Power Measuring Methods

Hi

I'm working on a design project that requires the measurement of power usage in a home. The PC is used to display a log of this. What I would really appreciate is if someone could give me a brief idea of how many methods there are of actually measuring the power.

I found out that one could use a current transducer at the mains or count the number of times the meter needle spins. Which of these will be easier to implement? And what are the drawbacks?

Thanks

Assuming the idea is to monitor your actual costs?, then the meter spinning is the only way to do it - that way you're actually monitoring what you're going to get charged.

If you want to monitor power consumption?, check EPE, they did a two channel PIC based monitor the other year, which used a special monitoring and multipying chip.

Thanks Nigel, how can I get hold of EPE?

It's a UK magazine **broken link removed**

EPE has forums:

https://www.chatzones.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

Thanks Nigel and Scott