P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor | List Price: $59.95
Discount Price: Too low to display
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Brand: P3 International
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Shows the operating costs of your household appliances
- Accurate within 0.2%
- Calculates cost and forecasts by week, month and year
- Displays eight critical units of measure on the large LCD display
- Built-in battery backup
Other Uses [Posted on 2008-09-22]
After reading all reviews, I would definitely use to test appliances for cost savings; HOWEVER my main reason of potentially buying this item is:
I want to know what size generator to buy (4000W or 5500W or ????W).
So my plan was to walk around the house and find the stickers to see how many watts each item uses (most items don't have the stickers, plus don't know if I can trust them). Therefore, that is what led me here.
Will this item (in addition; to calculating costs) be able to tell me how many watts are being used); ALSO as important will it be able to tell me the "startup surche" of the items. Meaning, after reviewing generators, they say some items have normal load wattage and a spike wattage at startup that last about a second. This "second" is important to know the wattage being used to help determine the correct generator.
As an example (numbers made up)....I want to walk around my house with this item and say:
Referigator: 400W
Freezer: 200W
Sump Pump: 1000W; 1400W at startup
Water Well Pump: 800W; 1100W at startup
60 Bulb: 60W
Etc....
Then I will know what size generator is needed.
could be designed better [Posted on 2008-09-23]
Billed as the newer and improved version, this monitor still has a short coming. It should be on a flexible cord because the monitor blocks access to the 2nd wall outlet. In my kitchen wall outlet, I have the fridge and the microwave plugged in. In order to measure the fridge usage, the microwave has to be offline and vice versa. It was a pain to re-plug everything to a power strip and to reset the clocks etc.
Handy and interesting [Posted on 2008-10-01]
This was VERY easy to use. Put in the cents per Kwh (on your bill) and press reset. Plug it in and the calculations are automatic.
I was able to identify that my refrigerator used about $6 / month, but I wasn't about to unplug that.
Most of my chargers used about $.41 per month. They can be unplugged.
My Wii uses 21 watts when turned off if it is on WiiConnect24. Who knew?
The dehumidifier was the real shocker at $46 per month.
A toaster oven uses .07 per hour at 400 deg. F.
Once you know your costs, you will probably not need to use it again. Share the wealth and loan it to all your other techno geek friends.
You get the picture. Easy to use, but if you are testing something that is necessary, you probably won't change your habits and turn it off.
The refrigerator? I will leave that on. But two refrigerators? I might turn the second one off.
Don't buy the cheaper one (p4430?). This one has a battery back up so you can move it to a more convenient location and read the results. It still needs to be plugged into an outlet to read the display.
Useful, practical [Posted on 2008-10-03]
This Kill A Watt Monitor gives me the data which I was looking for. I use it to check my personal appliances and electronics. My use is simple and I have nothing to compare it to, so I give it a good rating. It could us a back light on the monitor for convenience.
Useful, but not perfect [Posted on 2008-10-06]
Very useful for determining the amount of energy used by major appliances. I like the fact that it keeps track of total energy consumption and uses the actual energy cost to forecast the cost of operation. This information is very useful when targeting appliances to reduce energy consumption. It is also useful for evaluating how successful I am at reducing energy consumption.
I don't like the fact that the LCD does not have a backlight, and that the display can only be read while the unit is plugged in. I have to get on the floor to read it. The unit also blocks both outlets.
I recommend getting a couple of extension cords and using this device "in line". Use one cord from the kill-a-watt to the wall, so that it's easier to read, then another cord from the kill-a-watt to your appliance (not needed if your appliance has a long enough cord).
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