[ChaosCloud]

Normally wall socket outlets would run at 120v, but right now for a month now mines been running at a consistent 164v out of the wall.

Would this harm my computer if i use it until they fix the problem? Would it cause my computer to use more watts?

 

[kyfire]

You got worse things to worry about than your computer if you have that much voltage at the wall. You NEED to get that fixed ASAP before your house burns down.

 

[viprk24]

If you are renting a apartment or house I'd file a lawsuit...but for safe measures I'd probley shut breakers off when no one is awake...

 

[ChaosCloud]

Decided to try it at someone else's house first and the p3 kill a watt isn't calibrated right.

Measures 165 here and 170 there.

Might be an off topic question, but was wondering about calibration for the kill a watt.

I've pressed the volt and hz like they said at the same time but it still didn't go into the calibration mode.

Already opened it and there seems to be nothing physically wrong with it.

 

[boostinsteve]

I would return it to be honest. Meters like that are supposed to be between 3-5% accurate, and yours is way out of tolerance. How old is the kill a watt?

All 4 of mine are within 1.5% accuracy for both voltage and current. PF on the other hand is a little further off as those really weren't meant to do an accurate power factor calculation. They take the KVA, and give you a round about figure of watts.

 

[ChaosCloud]

Found out about it when my computer started getting artifacts in games and freezing, so i hooked up a killawatt to my computer to see how much it was drawing from the wall. Got a little scared since it said it was drawing close to 850w when i only have a 620w psu. Of course its only an 80 percent efficiency on the psu but still showed it was maxing it out basically.

Using a phenom 1100t and radeon hd 5970, so the psu doesn't have a whole lot of breathing room

Since my killawatt is out of commission would there be anyway to use a multimeter to see the load on the psu?

 

[boostinsteve]

Turn the computer on with the kill a watt plugged in, and see what the current draw is. Then check the outlet voltage, with the computer on with the multimeter. Now I am taking a leap of faith that the current element is at least close, but since the voltage is off, all bets are off.

 

[ChaosCloud]

Tested it out and got 120.2v from the outlet that the computer is in, so i believe the current is off.

Tested the accuracy of the current with different wattage light bulbs and the higher the wattage the more off the current was. Multiplied the 120v from outlet to what the kill a watt was saying for amperage if thats what you meant.