PowerCost Monitor TM
by Blue Line Innovations
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Our Price: $119.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $49.95 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of PowerCost Monitor TM
Customer Review: Works well, a 'green' result
Summary: 5 Stars
I was skeptical but bought it anyway. Installation CD was helpful. I was more interested in total consumption, so I'm pleased with the level of detail I get.Customer Review: Works For Me
Summary: 4 Stars
Our house has been running a higher power bill than we expect, so I tried this & a basic 110 volt plug in monitor as well.
I had the installation completed on our electro-mechanical meter in about 20 minutes, and left the monitor in the kitchen where our family could all get feedback on usage. It showed substantial fluctuations during the day- from 1KW to about 12KW. To isolate the energy hogs, I shut down all breakers & measured 1 suspect at a time. This worked well for pool pumps (less usage than expected but still $100/mo unless we use timers to cut back). HVACs were harder to gauge- you can measure what they draw while on, but can't practically isolate them long enough to peg actual usage with the frequent cycling on & off.
The plug-in model was easier to use on small 110 volt items. I found some used negligible power (fountain pump, small transformers for cordless phones, etc.). Others were significant (dehumidifiers in crawl space).
Between the 2 monitors we have probably identified specific & practical changes that can cut $100/ mo from our bill- not bad for $150 + a few hours invested.
Customer Review: Clever, safe idea.
Summary: 4 Stars
This meter provides a way to read what your electric meter is reading, day by day or hour by hour. It provides for detailed entry of the intricacies of your billing scheme, including different rates for different times and over-amounts used. You can turn on your electric stove, air conditioning, any large consumption electrical appliance and see not only how much current it's drawing, but how much it's costing you to run per hour according to your billing rates.
Only 2 shortcomings: It takes 30 to 90 seconds to register a change in consumption, so by the time you're checking consumption of central air, a refrigerator may have cycled on to distort the readings. And secondly, the consumption wattage is in chunks of 100 watts, so you can't note minor change in usage.
But otherwise, the PowerCost is an intriguing instrument for a fair price.
--Mike
Customer Review: Tough to set up for some users
Summary: 3 Stars
I think this would be a good product for some people. Here in Maine we have a strange Schlumberger electric meter which makes it very hard to get the sender to work. We got good advice from the manufacturer, but it just wouldn't work with our meter. You probably would have better luck. Our meter has a plate blocking the area where the spinning disk could easily be read.
On the plus side, our money was returned cheerfully.
Customer Review: Great idea. Works OK as long you have no other 433 MHz devices.
Summary: 3 Stars
It works reasonably well, but it's clearly version 1.0. I'm sure they will get better. The big limitation is the 433 MHz wireless link between the meter reader and the remote display unit. If you have any other 433 MHz devices in your house, the effective range will be only a few feet.
Most remote temperature and weather monitors operate at 433 MHz.