If your power is 120V ac and less than 15 amps, consider this:

Kill-A-Watt: $17.84 - includes shipping | gosale.com

For the price you can't beat it. It will do all of the above and give you the total power consumed over time and power factor, too.

I've got one and sometimes my wife gives me "the look" when I'm unplugging things and checking them.

I agree with Lyn, I think for the price, you can't beat the Kill-A-Watt meter.

Another one I have used is The Energy Detective (T.E.D.) and it too is something that can record and display on a PC. A lot more money though compared to the K-A-W.

Agilent Technologies makes some exceptional test equipment. You should also consider Fluke, LeCroy, Tektronix and National Instruments. There are of course many more companies. You may find the price of these quality instruments a little high but you should know that there are firms willing to rent these fine instruments.

I found this old power meter by weston.. Has the reading resolution that I need..
Now I just need a way to integrate the readings..
convert them to a digital using ADC?
Use a camera and track the needle?

Spread sheet?

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

'Economistspeak'

Wow, so rather than spend under $20US for a digital device that will give you what you ask for, or $120 for one that will allow you to connect it to your PC, you chose instead to buy an old and comparatively IMPRECISE analog meter, which by the way will likely need current and voltage transformers to make it work, and then video tape the face of it to get a record???

Good luck with whatever your experiment is.

By the way, for a resistive element like that, all values are mathematically predictable with likely more "precision" than your old analog meter will give you anyway. So I'm not sure why you need a meter at all...

Thanks, the Watts Up meter looks good. What does it cost?

It looks interesting, but it's $95.00USD. A fine price, if you need a PC interface.

I'm perfectly happy with my Kill-A-Watt. (OK, I guess that's an endorsement).

Yeah, there's a Kill-A-Watt 2 out there, even more bells and whistles. I like the idea of computer connection, maybe could make this into a recording device to monitor things like fridge activity. I'm always interested in how long the defrost heater stays on, how much it draws, etc. Sorting out a moody fridge can be a real bother without a good recorder.

In my retiring years I'm looking for low-impact (lazy) things to do. Diagnostic work has always been fun for me.

Just be very careful with what you choose to monitor for diagnosis. Sometimes too much data just leads to extra work.

Agreed, Redfred. Fridges can really be challenges sometimes. It takes quite a while with them to determine if the defrost timer is even working properly. Low gas, bad gaskets, iced up freezer coils, clogged vents, dirty condenser coils, and teenagers standing with the door open all take time to sort out.

Hooking up a laptop to monitor current draw and freezer fan output flow temp for a day should tell the story.

If such a setup is already not on the market, putting them together could be a nice cottage industry. Make them and sell them on E-bay to apartment complexes and such. Old laptops are available cheap enough.

When I was working for an apartment complex fridge calls were numerous. The boss never wanted us to waste too much time figuring out what was wrong. If the customer was in risk of losing food and charging the complex for their loss, anything more than a manual defrost or a coil cleaning could end up in just changing out the fridge.

With a gizmo like this, the recorder could be set up at the first service call and by the next day enough data would be available for a diagnosis. The usual first call was that the fridge was just not cold enough. No spoilage risk yet, but time to do something.

I recommend Watts Up AC Power Meter

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-Up-AC-Power-Meter/dp/B00130R810

I'm currently using it to analyze energy consumption from every device in my house so we have more information to figure out ways to save some $$ in our electricity bill.

It's easy to use, and its many modes give me the numbers I need. Whether I'm looking for watts, peak watts, watts/hour, montly watts/hour, the Watts Up Meter has it.

Only con: it doesn't have a backup battery, so the recorded data is lost immediately once its disconnected.