P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
by P3 INTERNATIONAL
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List Price: Our Price: $22.41 You Save: $37.54 (63%) 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 P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
Customer Review: Interesting Device
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a high school student and I purchased this device to help me with a physics project where I had to calculate the amount of electricity I used in my household per month. I know that I use far more electricity on my desktop than my laptop, but I didn't know that I spend over 200 watts on my desktop to a mere 25 watt on my laptop. Now I know why my electric bills are through the roof! No more leaving my desktop overnight to torrent haha.
I would recommend buying a power extender that you can plug this device into; it's a HUGE powerstrip space hogger. I had to unplug every outlet in it's vicinity to make room for it's gargantuan body. Make sure that the power extender is rated 13 amps - 15 amps, or else you can damage your parts or even start a fire! If you're just checking the wattage of a simple appliance such as a fan, the amperage wouldn't really matter much, but if you're measuring three monitors and a desktop simultaneously (guilty as charged), then I would not suggest using a cheapo power extender.
In summary, this device does what it does. It's a worthy investment down the road, as well as a fun toy to play around with. I certainly had fun learning how much wattage each electrical device in my household used.
Customer Review: Kill A Watt P4460 Evaluation
Summary: 5 Stars
I was originally going to buy the P4400, but for just a few bucks more, this P4460 calculates the overall cost of using an appliance for you (you have to input in your utility charge per kwh).
This is a very good product overall. I have been using it to calculate daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly costs for my various appliances and anything that plugs into a 110V outlet. It really helps in understanding the largest electricity users in your house. This allows you to make intelligent decisions on how best to lower your electricity costs. For items with intermittent use, I leave it plugged into the device for several days or weeks.
One slight negative item is that it does block usage of one outlet when you plug it into a wall outlet. I have solved that problem by using an extension cord (rated for the appliance I am measuring). The extension cord is also good where the outlet is blocked by the appliance (such as a refrigerator).
Before purchasing, I evaluated a few other devices like this one, but it was hard to beat the price (shop around on the internet). Plus, this product was determined to be very accurate according to a leading consumer magazine (initials CR).
Customer Review: Find out for sure what your gadgets really cost
Summary: 5 Stars
After hearing all the hype on TV about how much energy all my chargers were using just sitting there, I decided to find out for myself.
The Kill A Watt is easy to use. Just input what your electric rate is and you can find out instantly what that charger costs (when charging or just sitting there plugged in). Turns out my chargers only used pennies a year when not being used and only a little more when charging. Not worth the trouble to keep unplugging them.
You get the cost by hour, day, week, month and year. For a device that cycles on and off just leave it plugged in for say 24 hours and you can see what was actually used and a projection for any of the time frames above. I found out our small freezer was only using $6.84 a month, well worth the savings and convenience of having a freezer.
The only drawback is that the monitor plugs directly into the wall which can make it a little hard to read. The easy solution is using a short (3 prong) extension cord to get it away from the wall. Even if you do unplug it the data is retained until you press the reset button.
Pressing reset does not erase the rate...easy to change ...as the rates go up and up.
Customer Review: Handy little volt / amp / watt meter
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a handy little gaget for anyone interested in monitoring electric usage on any 120vt a/c appliance. It gives readings in watts, voltamps, amps, volts, kwhours used, and - if you punch in your kwh cost - dollars and cents cost of the usage. It will also give you the Power Factor at any given time for the more scientifically inclined amongst us. I also found it useful to see if and how much of a voltage drop I was getting at an outlet when it was placed under a heavy load. All cumulative units are measured from your last reset, and the time of use reading changes from hours and minutes to days,etc., as the time increment grows larger. I would personally recomend using at least a three foot (Heavy Duty) extension cord between the power outlet and this unit to make it much easier to reach and read the data. The power usage data is stored after unplugging (until you hit 'reset') but the LEDs do not show unless the unit is plugged into an outlet - so, if you don't like the extension, you can unplug it from a floor outlet and replug it into a counter level outlet for easier reading of just the cumulative usage data (i.e. kwh, cost, length of time, etc.); if that is all you are concerned with.Customer Review: Household electricity cost management
Summary: 5 Stars
Terrific product.
PROS: Easy to use yet as much detail as you want. Provides hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and annual costs with the push of a button. Have used for weeks determining costs on Frig, Freezer, TV, window air conditioners and computers. Helpful in making appliance decisions. Allows you to enter local price per kilowatt, which is critical in comparing to new appliances. Before you compare to Energy Star ratings look at what price per kilowatt was used in their calculation and match to yours. Locally we pay $.1602 (16 cents per KW - most rating labels show 6-10 cents). This device saved me from buying new appliances that I thought were a problem but are not the problem.
CONS: Can only do typical 110-120 volt appliances. Cannot do 208-240 volt such as your clothes drier and range/stove.
NOTES: I am copying all appliance data from P3 into spreadsheet to have a 90% picture of all my electricity usage (minus hot water heater, range and drier). Then I can start a more intelligent approach to electricity cost management. Every homeowner should have and use one of these P3 Monitors on a regular basis. Highly recommended.