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A comment on Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by badams2527 on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:05PM (#21095251)
Out of curiosity, how often do you use a Kill A Watt meter? $23 seems like a high price just to plug a device into for a couple days to say "oh maybe I should turn this off more often"
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Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by pwg on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:17PM (#21095376)
Myself? Never, as I don't have one. When I want to find out what a device is consuming, I hook it up through my Fluke multimeter to obtain the current draw, then calculate the rest.

But, for general use by anyone not a EE or Electrician, hooking up a general purpose multimeter to mains power to measure current draw is a not recommended, much danger here, operation.

Therefore I erred on the side of caution and recommended the method that was most safe for all involved in all situations.

What I suspect you will find, however, is that you will find uses for the device that you never anticipated once you have one.

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Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by BooneJS on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:08PM (#21095280)
Many libraries have them to check out for a few days.
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Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by Johnny555 on Saturday September 28, 2019 @12:09AM (#21098381)
Some community share programs lend them out for free. Including some libraries:

https://seattle.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2655545030_kill_...

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Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by kedean on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:08PM (#21095276)
I've always had the same concern stopping me from getting one. I wish I could go to Best Buy or someplace and rent the darn thing for a few hours instead.
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Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by paulkrush on Friday September 27, 2019 @03:18PM (#21095380)
The kill a walk is really handy for debugging battery charging. I seem to use it on a regular basis, but I tinker with stuff a lot.
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Re:Ask HN: Should I turn off my idle machine over the weekend? by basch on Friday September 27, 2019 @04:55PM (#21096193)
cheaper to buy smart plugs. https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Monitoring-Required-Warranty...
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