P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
by P3 INTERNATIONAL
|
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 |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
Customer Review: great for measuring power usage ON and OFF
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very handy gadget for seeing how much power various appliances are burning. But don't make one reviewer's mistake, and assume you can calculate yearly power usage by measuring power use only when a device is on, and then multiplying by number of hours a year you have it on. (His example: TV use 3 hrs a day, so 3 x 365 x watts/hr)
Many devices, especially the newer TVs, can burn power when they are plugged in but turned off. That is why this device is so handy--you probably won't change how many hours a day you watch TV, just because you can see how much electricity it uses. BUT...if you measure how much power it uses when it is off, and find it uses a lot more than you thought, you can start unplugging your TV (or Tivo or computer...) when it is off, or plug it into a power strip and switch the power strip off.
So use this device to measure how much power an appliance sucks down for a whole day, when it is both on and off, and use that to calculate its power use. Even better, measure it for a period when it is off, and see how much it uses when it is just sitting there.
Customer Review: You'll be surprised at how much you'll learn from this device
Summary: 5 Stars
the kill-a-watt really surprised me. mostly because it's extremely easy to use and very informative as well. the fact that i could see my LCD tv wattage drop as i adjusted the settings (primarily the backlight) was amazing to me. The product specs (and the standard setting) measure the output of my 32 inch LCD HDTV at over 100 watts - but using the setting that i customized (which i find looks better and isn't so blindingly bright) the tv now uses only 42 watts! it's amazing to see that i just cut the TV wattage in more than half. i then measured everything else in the house, from the AC to the dvd player, to the xbox and wii, even the laptop that i'm writing this review on. It was also helpful in locating all the devices that drain power even when they are turned "off". cable boxes are horrible at this, using almost the same electricity when they are off, as they use when powered on. All in all, this product is a must-have for anyone that wants to end up saving money on their electric bill and for anyone that is just plain curious as to what their average electric consumption is.Customer Review: Great Product, helped me save $10 per month
Summary: 5 Stars
This product was very helpful, on the first day, I went through the whole house including the garage and checked every outlet. in some cases I needed an extension cord to be able to use the tester over a period of time. You can set it up to calculate how much energy is used over a period of time like an hour or several hours. I noticed that by turning off the directTV box with DVR that we could save over 100 watts per hour. We used to leave it on all the time but not any more. Also an ordinary DVD player used over 100 watts per hour in standby mode, it looked like it was off but still used energy. we used a power strip and turned the switch off. I was surprised that a window air conditioner used almost the same amount of energy between low medium and high. Some computer related stuff like monitor, printer, cable modem, etc used energy all through the night even when we weren't doing anything. there is a power strip device that senses how much energy is being used during normal operation and when you turn it off, it will power down the other outlets. I will be buying that next.Customer Review: What a great consumer product!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm very happy with my Kill-a-Watt. It's so nice to have this tool to analyze my power usage habits. We run a box fan all night, just to make noise and help our kids sleep, and we've been wondering how much that costs us. Now I know that it uses about 31 kilowatthours per month. I've figured out exactly how much that costs us ($3/month), and if I knew how much power a white noise machine used I could figure out how quickly one would pay for itself.
Unfortunately, I haven't found anything egregiously wasting power at my house so I haven't saved myself any money, but I'll keep trying! It's a great product at such a reasonable price! I'm so glad P3 International brought this product to the market.
Caveats: It loses all data if it's unplugged or the power goes out. You'll need a small extension cord to monitor some appliances (like a refrigerator) so you can read the display. It won't handle 240 volt outlets so you may not be able to monitor those appliances (for me it's the clothes dryer and electric stove).
Customer Review: Paid for itself as soon as I plugged it in!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was hemorrhaging money in my electric bill lately. I assumed it was my spa so I threw the breaker for a month to see what kind of difference it made. I was still paying almost twice what I should have been spending per month in electricity. My second home which currently we have been using about 80% of the time is 400sq larger and costing almost half the money per month in electricity.
Turns out it was (as I had a sneaking suspicion) my home theater that was costing me almost $70 a month just on standby. I promptly put everything drawing any current in standby (except my DVR of course) on a switchable surge protector or the wall switch. I wait the appropriate time for my DLP fan to stop running after I turn it off and switch off the surge protector. I also got rid of my Panamax line conditioner which was bleeding money every month. In the end I cut my electricity bills in half and they are now at the levels I have been used to in previous years.
Just buy it, your wallet will thank you!