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Picture of Powerwerx Watt Meter, DC Inline Power Analyzer, 45A Continuous, 12 Gauge, MC4 Solar Connectors
Powerwerx Watt Meter, DC Inline Power Analyzer, 45A Continuous, 12 Gauge, MC4 Solar Connectors
  • $59.99
  • In Stock
  • SKU: WattMeter-MC4

Powerwerx Watt Meter, DC Inline Power Analyzer, 45A Continuous, 12 Gauge, MC4 Solar Connectors

Measuring capacity up to 60V and 100A. 12 gauge wire with MC4 connectors. Bright blue backlit LCD display. Measures 8 electrical parameters: Amps, Volts, Watts, Amp-hours, Watt-hours, Peak Amps, Minimum Volts (Sag), Peak Watts. No configuration, works automatically! Read Full Description
$59.99
Availability: In Stock
SKU: WattMeter-MC4
GTIN: 840128904459
Read All Reviews (6) | Add your review
4.0 6

Introduction

This easy to use meter is ideal for monitoring eight electrical parameters that are essential to electric power safety and performance: Amps, Volts, Watts, Amp-hours, Watt-hours, Peak Amps, Minimum Volts (Sag), and Peak Watts. With a capacity of up to 60 volts and 100 amps, high contrast blue backlit display and auto reset feature, you’ll be sure find many great uses for this watt meter and power analyzer.

Safety Precautions

High power electrical systems pose many dangers. It is the user’s responsibility to be familiar with these dangers and take any action necessary to ensure safe use. Shorting a battery or battery charger can have serious consequences including explosion, fire, damage to equipment, or personal injury. Exceeding the rated specifications or shorting the watt meter will cause damage to the meter and void your warranty.

Initial Setup & Wiring

The red source wire goes to the positive (+) source or battery terminal. The black source wire (-) goes to the negative terminal. Use caution when making connections to ensure all connections are tight use adequate wire size to handle higher amps/current. This watt meter is available with either Powerpole connectors pre-installed or with bare wire ends for installation of your own type of connectors.

Watt Meter Display Screen

Startup Screen
Each time power is applied to the watt meter (or the auxiliary power connector), the startup screen is briefly displayed. Then the Amp-hours, Watt-hours, Peak Amps, Minimum Volts, and Peak Watts parameters are all reset to zero.

Display Parameters
The display screen will continuously measure and display Amps, Volts and Watts. All other values are presented sequentially every second. In the lower left position of the display, data values are identified by their units (Ah, Wh, Ap, Vm, Wp).

Amps (Current) & Peak Amps (A, Ap)
Only current from source to load can be measured. Drawing current in reverse will cause damage to the meter. The Amps (A) value displayed shows the average current over the last screen refresh. The Peak Amps value (Ap) displays the maximum current drawn since the meter’s last startup. Spikes or peak amperage readings lasting a fraction of a second may also be captured.

Voltage & Minimum Volts (V, Vm)
The displayed Volts (V) value is the average voltage from the last screen refresh. The displayed Minimum Volts (Vm) value is the minimum voltage or “sag” measured on the source side, since the meter’s last startup.

Watt-hours (Energy) (Wh)
The displayed value is the total energy delivered in Watt-hours since the meter’s last startup. It is measured from the load side for the most accurate results.

Amp-hours (Charge) (Ah)
The displayed value is the total charge delivered in Amp-hours since the meter’s last startup. It is measured from the load side for the most accurate results.

Watts (Power) & Peak Watts (W, Wp)
The displayed Watts (W) value is the average Watts (Amps * Volts) from the last screen refresh. The displayed Peak Watts (Wp) value is the maximum watts measured since the meter’s last startup.

Auxiliary Power Connector Cable

By connecting the watt meter directly to a battery or power source, the meter requires a minimum of 5V to power itself. However, if you are using the optional auxiliary power connector, the meter can be powered through the auxiliary source, and measure the complete range of 0 to 60V. Another benefit of the optional auxiliary power connector is that it powers the meter through the auxiliary source. The regular source to load measurements become more precise, as the measurements do not include the small amount of power required to operate the meter. Only 2 of the 3 wires on the auxiliary power connector are used. Refer to the watt meter black housing for (+) and (-) indicators showing how to power the watt meter using the auxiliary input.

Connection Example Diagrams

Typical Load Testing
The following diagram shows the most common use of the watt meter, connecting a DC source like a battery, solar panel or power supply (5-60V), to any DC load.

 

Load Testing Below 5 Volts
The following diagram shows the use of the auxiliary power connector which powers the meter externally and allows voltage measurements down to 0V. This configuration also provides increased accuracy and lower loss as power consumed by the meter is not included in the measurements.

 

Battery Charging
The following diagram shows how a battery must be moved to the load side to measure battery charge, as the power flows from the battery charger (source), to the battery (load).

 

Specifications

  • Amps: 45A continuous, 100A peak, 0.01 A resolution from 1 ~ 100
  • Voltage: 0 ~ 60V, 0.01 V resolution (5 to 60V without optional auxiliary power connector)
  • Wire Type: 12 gauge wire
  • Watts: 0 ~ 7800W, 0.1 W resolution
  • Amp-hours: 0 ~ 65Ah, 0.001 Ah resolution
  • Watt-hours: 0 ~ 6554Wh, 0.1 Wh resolution
  • Display: High-contrast blue backlit LCD display
  • Size: 3.3 x 1.7 x 1.0" (85 x 42 x 24mm)
  • Weight: 0.18 lbs. (82 g)
  • Warranty: 1 Year Limited Warranty
Customer Reviews
Watt Meter w/MC4 By
Great product for use where portable solar of various configurations is built and defit in a wide range of environments.

I found it to be accurate and easy to deploy.

A great buy
Was this review helpful? Yes No (2/0)
I agree...12 AWG is not a problem for this product By
I've read the comments about 12 AWG versus 8 AWG for this product. My background is an Electrical Engineer with 2 decades of experience designing DC power systems. I want to voice my support for the statements made in the post "On balance…12 gauge is fine to use here." The points made are accurate and the overall message is correct. Adding 1 foot of 12 AWG wire in series in your circuit is the equivalent of adding 2.5 feet of 8 AWG wire in series. The effect will be negligible. The larger effect is that in order to make a current measurement, the device very likely uses a shunt resistor in series in the circuit. Although the value of this resistor is not specified, it is probably in the ballpark of 0.001 to 0.005 ohms for the measurement range of 0 to 100 A. Additionally, the contact resistance of each connector will also be several milli-Ohms. Amongst these contributors, you have a larger effect than the gage of the wire.
Was this review helpful? Yes No (26/2)
On balance…12 gauge is fine to use here. By
10 guage would be nice, but 12 is fine.  Unless you are pushing super high amperage, and most solar systems push voltage, not amps,  you are not going to have trouble with this derating your system because the footage of wire here is what, under a foot in total length?   That does not add a truly significant amount of resistance to your circuit for such a short run.  It is not likely to significantly reduce the wattage of your system output.  Don't believe me?   How many ohms resistance is added by a foot of 12 gauge?   .002 ohm.   How many ohms resistance is added by a foot of 8 gauge?   .001 ohms.  So you are talking about saving only .001 ohms of resistance but increasing the cost of the product significantly to accommodate much larger gauge wires and connectors that can handle it. This is why while its true the MC4 connectors can handle up to 8 AWG wire, you will not find so many 8 gauge solar-rated wire sets with MC4 connectors preinstalled.  Many MC4 crimping tools do not even crimp wire gauges over 10.  The added cost of making a tool like this meter with 8 gauge wire may be not too much more to implement but manufacturers need more incentive to make a more expensive product than "it will save me .001Ω on my system wire run resistance.or the equivalent in a 1000 W system of losing .02 Watts.   Such a fuss over such a negligable loss!  You lose far more energy to heat derating and dirty connectors than you would to one foot of 12 gauge wire added to your otherwise 8AWG wire rated system.  Now with that in perspective we can see the shrill cries for 8AWG cables on this product is silly.  If it matters that much I would suggest people buy one of those and modify it with their own 8 AWG cables since most solar amateurs buying gear like this should be familiar with soldering, crimping and stripping wires.  Should not be a big chore to fix this "problem" to your liking rather than just whining about it and down-rating a perfectly fine product for ridiculous technical reasons that don't really matter.
Was this review helpful? Yes No (47/1)
Increased wire gauge. You would sell a lot more of these. By
Would really like to see higher gauge wire.  I use 8 gauge in my system to minimize loss.  You guys would sell a hell of a lot more of these if you increase the gauged wire connectors.
Was this review helpful? Yes No (23/31)
Watt meters should be made with the highest possible Gauge By
Watt meters should be made with the highest possible Gauge for its intended applications so that it won’t insert loss to the circuit under test. At least they should have different gauge versions of this product. In my case I use 8 Ga. It should also have either it’s own power source to operate or compensate in the reading the power it uses from the circuit under test to operate.
Was this review helpful? Yes No (27/23)
Watt meters should include 10 Ga Version By
The watt meters look like they measure all the right things.  The problem is that they all have 12 Ga wire to the circuits.  I use 10 ga wire in my solar system and I don't want to include 12 ga wire in that circuit.
Was this review helpful? Yes No (35/24)
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