Unlike current or voltage measurement, the measurement of power is somewhat inconvenient as

power is the product of voltage (V) and current (I) flowing through a dissipative circuit.

In a linear-moving coil meter, the deflection of the pointer is proportional to the current flowing
through the meter. It is also proportional to the duty cycle of the current waveform. The net deflection
is proportional to the product of duty cycle and the magnitude of current. Using this principle, the
power in a circuit can be measured. The degree of deflection of the pointer is proportional to the
product VI, giving the meter the property of a power meter.

The figure shows the circuit of an analogue wattmeter. This meter makes three connections (A, B and
C) with the test circuit. The current through the test circuit is sampled by measuring the voltage drop
across a small resistor (R1) such that its introduction does not affect the current in the test circuit
significantly. After amplification of this voltage, it is made to generate a constant current, the
magnitude of which is proportional to the voltage drop across series resistor R1.

The voltage that drives test load RL is sampled through an attenuator circuit and fed to a comparator
that compares it with a ramp voltage. The higher the supply voltage of the test circuit, the higher the
point in the ramp at which the comparator fires. Thus pulsewidth modulation becomes proportional to
the value of the sampled voltage. The output of the comparator along with the logic gates is used to
modulate the flow of current through the meter, making its deflection proportional to VI in the test
circuit.
The values shown in the circuit correspond to a meter capable of measuring (5V, 10V, 20V, 50V)x500
mA, or 2.5W to 25W. By selecting an appropriate value of R1, it is possible to accommodate higher
currents and thus higher power.

IC1, which is configured as a non-inverting voltage amplifier, is used to amplify the voltage across
R1. IC2(A) generates a constant current (Ic = Vi/Rc) that is proportional to the voltage output of IC1.
Electronic switch CD4066 modulates the current through the meter, causing variation of the duty
cycle proportional to the voltage of the test power circuit.

The ramp duty-cycle generator consists of ramp voltage generator IC2(B), comparator IC2(C), timing
oscillator NE555 and logic gates. The voltage of the test circuit is attenuated and directly fed to the
non-inverting input of IC2(C). NE555 is set to oscillate at a moderate frequency of around 800 Hz.
The ramp needs periodic discharge of capacitor C2 for repetitive production of ramp profile. This is
done by transistor T1.

For null offset, use a 10-kilo-ohm multiturn trimpot VR1 with 15-kilo-ohm resistors R4 and R5 on
either side terminals of the wiper. Eliminate the offset when power is not applied to the test circuit by
measuring voltage Vi with a 0-200mV digital voltmeter. Adjust VR1 until the reading on the digital
voltmeter is 0.00. It is easy to adjust calibrating resistor Rc by measuring known power parameters
like 5V and 400 mA. R6 is the shunt resistor whose value is to be chosen such that the meter has a
full-scale deflection for 5 mA.
 Introduction: Wattmeter is an important measuring instruments. It allows to measure true electric
power (wattage). Determining the true power in AC circuits can not be made simply by multiplying
the RMS voltage and current, because power factor is usually not equal to one. You must use the
meter that continuously measure instantaneous current and voltage, multiplies and produces a mean
value. Analog electromechanical devices do that using through the coil (solid) and voltage coils
(moving with the pointer). The magnetic force acting between the coils is equal to the product of
magnetic fields. Analog wattmeters are not too accessible, they never measure with great precision.

Electronic wattmeter theory: I decided to make it solid state way and build an electronic power meter
with analog sensing and digital reading. Display is provided by a digital multimeter, which can now
be bought under CZK 100, and therefore does not make sense to build your own digital voltmeter. It is
also possible to use panel digital voltmeter or a common analog uA meter. Immediate voltage is
sensed using a voltage divider. The current is sensed by shunt. The voltage and current are then
multiplied by an analog multiplier AD633. The output provides a voltage proportional to the
instantaneous power. To obtain the average power is necessary to filter it using RC filter.

The biggest pitfall in circuit design is generating the product of two analog voltage that is not so
simple as might seem. There's possibility of multiplication using operational amplifiers and discrete
transitions diodes or transistors, which have an exponential characteristic. Their principle is logarithm
both signals, add them and finally de-logarithm. Accuracy is not too good, there are problems with
calibration, a huge temperature dependence and differences between individual pieces of transistors or
diodes. That's why I rejected this option. Another option is using pulse-width multipliers, but this
solution is also quite awkward. Even more complications occurs when it is necessary to work with
both polarities of current and voltage (4 quadrants). So I decided to use a specialized integrated circuit
AD633 (AD633JN in classical THT case DIP8), a four-quadrant analog multiplier with differential
inputs and precision of 2%. For more info see AD633 datasheet. Note, that SMD version has a
different pin layout! The output voltage is given by a function:

w = (x2-x1) * (y1-y2): 10V + z

I wanted to try the integrated circuit MPY634 with an accuracy of 0.5%, but I couldn't find one.
Maximum voltage range at which the circuit AD633 operates precisely is +/- 10V. This must match
both the input voltage. The circuit must be designed to the amplitude of current and voltage, not only
an effective value. The mains voltage therefore expect with 325V, not only 230V. As best shown with
a divider ratio of 1:40, which allows you to work with peak voltage up to 400V. Shunt voltage is
lower than the voltage of voltage divider, so is connected to the input Y, which has greater accuracy.

Simple Wattmeter circuit: Fig. 1 is the simplest power meter (wattmeter) design with the AD633
and a single range. The current is sensed by shunt. If we require the output signal conversion
1mV/1W, the value of the shunt would be calculated 0R4. Maximum effective current through meter
is determined by the maximum allowable shunt loss. For 40W shunt max continuous current is
approximately 10A. Max. measured power is 2300W for ideal resistive load, for different loads must
be lower. Another limitation is the maximum input voltage 10V of multiplier, so that the maximum
momentary peak amplitude must be below 25A. Calibration is done by setting P1 according to known
loads. The sum of the values of P1 and R1 will be about 390k and the dividing ratio of 1:40. If you
can not set the correct value, change R1. Multiplier inputs are protected against overvoltage by 12V
zener diodes. Supply voltage +/- 15V is capacitively knocked down from the network and stabilized
by 15V zeners. In combination with a conventional multimeter with a resolution of 0.1 mV you will
get a wattmeter with a resolution of 0.1 W. We will use 200mV, 2V and maybe 20V ranges where the
power is displayed directly in watts (1mV = 1W) or kilowatts (1V = 1kW).
A friend of mine, Dick Benson, W1QG, built a pretty cool combined Forward and Reflected Power
and SWR meter using two AD8307 Logarithmic Amplifier chips from Analog Devices. He used a
PIC to convert the dBm readings back into watts (and to calibrate the device, too).

N2PK also has an interesting design for a "Forward Power and Return Loss Meter." It, too, uses two
AD8307 ICs.

One of these days I'll build a "Power and SWR" meter, too, but for the lab bench I thought a basic
Power Meter would suffice. Almost all of my work on transmitters is either testing or repairing them,
so I don't really need to measure SWR or Reflected Power. With that thought in mind, why not design
a 0 - 60 dBm (1 milliwatt to 1000 watt) power meter?

Here's a picture of the completed power meter. It reads either 0-30 dBm (1 - 1000 milliwatts) or 0-30
dBW (1 - 1000 watts). Yes, the scale is in milliamperes. Someday I'll make an appropriate scale. But
meanwhile, it's easy enough to convert the 0-3 mA scale to 0-30 dBm/dBW.
Choice of parts (apart from the AD8307) was pretty much dictated by what I had in my junkbox. The
case was originally from a Drake W4 wattmeter. (I no longer recall where I found the case -- I must
have picked it up (sans meter and electronics) at a swapmeet sometime in the past).

The meter (0-3 mA) was chosen because it was in the junkbox and, most importantly, it fit the hole in
the case's front panel! I initially wanted to use a meter that was marked from 0 to 600 mA (actually a
100uA FS meter), because the scale would be perfect for a 0-60 dBm meter without a range switch.
But I really wanted to avoid cutting a meter hole, so the 0-3mA meter won out. The 0-60 dBm overall
range is now broken into two sub-ranges: 0-30 dBm and 0-30 dBW (i.e. 30-60 dBm).

I also wanted to used op-amps with rail-to-rail outputs (so that I could drive down to 0 volts).
Fortunately, I happened to have some TLC2272 op amps on hand.

Schematic Notes:

The design uses 5VDC, provided by a 78L05 regulator that drops the input DC (e.g. 9V - 20V) down
to 5V. The 1N4148 is just there to provide circuit protection in case the wrong polarity DC is attached
to the input.

The AD8307 has a 92 dB Dynamic Range (-75 to +17 dBm), but if you look at the charts in the
datasheet you'll see that accuracy suffers a bit at the ends of this range -- I think a range from -60 to
+10 dBm is more reasonable if you want to preserve accuracy. So I decided to limit my top-end to
+10 dBm, which would put my bottom end at -50 dBm.

50 dB of attenuation (externally applied) is required to drop the "application" power range of 0 - 60

dBm down to the meter's input range of -50 to +10 dBm. Not a problem, as I'll explain later.

The 52.3 ohm resistor to ground at the BNC input parallels the AD8307 input impedance (1.1K ||
~0.7pf) and brings it closer to 50 ohms. (Note, the 0.7pF would be the differential input capacitance.
I.e. 1.4 pf to ground (for each input pin), in series). Here's an S11 plot of the Input port's Return Loss:

Because of the lower power levels that the AD8307 would be working with, I decided to shield the
AD8307 to (hopefully) prevent external RF fields from affecting the reading. I built the sides of a
small shielded box on the ground plane using copper-clad PC stock. Copper tape (soldered to the box
sides) caps the box.
Power and the output signal from the AD8307 pass through the box via feedthrough caps (1nF, if I
recall their value correctly).

I amplify the AD8307's output signal, whose slope is about 25mv/dB, by a gain of 4, which increases
the signal's slope to 0.1V/dB (i.e. 1V/10dB).

For the op amp to generate 0-3V for each of the two ranges, given that the AD8307 output ranges
from about 0.9V to 2.4V over an input range of -50 to +10 dBm, I have two switchable "offsets" that
connect to the negative-input of the op-amp, thus shifting the AD8307's output down so that 0 dBm
(or dBW) corresponds to 0V out of the op amp and a reading of 30 (dBm or dBW) corresponds to 3V.

A "Range" switch (0-30dBm or 0-30 dBW) selects a "course" DC offset, which then can be fine-tuned
with the "ZERO" pot. The pot spans the same amount of voltage, but shifted, when the range switch
is toggled (because the total resistance in the voltage divider does not change). Note that changing
ranges requires re-zeroing the meter.

Two more op amps round out the design. The first drives a 10 uF cap, which acts as a peak-hold (with
its "slow" decay determined by a parallel 1 Meg ohm resistor. This feature is useful when looking at
peak-power. The op amp drives a 2N3904 transistor which is in the feedback loop. This transistor
serves two purposes -- it provides adequate current to charge up the 10 uF cap (the TLC2272 is a bit
wimpy), and its base-emitter junction blocks the cap from discharging through the op amp when the
output of the op amp drops down below the capacitor's voltage.

Note that the 2N3904's V(BR)EBO is 6V (min), which is greater than the 5V powering the TLC2272
driving the 2N3904's base. So there's no danger to the transistor's Base-Emitter junction when the
10uF cap's voltage is high and the op amp's output is low. By the way, I used 2N3904 transistors
because I have a bunch on hand. 2N2222 transistors or any other garden-variety NPN would be fine,
just as long as it has a minimum Beta of at least, say, 20, and a V(BR)EBO of at least 5V.

A switch allows selection of "slow" or "fast" decay of the peak-hold cap by switching in a 10K
resistor to parallel the 1 Meg "slow" decay.

The other op amp drives the meter and isolates the peak-hold cap from the relatively low resistance
represented by the meter. The 500-ohm pot acts as a "Gain" control and it ensures that the reading of
the analog front-panel meter correctly corresponds with the input power. Initial setup requires a bit of
tweaking between this control and the "Zero" control to get the meter's needle to read correctly from 0
to full-scale, but once it's calibrated, one shouldn't need to touch the "Gain" control again (thus, it's on
the back panel).

A second 2N3904, in the feedback loop of this meter-drive op amp, provides current gain for the its
TLC2272. These op amps are a bit anemic with respect to current-drive, and their output voltage can
drop appreciably with loading. The transistor's current amplification keeps my 3 mA meter from
loading down the op amp's output.

If better accuracy is desired, I can read power via an external DVM rather than use the front-panel's
analog meter. A separate BNC connects a DVM to the output of the meter-drive op amp output --
remember, this output goes from 0 to 3V with a slope of 1V/10dB. There's a series 10K just to limit
current in case ESD somehow hits this signal, but it has no effect on the DVM reading, due to the
DVM's much higher input impedance.

Additional thoughts:

I used TLC2272 op amps because that's what I had on hand, but these devices cannot source much
current (e.g. the 3 mA required for my meter) without experiencing significant voltage drop at their
outputs. A better choice would be the LMC662 family used by N2PK in his Power Meter. This
device would allow you to eliminate both 2N3904 transistors, with the 2N3904 used for the peak
detector replaced with a simple diode, e.g. 1N4148.

Something else to try would be to replace the single "Zero" pot with two pots, each selected by the
Range switch. I'd tried to select my voltage divider so that the single pot wouldn't need much
tweaking (ideally: none) when flipping between the range switch, but I wasn't successful. If it turns
out that the zero pot, over time, needs no retweaking for a given range, then there's no reason why the
single pot couldn't be replaced with two pots mounted, say, on the back panel, instead of on the front
panel.

Notes on Construction:

I like to build on copper-clad PC stock because it provides a great ground plane for the circuitry (and I
have quite a bit of it in my junk box). When mounting IC's, I'll mount them "top-up" so that I can see
their part numbers. Pins going to ground are bent down and soldered to the copper plane. All other
pins are bent out so that they are straight out from the sides of the IC (like the wings of an airplane).

To give the device stability (in case, say, only one pin goes to ground), I'll solder a power-bypass cap
to the board so that it's lying on its side and then solder the IC power pin to the other lead of the cap.
Or I'll solder a high-value resistor (e.g. 1 Meg) to the board next to a pin. The resistor sticks up
straight and will support the side of an IC that has a pin soldered to to the top of the resistor.
Here's the start of the build...

Bending pins is great if you're using DIP packages, but often I'll be using SOIC parts. What I try to
do for these is to purchase little prototyping boards designed to adapt specific SOIC packages (e.g.
SOIC-8) to DIP spacing. I'll then stand these proto boards off the copper plane using either leaded 1
Meg resistors or, where appropriate (e.g. Ground), stiff wire.

In the picture below the two small green boards are the prototyping boards for the two TLC2272
packages. (You can often find these on eBay).