
The Turnigy Aerodrive XP DC Watt Meter lets you know how many amps and watts your motor and ESC is pulling. This information can be very useful in helping you prevent burning out expensive electronics. This will also help you choose the proper motor and propeller combinations.
When you receive it, there are no plugs soldered to the watt meter. You have to solder your own. I prefer to use T-connectors. On the input side, I use a male T-connector and on the output side I used a female. Never hook up the battery to the output!!

You plug this device in between your battery and ESC. Battery goes on the input side and ESC goes on the output. The throttle cable from the ESC then goes into the servo connection of the watt meter. It takes the place of your transmitter to help you test your electronics. Using the knob you can vary the throttle and see how your motor performs at different intervals. It’ll show you voltage under load, amp draw, mAH and watts. With all this information you can use it to approximate your flight times, determine if the ESC is adaquet, etc. This device can also be used to test your servos.
Another cool thing you can use this device for is programming your ESC. Most ESC’s are programmed with either a card or your transmitter by applying minimum or maximum throttle (stick up or down). The dial on the watt meter does the same thing as your transmitter in turns of applying min/max throttle. For $25, this is a must-have item in any electric RC hobbyist’s toolbox.
Here’s a video of the watt meter in action as I test out my 30A ESC and 2200kv motor. As you can see, as I turn the dial, the amps increase. This will let you know how much amps the motor draws and whether they are within the limits of the ESC. The readings would be more accurate if a prop was attached since you usually don’t use a motor without one.
[flv:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PoGOQ0b_iM 480 368]