 Watts
Maximum amp hours 94 Amp Hours
Amp Hour resolution 0.01 Amp Hour
Current Consumption 10 Milliamps
Standard Connectors Astro Zero Loss
Optional Connectors Deans Ultra

If you just want to measure how much AC power is being used by something in your home like a computer, TV, or refrigerator, then you might want to get one of these AC wall plug power meters. They are great and inexpensive - cheap way to measure power coming out of your wall socket:

Wall socket AC Watt Meter for wall plugs measureing Watt Hours P3 International Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

Energy Meter w/ LCD Display - EM100 Energy Meter Wall Plug KiloWatt Meter for TV or Computer Wattage