Product Description

Simple to use plug-in power meter, monitors and measures the energy/power consumption and running costs of connected electrical equipment. Measures Voltage(V), Amps(A), Watts(W), Hertz(Hz). Ideal for seeing how much power your appliances are consuming Maximum Load : 13A, 3000W Measure Voltage Range: 200-276V AC Measure Current Range: 0.02 - 13A Measure Power Range: 0-3000W Measure Freqency Range: 45-65Hz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1513 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Power Accessories
• Model: SEC0956407

Features

• Simple to use
• Monitor Power useage to assist in saving money
• Identify cost of leaving items on / in standby
• Manage energy use more effectively

Customer Reviews

Simple to use, accurate power/energy measurements
This energy and power monitor does what it says and does it pretty well. I tried two different plug-in meters and this one was by far the best.

I didn't bother with any of the devices that are attached to the live cable next to the house's main electricity meter, as these can't measure actual power consumed (i.e. what you're billed for). Only plug-in meters can give you an accurate measure of this, though of course you can't use them to directly measure e.g. showers or cookers as they don't have a plug (with a little effort though, you can use the meter to work out how much energy one revolution of your normal electricity meter corresponds to, which you can then use to measure consumption for items like showers that don't have a plug).

The meter is able to measure low currents and low powers fairly well, so low-consumption appliances or devices on standby can be measured accurately (unlike the other meter I tried: Power & Energy Monitor by Brennenstuhl). It measures current (A), actual power (W), apparent power (W), power factor, total energy (kWh) and usage time, and you can view any of these values within one or two button presses (some buttons toggle between two measures). The usage time measured doesn't depend on the current drawn by the appliance you're measuring, so for fridges/freezers that switch on and off, you see the total usage time which makes it easy to work out typical (average) power consumed.

The meter doesn't have batteries, so you have to read the measurements while it's plugged in. This is rarely a big problem, but occasionally you might have to get under a desk to get to the plug socket and the meter (you can always use an extension lead to help with this).

All the measurements are updated about every second, so you can see how power usage varies for things like TVs and PCs. Power values are shown to the nearest Watt, and the meter seems to give reliable readings at the bottom end of the range (1-5W). You can even look at apparent power and the power factor to get an estimated value of actual power that's not rounded up (e.g. apparent power of 3W, power factor 0.5 means actual power is 1.5). Measuring a low-energy light bulb rated at 11W gave an actual power reading of 11W, so it seems to give accurate readings. After measuring all appliances in the house, estimating power usage for the cooker/shower and estimating the amount of time each item is used on average, I got a total figure that matched well with our actual average daily usage. It was then easy to see how energy could be saved by using some appliances more carefully and by cutting down on standby.

Overall: a useful tool for measuring the power used by household appliances (when active or on standby), easy to use, accurate measurements of actual power consumed (including low currents/powers). Ideal for identifying the most energy-greedy appliances, and for working out where energy savings can be made.

Useful device but no memory
A useful meter for measuring electricity use on a device basis. Its interesting to compare different heaters, computers there can be significant differences between different models. For example a 14" Sony ~35 watts while a 17" Dell laptop is ~65 watts

Although if you unplug the monitor you lose the total kwh so be sure to plug it into an easily visible socket, there are more expensive meters which have a small watch battery to store the total kwh.

Accurate
I've had one of the other meters (a Brennenestuhl) for 3 years, and was puzzled when it reported the standby power of my new Sony TV as 11.85 Watts, with a power factor (cos Phi) of 1.0. Sony say the standby power is 0.7 Watts, and I'm sure Trading Standards would be on to them quite quickly if the true figure was so wildly different.

I bought one of these Plug-In Power and Energy Monitor Meters after reading the other reviews (thank you, Howard Wright), and was not too surprised when it gave a reading of 1 Watt for the Sony TV (readings are to the nearest Watt). A pretty good example of the difference between 'precision' and 'accuracy' - 11.85 Watts is very precise but hopelessly inaccurate. 1 Watt is not very precise but is accurate enough to be useful.

There were similar huge discrepancies between the two meters with other appliances drawing small amounts of power (but which can add up).

It may not have a battery, and it's certainly awkward to read without an extension cord, but it's the best one available at the moment.