P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
by P3 INTERNATIONAL
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List Price: Our Price: $14.99 You Save: $15.00 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
Customer Review: With rising energy prices power is knowledge.
Summary: 5 Stars
Knowledge, often, is power. Other times knowledge will get you another slice of pie in Trivial Pursuit. But the Kill-A-Watt is a tool of true knowledge.
With Kill-A-Watt you'll be able to monitor how much wattage any appliance (computer, television, home stereo, floor lamps, etc) with a standard electrical plug is consuming per kWh.
This is probably one of the most overlooked gems on the entire internet. For those of us who like to micro-manage costs it's an invaluable tool.
This not only tells you kilowatt hours but also the following:
* Volt
* Amp
* Watt/VA (Vrms Arms)
* Hz/PF (Power Factor)
Though not an electrician by any stretch of the means I know the first two will tell you if your socket is up to par or not.
If you truly want to be nerdy break out an Excel spreadsheet and calculate your cost to run the appliance per day, week, month or year. Granted you're probably not going to do without when it comes to the home theatre but it is at least nice to know how much your entertainment is costing so you can justify to your wife how much money you're saving by staying home.
Customer Review: Essential Device if you want to monitor electricity use
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this device. I first saw a friend of mine using this about a year or two ago and found it really handy. At the current price point of about $20 it should not take it too long to pay for itself. I have used it to calculate power draw of various devices and evaluate them for possible use in an RV. (On battery power the lower the power draw the better) I also have a room that gets pretty warm in summer so being able to measure the power draw of different devices is a pretty good way to tell which items are likely to be putting out the most heat. Surprisingly there can be HUGE differences between the power draw of similar items. For example one electric fan can have almost twice the power draw of a similar model. Be careful not to leave device laying around. The power prongs are directly soldered to an internal circuit board and a friend of mine had to epoxy part of the board together in his kill-a-watt to get it working again after somebody stepped on it. I often look for info on actual power draw for various devices when shopping now. In Southern California we have some of the highest costs for electricity in the nation so it helps to be informed.Customer Review: A great, easy to use device to help cut your electric bill
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought one of these a year ago when our electric bills were sky high and I couldn't figure out why. The device is easy to use, you just plug it in an outlet and then plug the appliance or device that you want to measure into the Kill A Watt monitor. You can tell at once how many watts per hour it uses or you can leave it plugged in over several days or a week to see how much electricity the item uses over the time period and then get an average per hour.
I found that one of those little electric heaters was costing us nearly $100 per month to use on a constant basis. I found the incandescent light bulbs were using 8 or 9 times the electricity that a compact fluorescent would use. Regular lights on a Christmas tree were using almost 10 times what the same number of LED bulbs used. I ran around the house plugging in one thing after another, the TV, electric blankets, computers, stereo and appliances. I also ended up making a lot of changes and saving money on our electric bill. Changing out light bulbs alone saved us almost $30 per month.
This little device more than paid for itself. Two thumbs up for this one!
Customer Review: Watt a killer device!
Summary: 5 Stars
Every household out to have one of these inexpensive, efficient devices.
I've had mine for about a year now and still use it on a regular basis to try to keep a handle on our energy usage.
Even if you aren't a complete geek, I think you'll still enjoy being informed about the true cost of the dozens of little LED lights that are glowing in your house right now, as well as the big energy users that you expect to wipe out your bank account.
Once you start using this device, you'll become hyperaware of where your utility bill is coming from and can then be vigilant in paring down usage/costs.
One night I got up and realized that in my living/dining room I could see 18 different lights glowing on various appliances and electronics. I think when all was said and done, I had a total of 62 expensive, annoying, glowing lights that I couldn't get rid of (without a power strip) in our itty-bitty 1BR/1BA, low tech home. Truly amazing and appalling considering that I have whined about these lights for years (I think they make a house have a very cold, industrial, commercial, and decidedly un-homey, un-comfortable look and feel).
Customer Review: Great product and can pay for itself in no time
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this little gadget!
I've lowered my electrical usage by 25% by seeing how much power so many of my devices and appliances actually use. Some devices use a significant amount of power even when they're turned off! For example, I have an electric coffee mill that turned out to use 24 watts of power when not in use. That translates to over $27 a year @ my electricity cost of ~$.13/kwh. That one discovery alone more than paid for the Kill-a-Watt.
I found out my computer wasn't using the S3 power state in standby but was using the S1 state which was using 50 watts of power when in standby mode. I changed the computer to use the S3 state, and now it only uses 7 watts of power in standby mode. That's saving me almost $50/year.
The list goes on and on...
This is a great product that can save you money by using less power, and allow you to be more environmentally responsible.
My only wish is that it was rated for more than 1500 watts, but that hasn't been a major issue since there are very few 1500 watts or higher 120V AC devices in a home.