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: Great tool for analytical people
Summary: 5 Stars
The device measures AC current, voltage, true power, apparent power, power factor, and frequency. The form factor makes it so you can't plug it into a crowded outlet strip, but that's trivial to fix with a short extension cord.
I make electrical measurements fairly often, so I find the Kill-a-Watt useful for characterizing the average behavior of AC devices. It's much more handy than hooking up a scope or two digital multimeters (not to mention a lot safer). Note the voltage, current, and power measurements are true RMS values.
Its primary design purpose is to measure the instantaneous value of the above parameters. In addition, it will integrate the true power over time to give you the energy usage of a device. This is useful for devices that use varying levels of power intermittently (like, e.g., a refrigerator). I used mine to determine our 40-50 year-old freezer was twice as efficient as modern freezers (no surprise, as it wasn't a frost-free model).
My only wish (it isn't a complaint) is that the device actually measured power levels beyond the 15 A current levels, as my compressor and microwave oven draw currents slightly over the 15 A rated NEMA plugs that they use.
Customer Review: Does what it describes, but could be better
Summary: 3 Stars
Some issues I have with this product that make it difficult to use:
1. There is no battery backup. This means that as soon as you unplug the device from the wall, it erases all the data you collected.
2. There is no cord to plug into the wall; the product itself has to be plugged directly into the wall. This makes it diffucult when taking my first issue into account. Since the device must remain in the wall in order to read the display, and since there is no extention, you have to place your face right in front of the outlet to read it. This can be difficult if the outlet is in a hard to reach place or behind some heavy furniture.
3. There is no reset button. If I want to erase the data it collected and start anew, I have to unplug it and then replug it in. This might not be an issue if it's plugged into a TV or something that turns on and off quickly. But it is difficult when I have it plugged into a computer and want to start new readings. In order to get the new readings, I have to power down my computer, remove the device, plug it back in, then power up the computer again.
I would have gladly paid more money if these issues were not present.
Customer Review: Fascinating gadget
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this thing.
Having recently moved out on my own, and generally just enjoying statistics in general, I bought this to monitor my electric costs after two high electric bills in a row. The various results I found were quite surprising.
My air purifier, which I bought here on Amazon, uses 85 watts all the time... 85 * 24 hrs * 30 days / 1000 watts = 61.2kWhr * $0.20 = $12.24 a month.
Well, that's quite a costly monthly addition I never thought of. And that's just the begining.
My Vornado fan uses 45w... my air conditioner, on high 6 (out of 12) spikes up to 1200 watts. Jeez.
My computer, at idle with external drives, uses about 250w. When doing extremely intensive things, like encoding a video, 310w.
My light behind my computer desk, with five, 10-watt bulbs, doesn't actually use 50-watts total. No, it uses 50-watts for the bulbs, PLUS 30-watts apparently just for the light unit to function.
You too will find out all these things you never knew, and possibly save money by cutting out, or replacing energy guzzlers.
The product is also made in China. Just like everything else now.
Customer Review: Great Device, Delivers As Promised
Summary: 5 Stars
Very pleased. Works exactly as I expected/desired. The negatives I read about prior to using the product seem very overdone. Do yourself a favor, like I did, and attach a 10" pigtail to the device (available at most retailers). With this addon, you won't have any problem plugging the device into any standard outlet, even if the other plug in the outlet is being used. My pigtail lights up, so it also confirms a good connection. Easier to manipulate the device and read the display. Very easy to read display, disregard commenters that state otherwise. In the dark, use a flashlight to read the digits, if necessary. I gathered some very interesting data, such as a string of lights I have up around my patio that I've always been curious what they're consuming, given that the box they came in gave no indication of the strand total or the individual bulbs. Turns out the 100+ lights use 38 watts under full load. Pleasantly surprised on that one. My girlfriend's cell phone charger uses 0 watts when it's not charging, even though a tiny LED shines, indicating it's plugged in. I've had a lot of fun with the device and I'm sure it will prove to be very useful in the coming months/years.Customer Review: Nice consumption monitor
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this device to help measure how much electricty my family is using with our outdoor Christmas light show. I immediately began using it for that and for measuring other items around the house. I found it easy to use. The buttons on the front give easy access to amps, watts, volts, kilowatts used and time. All I needed was a calculator and the per kilowatt rate from my electricity bill to convert usage into dollars.
There are two improvements I would like to see. One is a battery backup so that the unit could at least store the last measurements. As it is you need to write down the kilowatts used and the time measured before the unit is unplugged to calculate kilowatts per hour. Once the unit is unplugged it is off and the measurements are lost. The second improvement would be to resign the unit so that it doesn't block both outlets. For many applications I will probably run a short extention cord from the outlet to the unit. For example, the outlet for my refrigerator is behind the fridge so I would use the extention cord method to monitor the readings before moving the fridge again to unhook the meter.
I highly recommend this product.