Expectations about cheap Power meters TS-836A & D52-2048 (home use)

[Kiriakos GR]

TS-836A & D52-2048 Power meters are both Made in China products, both aiming home users, both close to 10$ mark.

TS-836A this is plug-in type.
D52-2048 this is for mounting over rail.

Both able for power factor measurement, and other electrical parameters.

But here is the catch (trickery) = false advertising.

Only 1% of sellers they do mention that those meters they are exclusively for clean sine-wave and not for measurements of inverter output.
Non of them can measure True RMS and square-wave power. 
Additionally both are tremendously slow, and this translates that they are usable for static loads ( heaters and incandescent light bulb or Air Cooling Fans).

Especially for TS-836A the news here gets worst in the regard of measuring consumption over time.
Due electronics limitations and slow sampling speed, recorded energy this is in huge error.
What will never computed correctly this is energy consumed by Computers power supply, mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers, inverter air conditioner, LED home lights, up to high speed power drills.

 
For me as professional electrician, both of them are toys, but there is a positive side in all this marketing scam.
Currently measurement of Power Factor this is not possible by a large number of handheld multimeter,  power measurements these are somewhat work for dedicated equipment.

I did order one TS-836A for 11 Euro, but I did that by knowing all limitations, and because all that I care for this is  VA , Watt, Power factor of static loads.
Speaking of measurements trust in static loads, I can accept 2% error, and therefore just for comparison purposes this TS-836A it does not considered as total waste of money.

     
True power meters they have sampling of 100ms and not of 500ms ( two times per second),  as they have these cheap power meters.
100ms sampling translates to ten measurements in the unit of time ( 1 second), therefore any energy variations they are better recorded (more accurate measurement).
But because cheap ones are not able for True-RMS this translate to huge error despite sampling speed.
http://en-us.fluke.com/training/training-library/measurements/electricity/what-is-true-rms.html
 
Speaking of pricing of true power meters (panel type) they hover at above 450 Euro mark, and them are far more reliable speaking of energy recording ability over time.

   

[Kiriakos GR]

This is gadget all ready in the hands of millions of people, and not that complicate so this to justify any in-depth review.

But they are a few undocumented details.

Time clock measuring consumption over time this is working only if loads stay at 2W or above, and not at lower loads.
This detail possibly translates that many cellphone chargers consumption this will not be recorded.

Speaking of measuring speed,  from 300W loads switching to 150W, ammeter mode requiring 18 seconds to actually display real value, this stays still for 10 seconds and in another 10 seconds trying to stabilize to real value.
Voltage measurement acting the same as ammeter does.
Power factor accuracy unknown.
Operational voltage range with displayed measurements :  90 ~ 270 ACV ( Tested by Variac transformer )
Watt calculation error: about 4% with halogen lights ( for LED and switching power supplies or motors you should expect much higher) 

 
I got few pictures just for demonstration of operation,  this is not any review, if it was I would take pictures in proper sequence about aiming an measurements ( accuracy )  comparison.

[Kiriakos GR]

In order to help any lost souls   

I am hosting two pages of TS-836 User manual / instructions manual.
Two attachments below.

(Download Links are available ONLY to forum members)

[Kiriakos GR]

My first TS-836A (plug-in) power meter this exploded with out this to be misused.
One day it stopped measuring current, while it was looking alive, the issue were few tiny resistors burned at the point were the chip was connecting with the shunt.
So it survived from January 2017 up to the year 2021.

Since the year 2020, I did bring back to life one problematic HAMA 047770 Energy Cost Meter, identical design different PCB.
This had two issues, first is undersized resistor when AC converted to DC, this gets warm and gets burned.
Second issue, AC voltage +2% error.

An month ago, HAMA 047770 this were injured again, this time there was damage at a Zener diode along another regular diode.
I did succeed repairing it for a second time, but I cannot trust it any more.

Ten days ago, ordered a New one, 10,30EUR shipped from Banggood after using a discount coupon.
This recent revision appears to have a white backlight ? or product pictures might be cooked.
Product model this when away too.
Intertek logo this when away too.

I do now expect product arrival in ten days.
(But with Banggood and the use of useless YANMEN as regular priority shipping, you never know actual date of delivery.)
 
My wild hope this is to see for a first time a proper recording of Min Watt, because the other two were unable to hold as Min Watt anything under 20 Watt mark. 

[overvolt]

I do not understand of why the industry of Taiwan this is under deep sleep about this market of products?

They could deliver more reliable goods and make money..

[Kiriakos GR]

The batch of power meter sold by Banggood this is a huge FAIL. 

This thing its unable to measure anything below 3W.
This thing its tremendously SLOW at the calculation of energy.
Its jumps around instead measuring, at sudden load change it stays frozen for six seconds at least.
100% FAIL   
Some one in China made their own copy of the internal chip, and this is not qualify at all.

But I do now blame my self, I did acted as moron by accepting to pay money for this totally unbranded piece of shit.
I will start a dogfight with Banggood, aiming for a complete refund. 

[Kiriakos GR]

Here are some proofs of what is going on.
These power meter require approximately 30mA so to operate.

I did add a multimeter at power meter input, so the measured current include and 30mA of the power meter consumption.
a) At 140mA of load this thing does not measure anything (170mA total).
b) At 460mA of load there is error of minus 10mA.
c) At 1A and or 2A, at sudden load change this seems as freezing, tremendously slow at power calculation.

Backlight stays on no more than nine seconds.
I do not plan taking it apart, it might Banggood wish having it back.

[overvolt]

Banggood  this is a bad apple regarding repair, exchange, refund.
I have them in my black list too.

[Kiriakos GR]

Banggood approved 10.60E refund in my favor, and this is the good news.
In theory this will executed in 24 hours from today.

And therefore I will play nice and wait to see of how it will go.