I have a Prusa i3 MK3S 3D printer, and I use it for many projects I post here. I want to know roughly how much power it consumes while printing, to get a feel for both the peak power consumption of the printer (to, say, size an off-grid power system) and energy consumed for an average print. I know the cost of filament is pretty low for most projects, but I don’t know the cost of energy (or wear on the printer).

In my previous tests using Software Defined Radio (SDR), I used rtl_433 to successfully receive data from an outdoor weather station sensor. Always seeking more data, I found rtlamr - a tool which decodes smart meter data. I don’t really need to read smart meter data since the only smart meter I have is my power meter and I already have my own meter for that, but I still was excited to give it a try and see what I could find!

After setting up my 1-Wire Temperature Network, my next sensory target was my AC breaker panel. I watched reviews for products such as the Sense energy monitor, The Energy Detective, and a few others, and felt like none of them did what I wanted. I know that big loads in my house use a lot of power (duh), I want to know how much power specific people and rooms in the house use, so I can improve my home energy modeling skills.