Kill-a-Watt Meter suddenly has inaccurate residential voltage; hope to disassemble and troubleshoot

Thread Starter

joaquin_circuits

Joined Aug 3, 2019
3
Hello Folks
I've been using this Kill a Watt meter for maybe 10 years. It's been fine until now. Mostly, I just use it to see watt usage of various appliances/devices; have not really used the other functions. Right now, it is showing the voltage for every outlet in my residence, that I've tried it on, as roughly 198-199 volts (I'm in the USA). Probably not surprisingly, the watts display shows 42-43 when *nothing* is plugged into the kill-a-watt.
I have nothing much to lose (sure, I could just subtract 42 or 43 from every wattage reading, but that seems kind of "lame") so I thought I'd open it up and see what I can find. I'm not a EE or electronics technician but I do have a good multimeter that I know how to use fairly well.
Any tips on what to focus on as far as what type of testing I should do once it's opened?
Many thanks!
 

JohnInTX

Joined Jun 26, 2012
4,787
Pop it open and look for any visual clues of failure, cracked solder joints, smoked components etc. Touch up any mechanical joints, scrap it if smoke.
 

Thread Starter

joaquin_circuits

Joined Aug 3, 2019
3
Thanks Everyone!
That gives me enough to take a stab at it.
Much appreciated.
If I do get any resolution (good or bad), I'll post it here for anyone who may encounter this problem in the future.
cheers
 
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