Amazon energy meter

americabound

Hi

I built a shed and installed a pre wired consumer board into it which is powered via an SWA cable I brought into the shed via my house. I bought an energy meter off of amazon and installed it myself but I don't think its reading it right, I have a freezer and fridge and some tools running at various times of the day and I think it's not reading the Kw correctly. I have included some pictures of the installation. Thanks in advance..

kirk.

Wiring looks odd

Don't think i'd wire any of those cheap meters inline . I'd use a clamp

Andrea B.

Looks to me like it is in parallel to supply without a CT or shunt.

Couldn't be measuring full current.

If I am correct and if that doesn't make sense, it should really be done by someone qualified.

From what I see, switching off your main breaker switch will not isolate your board, but instead you will still be supplying via your meter.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402386#Comment_121402386

That looks to be what I see too. So the meter which is bridging the main isolator will only see the voltage drop over the main isolator.

Plus there is what looks to be white flex coming into the board. Can't tell what the MCB's are rated for, but probably not suitable for white flex (if that's what it is)?

Here's a direct-connect meter from an established brand if you don't want to go with a CT type like Andrea suggested, but it needs to be properly wired in after the main isolator.

https://www.eurosales.ie/products/100a-direct-connected-single-phase-2mod-mod-active-energy-kwh-meter-sdm230-dr-mid.html?filter_set%5B%5D=4776,4828,4831,5210

kirk.

Isolator feed in top .Dual RCD .

Probably a UK board

Doesn't look pre-wired to me anyhow

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121402110#Comment_121402110

I meant not fit cheap direct connected meters

Wouldn't trust them in a board

Buffman

As mentioned by Andrea above, it looks like you've essentially just bypassed the main switch with the meter connected in parallel and now the meter will just read whatever small proportion of power is traveling through it. It needs to be connected in Series to measure all the energy flow.

While the meter says it's rated for 80A, those small cables connected to it are definitely not. If the main was isolated and there was still a very large demand on the board, those cables would go bang and your shed would possibly be up in smoke. It's also very dangerous for anyone working on it who might understandably assume that switching the main would isolate the entire board full stop, when in fact it would remain live. The only way to isolate that board fully with that current setup is to use the breaker feeding it that is hopefully installed in the main house consumer unit. I'd advise immediate disconnection of that energy meter in the current configuration.

If there's spare room in the board to house it correctly you could connect it in series with the main switch using the correctly sizes cables and it will function as you want, but it's a lot of hassle unless you need to charge someone for usage or something.