"Clip on" electricity meter.

[4String.]

Folks.

Do such things exist?

Reason for asking is that I'd like to know how much power I use in the workshop. I can't fit a meter on the incoming supply cable because it enters the consumer unit almost as soon as it comes through the wall, so a clip on meter, if they exist, is all I can fit.

Unless there's any other way??

 

[JOEPRO]

Do you mean for long term on going monitoring?

If you want to determine a good average or max usage draw you could use a AV clamp meter from amazon and check what the load from your workshop is and pro rata that to work out the hourly running cost in use.

Or for smaller 13 amp items you can use a plug in monitoring device also from amazon.

 

[4String.]

Do you mean for long term on going monitoring?

If you want to determine a good average or max usage draw you could use a AV clamp meter from amazon and check what the load from your workshop is and pro rata that to work out the hourly running cost in use.

Or for smaller 13 amp items you can use a plug in monitoring device also from amazon.

Yes, long term monitoring.

If it's possible I want to measure how much electricity I use as a whole for the workshop. For example, (and bearing in mind that unless I'm in there, nothing is switched on), I go in on a Sunday morning, switch on the lights and radio and spend a few hours on the wood lathe, switch everything of then go back in the house, I want something that will tell me exactly how many units of electricity I've used.

Something permanent that's"plug and play" and has a "before and after" reading is what I'm after, I'm not clever enough to work consumption out and I'm definitely not clever enough to remember to stick a plug-in meter into a socket before I plug any one of a dozen different tools into it.

 

[JOEPRO]

Yes, long term monitoring.

If it's possible I want to measure how much electricity I use as a whole for the workshop. For example, (and bearing in mind that unless I'm in there, nothing is switched on), I go in on a Sunday morning, switch on the lights and radio and spend a few hours on the wood lathe, switch everything of then go back in the house, I want something that will tell me exactly how many units of electricity I've used.

Something permanent that's"plug and play" and has a "before and after" reading is what I'm after, I'm not clever enough to work consumption out and I'm definitely not clever enough to remember to stick a plug-in meter into a socket before I plug any one of a dozen different tools into it.

Something like this looks like it would do what you need and at a sensible price -

https://amzn.eu/d/6cMDUWb

Just note you can't clamp a whole cable. You want to get onto a live + cable so if it's one breaker for the shed you could clamp around it directly.

 

[gaz1]

you can buy meters yourself and fit them on the incoming mains at the garage if you really want to know the power that your using there

just fit it in line before it goes to the garages consumer unit

 

[Cobbler]

What about one of those Thingies (meter?) that show consumption when they fit a smart meter. It clips around one of the tails from what I recall. They gave me one when they changed the meter & I bunged in the draw!

 

[Agroshield]

I can't fit a meter on the incoming supply cable because it enters the consumer unit almost as soon as it comes through the wall...

If the type suggested above is still too big to fit the space available, a possibility might be to fit it at the house end of the cable.

 

[J1nx]

A Shelly might be ideal…

Shelly: Real-Time Power Monitoring

Real-time power monitoring: take control of your energy consumption with Shelly's real-time power monitoring solutions. Our advanced devices provide accurate, real-time insights into your energy consumption, helping you to identify savings opportunities and optimise efficiency. Easy to install...

www.amazon.co.uk

They are the go to for home automation guys

 

[jmp49]

+1 for the shelly stuff. I've found the pro series very reliable, although I dont like the blue stuff as much.

I have a shelly pro-em for monitoring incoming/outgoing power, it has 3 clamp on ammeters on tails, that clip over the individual conductors between the supply meter and my consumer unit. It comes with a din rail mounting and the main device lives in the consumer unit.
They do single phase versions, and ones for different amperages. Once you get it connected, you can connect using their phone app to it, or on a pc if you connect to it or set it up on the network.
Screenshot of the web interface that runs right on the shelly pro itself.

You can get a version that has a screen on that displays the resutls per phase or for monophase in realtime on its lcd.

 

[jmp49]

For longer term, you can get energy graphs for a hour right in the web interface, or download a detailed csv for x hours or days or since it was powered on. I dont use this side, since I send the realtime stats off to something because I use it to make decisions on loading etc. The sudden dip in power use on phase1 is the ev coming off charge because the suns gone down between the two screenshots

 

[4String.]

Thanks for all the replies .

Plenty of food for thought but it's on the back burner for the moment, other projects have taken priority.