Rating:

I was frustrated at first with trying to get the wireless unit on the power meter correctly. It kept losing the signal. I eventually got it pretty good, but it’s not perfect. I finally decided that this isn’t a perfect real time thing. It’s just an extremely accurate estimate. Using it that way, it was a lot less frustrating. I have a mechanical meter and it also works on the optical ones, so they may work better.

Using the unit, I was able to see how much power my central air uses (35 to 40 cents an hour), my dishwasher (10 cents an hour) and my big set of basement light (12 cents an hour before I switched a few more bulbs to CFLs then 8 cents). Just having the unit where I can see it has helped me change habits and turn things off and switch my computers so they go into standby mode faster.

Use:

- Install batteries (not included). You may want lithium ones for the external unit if it gets below freezing in your area.

- Install external optical reader on your power meter. Wash the meter off first.

- Adjust meter reader until you get a good connection that doesn’t drop.

- Grab one of your electric bills and enter some data into the readout unit. The unit uses this to calculate you hourly electric price.

- See how much power your entire house is using.

- Turn things off and on and see how much power they take.

Pros:

- Lets you know your “whole house” power footprint.

- Having the unit on where you can see it keeps you aware of the fact you are using power and helps you remember to turn things off.

- Helps you track down just why your electric bill is what it is.

- Fun for gadget geeks.

- Very cool way to know how much power appliances like central air and hard wired lights take.

- The Tare function make it really easy to isolate things like the dishwasher and central air. Hit the tare button then turn on the appliance. You get to see how much power that appliance is taking (plus any other things that were off when you hit tare and then kick in after).

- Includes an outdoor temperature reading.

Cons:

- Hard to get it perfect on a mechanical meter. It took a lot of goofing around to get it to keep working. It still drops out a little from time to time.

- The sunlight will interfere with the optical reader when it hits just right.

- Once you know how much power all the appliances in your house take, you don’t really need this anymore.

- A little pricey, but maybe you could share it with friends or neighbors.

- No computer interface for graphing interpreting results.

Notes:

- Don’t remove the big white tag. It’s a note to the meter reader.

- Make sure to clean your meter with glass cleaner before installing the optical reader like it says in the instructions. It does help.

- Even though this unit attempts to read “actual” usage, it is not perfect. It should still be considered just a really good estimation.

Update: 3-29-2009 – I’ve come to really like this unit. I’ve hung it on the wall next to the thermostat. I like to glance at it daily to see energy useage. I’ve turned off an old computer that we kept on daily and our price per hour has gone down. I am also switching to CFLs where possible.

Update: 5-10-2009 – I was working in the garage when I guy came by and asked if I was the home owner. He was the meter reader and asked about the unit on my meter. I thought I was in trouble, but he had no problem with it. He wanted to know about it. I showed him the indoor unit and he thought it was great! He said he wanted one too!!!

Rating:

The Black and Decker Energy Power Monitor is a very interesting device. It consists of an outdoor unit, which attaches to an electric meter, and an indoor unit, which displays and interprets data collected by the outdoor unit. The reviews here seem to conflict about the ease of installation of the outdoor unit. My experience was extremely positive. All I had to do was extend the sensor by pulling a lever and tighten it onto the the electric meter’s glass dome with a flathead screwdriver. My electric meter is the old fashioned electromechanical (spinning disc) type, which may explain the relatively fast and painless installation. The indoor unit feels surprisingly high quality, despite being all plastic, with very durable buttons and some heft. As a bonus, they have also included an outdoor temperature reading. The display is very nice and large, but the low resolution, which is similar to a digital clock, limits the amount and type of information available.

And that is where the caveat lies for me. Given this very powerful method of reading energy use and broadcasting it long-range wirelessly, one might expect a plethora of data and the ability to monitor various aspects of energy usage over the course of weeks, months, and years. Unfortunately, that is not the case, but what is offered is the core components needed to derive that data in a simple and fun format. Two main screens can be toggled between, with one showing the energy usage in terms of cost and the other in terms of electricity used. The “Cost View” gives the estimated amount of money spent per hour, updating itself every thirty seconds. So, you might unplug an appliance and check if a substantial difference is made in the hourly cost. Monthly cost can also be estimated. There is also a “clr” button to clear all costs and find the accumulated cost since it was hit. The “Power View” essentially displays the same information, but in kilowatts rather than dollars. For example, the amount of kilowatts used in a month can be estimated.

While these tools are powerful, I found that the lack of a way to track that data over time diminished their value to some degree. I think that a simpler question is how much electricity a single device consumes, which can be used to understand if the device is worth the cost and if upgrading to a more energy efficient version would be sensible. Thankfully, the device can do just that via the “tare” button. If you use a scale to measure food, you are probably familiar with taring. In that case, you put a bowl on the scale, hit tare, and then put the food in the bowl to weigh it. By taring the bowl, you make sure that the bowl’s weight is not counted, because you only want to weigh the food. In the same way, the Power Monitor’s tare simply subtracts whatever energy is currently being used. So, if I wanted to see how much energy my dryer is using, I would hit tare, then turn it on. This is great, because unlike the Kill A Watt, it doesn’t matter that I am measuring a 240V device. Unfortunately, any deviation in power, such as a refrigerator popping on to cool or a heating unit turning on and off, will lessen the accuracy of the reading because it was not taken into account by the tare.

So, the much less expensive Kill A Watt is superior for measurement of power used from a single 120V device. However, the standard version does not have the ability to measure some of the most power hungry devices, such as a dryer, oven, or air conditioner. That is where the Power Monitor shines. Despite my criticisms related to the lack of tracking options, which could have been simply alleviated with a computer interface and basic software, it is a very solid and valuable product that I would highly recommend. A “best of both worlds” device would consist of small Kill A Watt type devices that could be individually identified and communicate with a central hub. In this way, power usage for each member of the family could be quantified and the total energy use from all devices could be compared with the reading at the electric meter to check for energy leaks, which can also be costly and will not be revealed by either device alone. Certainly, this is far too much to ask from a device in this price range, but I look forward to future innovations from the company and applaud this solid step into the arena.

Rating:

Examlple – when my air condition comes on I see that I pull an additional 3000W which translates into about 0.20 cents per hour. Leaving my kitchen lights on is about 200W or about 2 cents an hour. The Black and Decker Power monitor makes it easy to track your energy footprint and what are your big energy items.

If you want to save “money” my suggestion is to replace your incandescent lights with flourescent (or however it is spelled) this will save you about 30%. However, if you want to find modest savings while reducing your unneeded energy consumption this is the item for you. 5 stars

PS – installation is not “Easy” but it can be done with the use of some trial-and-error… budget about an hour.

Rating:

I investigated various solutions for monitoring how much power my home is using. There are a couple of them out there. They are pretty expensive (hundreds of dollars), and they need to be installed by an electrician (there’s a pretty big risk of death if you don’t know what you are doing).

When this one came along I was interested, but I figured it would be pretty similar to the other ones. Luckily, it differs in two important respects. It is easy to install, and it is much cheaper. Installation consists of putting a battery-powered transmitter on the outside meter. The meter doesn’t need to be opened, and it isn’t directly attached, so you won’t need an electrician. On my meter, which is electronic, it interfaces with it by blinking a light into a little port that is on the meter and reading the response. It works with mechanical meters as well, by sensing the little wheel turning inside the meter. I suspect this is more accurate than the type that connects directly to the power lines, as the meter is what the power company is basing your consumption and cost. I also like the fact that I can’t die from attaching it. The downside is that it has a battery that needs regular replacement. The manufacturer recommends lithium AAs for the outside sensor, and those aren’t cheap. I’m not sure how long it lasts, but I have several wireless outdoor temperature sensors that go at least a year on a set of standard alkaline batteries, so if it lasts a couple of years on lithiums I’ll be happy. Still, it would have been nice of them to throw a set of batteries in the box, even if they had to raise the price a bit to do so.

The display unit, which goes inside and gets information from the wireless sender unit outside on the power meter, is very clear and easy to use. It displays the current energy use along with the month to date cost (you tell it what your power rate is during setup), along with the outside temperature. The amount of money the power is costing is a lot more useful than how many kilowatts are being used, so I was pleased to see that it does the calculation for me. The only hard part here is that you have to do some math from your last bill to determine how much each kilowatt is costing you, but that wasn’t especially hard to calculate. They do tell you how to do that in the instructions, but my bill didn’t look much like their example so I had to puzzle it out.

One thing I really wished for is a computer interface with graphing software. I wasn’t expecting it at this price point, but that would be a great feature. Nothing beats looking at a color-coded graph for seeing where your peak electrical use is happening, and what is causing it. Tie that in with outside temperature, and it is easier to determine how much power is going to the heating and cooling systems during seasonal changes. Maybe they’ll release a “pro” version that has that.

Overall, this is an interesting, easy to use, and reasonably priced item. If it helps you lower your energy bill even a little bit each month, it won’t be hard to justify the purchase. Plus, now I know that leaving my kitchen lights on all the time is costing me eight cents an hour!

Recommended.

Sean P. Logue, 2008

Rating:

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

How is the blue sky controller is holding up?

I’m thinking about getting a blue sky for myself.

Keep making those great videos.