Measure power consumption?

[Joerg Bergmann]

Am Montag, den 26.10.2009, 16:57 +0530 schrieb Jatin K:
> On 10/26/2009 04:32 PM, Aioanei Rares wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Was wondering if any of you know about a tool to measure the number of 
> > watts drained by a machine. Trying to make my machine as 
> > power-efficient as can be.
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> >
> you need ampere meter [1] ..connect it in series[2] with your system 
> (assuming you are using  desktop  ) and get the reading on meter
> 
> 
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere-meter
> 
> 
> [2] http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_6/chpt_2/4.html
> 
This approach neglects the influence of idle power. Some better
PC power supplies have near to zero idle power, but cheap power
supplies show large idle power even nowadays. You should better
use some kind of wattmeter. Such a tool should be available
for about 10$ from any local electronic discounter (here in Germany
from Conrad Electronic).

Joerg