How do you self test your electric meter at your home?
Q. I want to test my electric meter at my home. Is there a test kit I can buy at Home Depot, or some way I can make sure the meter is working correctly without involving my electric company?
Asked by Curious - Fri May 11 13:18:39 2007 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments

A. The electric meter measures kilowatt hours. Notice there is a black mark on the disk that is revolving. Call the electric utility and ask them how many watt hours, or fraction of a wat hour, are represented by a revolution. If you don't want them to know who you are, don't use their 800 number. Turn off all circuit breakers (or fuses) in the house (not the main) and observe that the disk is not rotating. Turn on one circuit and observe that the disk is not rotating. Now connect a known load, like a 100 watt lamp. Time a rotation of the disk. You can then calculate the watt hours being recorded.
Answered by Ed - Sat May 12 00:07:28 2007

How to build a ten meter home shooting range?
Q. My son has become involved in a modern pentathlon club and we need to build a ten meter range under the deck so he can practice, practice and practice. Anyone know of how to do this with common, easily available hardware? Not much luck with web searches yet. Thanks
Asked by Dale D - Sat Nov 8 22:30:27 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. for javelin? i suppose modern probably replaces it with a gun.. that would depend what kind of gun. i use a 3/4" thick sheet of ply as a backstop for my 10meter shooting. my 1000fps air rifle sticks in it and my air pistols bounce off it. you would need to give more information. rimfire rifle? air rifle? calibre? generally a sheet of thin (3-5mm) ply in front of a good mound of earth is suitable to stop almost any bullet (the bigger the cartdrige the more earth is needed). you need to replace the ply every now and then, and keep backfilling/turning over the earth to prevent "tunneling" if he's good and hits the bullseye every time then you wont need to replace the ply cos you can just hang a new paper target over the hole. other ideas… [cont.]
Answered by rob - Sat Nov 8 22:50:16 2008

How would i use an ohm meter to check for a battery drain on a car?
Q. I plan on unhooking fuses to find a short, what would i hook the positive and negative terminals from the meter to?
Asked by shmee - Thu Apr 17 20:48:24 2008 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments

A. dont use the om meter function. You will destroy the tester. to find a drain you use an ammeter which is capable of handling 20 amps,,,which a multitester is not capable of. So you use this other method. You get a headlight socket and a bulb . You disconnect the positive (red) battery cable from the battery. You put one headlight wire on the pos post of the battery and the other wire on the red cable. If you have enough of a drain the headlight will light up. Now pull one fuse at a time. If one of the fused circuits is responsible either the headlight will be too much of a pull an a small fuse and it will blow it. A bigger fuse will keep the light lit until you pull it out.
Answered by alvarz - Thu Apr 17 21:06:32 2008