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 Buy Used: from $18.00 (click here) 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: 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: Other Uses
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
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.
Customer Review: Kill-A-Watt P4460 review
Summary: 4 Stars
A great tool for monitoring energy usage of individual appliances, tools, lamps, computers, etc.
Within days, I was able to determine that our two old refrigerators were costing us about $130.00 per year each. Since it is just my wife and I we decided we didn't each need our own fridge and moved the milk, beer, and other items from the basement fridge to our main kitchen fridge and freezer and unplugged the 2nd one. Its' a little more crowded now, but we are saving money and are looking to purchase a larger more energy efficient new fridge.
I also found that our TV, stereo, DVD player, etc only is costing us about $40.00 per year. However, our desktop PC, printer, modem is running about $135.00 per year, much more that I thought. I did replace the 75w light bulb at the desk with a 13w cfl so we are saving some money there.
I agree with most of the others in that the Kill-a-watt display is a little hard to read and would benefit from being backlit. Be aware that this unit only measures what you can plug into it with a standard 3-prong, 120v plug. It will not do 220v so I can't do my well or electric range.