ryebred Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 I received my shipment of 12 cases of LED strings for my light display this season. The LED's are 70 count C6 and are listed as 4.8 watts which is 0.04 amps per string. I have a P3 Kill A Watt meter and I plugged it into a 120 volt outlet and plugged an LED string into the meter. It read .08 amps and 7 watts. This is double what the advertised amperage is. So far I have tested about 36 strings of lights and all yield the same numbers. Is the Kill A Watt meter incorrect or do the strings use more electricity? Not a big deal because with all the LED's, I am only using 8 amps spread out over 3 controllers. I was just curious as to the discrepancy. Especially since each string has a tag on it stamped as 4.8 watts/0.04 amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrypowerz Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 You might try something like plugging 10 sets end to end and using the P3 to measure then and see if you get 10X what you measured the first time, or if it comes out closer to the tagged claim.I know that power factor devices (compact fluorescent bulbs) do not measure accurately on the P3...It may just be such a small load that the P3 has trouble with it perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryebred Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 Good idea. I plugged in 10 sets and my totals came to .42 amps and 51 watts. Dividing by 10 that gives me .042 amps and 5.1 watts which is close to the advertised .04 amps and 4.8 watts per string.Interestingly, when I plugged in 36 sets of lights end to end, I came up with .031 amps per string and only 3.7 watts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrypowerz Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Well... it sounds like you just need to use more LEDS this year and REALLY save by reducing your current draw even further! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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