Customer Reviews

Reliance Controls THP103 AmWatt Generator Appliance Wattage/Amps Load Tester

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't normaly set time to do a review but this product is just a must for people that are trying to use a portable generator properly. The digital readout is clear and quite accurate as specifified by manufacturer's specification sheet. This load tester is well worth the price as compared to other Load testers on the market that can cost up to $150.00. Also for all you that are trying to conserve energy, this device can show how much all your appliances and electronic equiptment draws power while on standby mode. Be informed and stop wasting money and watts!

My house almost caught fire while I was on vacation.
I had too many electrical appliances on one circuit . luckily, my best bud stopped over to feed my cats & saw the house was full of smoke.
He carefully looked for the source & saw a plug smoking which burst into flame as he watched.
He unplugged the source cord, opened the windows and saved my home from burning down.
I thought the fuse on the power cord would protect me....WRONG !
With this tester I have kept the amps down to a safe level on each of my outlets.....
This tester should be in everyone's home...IT REALLY WORKS !
Very simple to use.
I give it 5 stars !

Anything that uses an electronic ballast (light the compact fluorescent lights - CFLs) will not work with this device. That's because the device looks at the peak current to figure out the watts. For example, a CFL that actually uses 13 or 14 watts will erroneously show up as using 65 watts. That's because the crappy meter sees a maximum of 0.5 amps of current, but most of the time the CFL is drawing much less current. This device only refreshes about twice a second and cannot see a current that is pulsed faster than that. It will work fine for anything that uses a constant level of current, like a fan, toaster, etc. Also keep in mind that the packaging itself says it is only accurate from 125 - 1875 watts. That means anything using less that 125 watts might not show up very accurate. There are much better devices out there, like the Kill-a-Watt.

Excellent product. Does exactly what it is advertised to do.
Measures wattage or amperage with a simple click of a switch.
Very handy for measuring appliance loads for an RV.
GJM

Excellent product, simple to use and it does what it's supposed to. Found several items using too much electricity while they were off and now they are on a power strip and truly off.
Definitely recommend this product.

I just got this item a few days ago and it seems to be working well, as advertised. I plan on getting a generator soon and I wanted this load tester so I can determine how many watts I need. The refresh rate is very fast and the numbers constantly change. Another poster stated that the amps does not have a decimal. That is incorrect. My unit does have a decimal for amps. My only concern is that wattage posted on the display is a little different from the manufacturers numbers. Not sure who is correct. Over all good investment.

This works as advertised. I bought this to test the amps and watts of items that I planned on hooking to a generator. There are better watt/amp load testers available, but none are as easy to use as this. If you are not very experienced with electricity, but still need to find the amperage (or wattage), then this is for you. You simply plug this in the wall and the appliance into the plug on the back of the unit (you cant see it in the picture but its there). Then just take the reading,its that simple.

For the most part I am very satisfied with the meter. I wish I had something I could test it with to verify its accuracy. A supposedly 1500 watt microwave tested at just under 1700. My new George Foreman grill(760 watts) tested at 730. I replaced almost all my lighting in my house with the new energy efficient bulbs. A bulb equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb that supposedly uses about 30 watts tested at 85(a real bummer for me as I spent quite a bit to replace so many incandescents). A 60 watt incandescent tested at 59. I'm of the opinion it is an accurate meter, that's why 4 stars. A way to verify it would really boost my opinion of it.

This appears to be a very durable ammeter, that's why I purchased it instead of the "Kill-a-watt", but forget checking those small transformers (wall-warts) or other very low current appliances. This seems to be unreliable somewhere around 20 watts or less, which was a disappointment in checking out so many of these types of devices around the home. Obviously, it also does not have the capability of checking usage over time like the Kill-a-watt, but you should know that going in on this deal. Overall, this tester appears to do what it advertises, very well.

Just what I was looking for. Needed to go along with my home generator in checking wattage
my appliances use.