[Asterisk-Users] ultra-cheap asterisk box

[Ken Alker]

--On Monday, January 19, 2004 12:25 PM +1100 
woody+asterisk at solutionsfirst.com.au wrote:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com
>> [mailto:asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of
>> Chris Albertson
>> Sent: Friday, 16 January 2004 4:32
>> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
>> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] ultra-cheap asterisk box
>>
>
> <snip>
>
>> What I'm finding is that the PCs are so cheap that the cost of
>> electric power to run them is now a large part of the cost.
>> (assume 0.20/kwh times 200W times 365 days = $350.  So you
>> pay for the PC again every year in electric power to run it.
>> Worse.  In an office with airconditioning _all_ of that PC's
>> 200W goes to heat and your A/C unit will use about 220W of
>> power to remove that 200W of heat.)
>> and at a small office they will not have a server room so noise
>> from the fan is an issue.
>
> Are you sure the computer uses all the Power all the time?
> I would have thought that 200W was the peak, not the average.
>
> I guess the only way to measure it is to watch your home's power meter
> after you've turned off everything else :-)

Radio Shack has a really neat A/C power meter that plugs into the wall. 
You then plug the A/C powered appliance you want to test into the unit. 
The unit reports instantaneous KW, KVA, and power consumption over time. 
It claims 15A max, but I've run it much higher.  This is a great tool and a 
really fun gadget as well!  It is one of those things you just don't want 
to spend the money on for a single test, but then when you have it you find 
uses for it constantly.  I went around measuring everything in the house 
and at work after I got it.  I think it was about $50, but on sale it was a 
good 30% off!