This product was pretty easy to install and setup. I live in a 3-unit condo in San francisco, and the signal transmitted fine from the garage to the master unit, probably 30-40 feet away and through a number of walls.
I'm already an efficiency nut and have replaced all the inefficient fixtures in my house with flourescents, and do a good job turning things off when not in use.
My main issues with this:
- It only measures in 100W increments, so you can't really track how much a compact fluorescent light or anything else small uses. You need to use a Kill-a-Watt or something like that
- The update interval is a bit slower than I would have liked
- There's no good way to get this data off the master unit and charted online
- It seems to be quite inaccurate around 300W. My nighttime usage it says fluctuates between 0 and 0.3 Kwh. I really want to figure out what my zombie devices are and I'm having a hard time figure out why there's always 300W of usage in my house. I unplugged the fridge so it's not that, and I'm using a Kill-a-watt to try and track down everything else
- It does let you figure out how much electricity the big things in your house use like the dishwasher, washing machine, heater, toaster, microwave, vacuum, TV, etc.
What I really want is something I can replace my electrical outlets with and have them communicate with a central server and track usage at each outlet.
For $100 this is a neat device, easy to install, and will find any really bad power usage that you have, but it left me wanting more.
Update: I decided to buy the TED Energy Detective as it's more accurate than this and I have access to my subpanel. That device isn't wireless and I wish it was, looks like there isn't a perfect product on the market yet Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor
I have a Blue Line power monitor. They look so much alike, that I'd suspect they are both made by the same manufacturer. Anyway, my pet peeve with my power bill is that it's like a credit card. Once a month you say ouch and then forget about it. This thing is a constant reminder. My wife bought in immediately. It lives in the center of our house and the wife and I reference it constantly. Instant gratification. Turn off the air conditioning and watch the # get smaller.
I don't have teenagers, but I suspect that they would buy into this thing.
I used 30% less Kilowatts this summer. My power bills have a tiered rate system, so the actual $ savings was more than 50%. Paid for itself this summer. Now it's all gravy and I've got a much better understanding of my power usage.
I was without it for 24 hours (didn't have new batteries to put in the sending unit - yes it had been warning me for a week) and I felt naked.
Like my uncle said about his TIVO, there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those with a power monitor and those who don't know about it yet.
This item is manufactured by Blue Line Industries for Black & Decker. Blue Line sells a slightly better version for about $15 more. The big difference is that Blue Line provides knowledgeable technical support. My meter is mechanical with the spinning dial best viewed from the side. The instruction manual advises you to call Black & Decker if you have this situation. Black & Decker's response was that it was not compatible with my type of meter. Called Blue Line and they advised that there was a work around and that Black & Decker should have the answer. Called BlacK and Decker again and they didn't have a clue. They would try and get back to me in a couple of days but not Monday because they are too busy. Called Blue Line again and asked for the sales department who explained the work around.If you anticipate any technical questions order the Blue Line version. The Black & Decker unit is being returned to Amazon. - Energy Consumption - Energy Savings - Electric Consumption - Power Meter'
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