It's been extremely useful for finding out how much power various equipment draws. For example, several of the "powered off" systems here - not sleep mode, just shut down via OS - still draw 4.5W+ continuously. Now I turn things off via the switch at the back of the power supply too. ;)
Mentioning this as you don't need to fork out heaps of money for (say) a Fluke meter. It's possible to get reasonably accurate consumer type.
(But, read the reviews first. There were probably 10+ other meters out there better priced... but most of them with reviews about their poor accuracy.)
As a data point, bought one of these 6 months ago (£20.00) for doing power draw measurement from the wall socket:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000Q7PJGW
http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html (US equivalent)
It's been extremely useful for finding out how much power various equipment draws. For example, several of the "powered off" systems here - not sleep mode, just shut down via OS - still draw 4.5W+ continuously. Now I turn things off via the switch at the back of the power supply too. ;)
Mentioning this as you don't need to fork out heaps of money for (say) a Fluke meter. It's possible to get reasonably accurate consumer type.
(But, read the reviews first. There were probably 10+ other meters out there better priced... but most of them with reviews about their poor accuracy.)