Black & Decker Energy Monitor

Picture didn't attach it seems. its from Dropbox. You can try to go to the link directly.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/qs9a5lhriv0x ... 4XCzL_ApKa

It looks like a carbon copy of the blue line model which i have, it works fine, its only accurate to within 100W so it can't be used for small items, only big ones and its not exact (.1kw could mean 100 watt up to 199 watt) but since its reading the meter i assume the black and decker will be the same.

The Kill a watt is still the best for anything not hard wired but will not work on hardwired appliances like a furnace, dryer, stove, etc, but htis tells you cumulative for hte whole house not just oen appliance.

Do public libraries still loan these things out?

Was always interested in this but not sure how useful and accurate it would be.
Dunno if it would be worth it.

Edit:
Also, does this work with the new smart meters? I dont think I have a turney thing on mine anymore..

Tha DraGun wrote: ↑Was always interested in this but not sure how useful and accurate it would be.
Dunno if it would be worth it.

Edit:
Also, does this work with the new smart meters? I dont think I have a turney thing on mine anymore..

The blue line one does work with smart meters, and some cities give them out for free when you sign up for peaksaver (some cities have wifi and internet enabled thermostats, some have the energy meter)

I don't know anything about the black and decker model, but its reasonable to assume it works the same way.

Picked one up years back for about the same price on clearance at RCSS.

Works well, from what I've seen of the peaksaver unit, looks identical.

Reads the IR signal from a sender on the meter face. Just a matter of lining up the B&D sender unit with the IR port on the meter. Had issues with battery fit on the sending unit but not insurmountable ones.

Good deal for the unit, free and clear of Peaksaver and the clutches of Hydro.

Interesting that once you watch the energy use spikes for a while, you pretty much know exactly which appliance or what is turned on.

Grabbed the $28 Belkin Conserve from Hookbag after receiving a $20 off promo.
Honestly, these sort of devices are cool for maybe a few hours when you test your big ticket items in the house, but after that you sort of toss it aside. If possible, borrow one from a friend or as some have mentioned, grab it from the library if available (this might just be Ontario).

I have one. It's a whole-house power consumption meter, not like the ones you get from the library that read the power consumption at an individual outlet.

It worked fine with the old analog meters with the rotating wheel, although the reading wasn't very accurate at low consumption because it has to wait for the wheel to spin all the way around to update the reading, which might take a minute or more.

It can also work with smart meters by using its IR sensor to count pulses from the IR port on the meter, but it doesn't work properly with all smart meters. For example with the Telus smart meters in BC, it reads the current consumption accurately most of the time, but every few minutes the meter puts out a blast of rapid IR pulses that cause the reading to spike way up and throws off the total power consumption reading. In any case, most smart meters offer daily consumption readings online now, so maybe you don't need a meter like this any more.

rayray13 wrote: ↑Interesting that once you watch the energy use spikes for a while, you pretty much know exactly which appliance or what is turned on.

I discovered some odd information, my gas oven uses 400W which is outrageous, my furnace fan is about the same, i have not tested the furnace itself though, but the dryer uses almost 6kw when its running
And i've noticed my fridge uses about 2kw a day, which is more then i use

Quentin5 wrote: ↑I discovered some odd information, my gas oven uses 400W which is outrageous, my furnace fan is about the same, i have not tested the furnace itself though, but the dryer uses almost 6kw when its running
And i've noticed my fridge uses about 2kw a day, which is more then i use

Convection gas oven? 2Kw/day for a fridge makes sense, it does need to keep things cold.

cwb27 wrote: ↑Convection gas oven? 2Kw/day for a fridge makes sense, it does need to keep things cold.

I don't know what convection gas oven is but it uses natural gas and apparently electricity as well to heat the oven. Its a regualr stove oven, you can get electric or gas stoves.
The fridge is surprising that it needs so much energy.

Quentin5 wrote: ↑I don't know what convection gas oven is but it uses natural gas and apparently electricity as well to heat the oven. Its a regualr stove oven, you can get electric or gas stoves.
The fridge is surprising that it needs so much energy.

Convection gas ovens have a fan that blows the heat around (same as electric convection ovens).

What are you comparing the fridge energy use to that makes you think that 2kw/day is a lot of energy? 2kw/day roughly works out to 0.083kw/hour (or 83 watts an hour).

cwb27 wrote: ↑Convection gas ovens have a fan that blows the heat around (same as electric convection ovens).

What are you comparing the fridge energy use to that makes you think that 2kw/day is a lot of energy? 2kw/day roughly works out to 0.083kw/hour (or 83 watts an hour).

I don't think its a convection oven based on your description, and i can buy fridges that use about 375 kwh/year so about half the energy which i do plan to do in future.

I live in an apartment, how should i configure this ??
any experiences ?
I am not talking abt an individual plug or an appliance, i am looking at the whole unit.

Because my Current bill is [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/1znaadk.jpg[/IMG]

Is this normal?
Mine is 1 bedroom 750sft condo.
I use AC, have few computers, refrigerator and pretty much thats it ( no Laundry). I think i am being ripped off.

Ur bill is only $88. The rest is overdue. I wish my bill was that low. Not sure if that is expensive for the size of place u have tho

hurlyhunk wrote: ↑I live in an apartment, how should i configure this ??
any experiences ?
I am not talking abt an individual plug or an appliance, i am looking at the whole unit.

Because my Current bill is [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/1znaadk.jpg[/IMG]

Is this normal?
Mine is 1 bedroom 750sft condo.
I use AC, have few computers, refrigerator and pretty much thats it ( no Laundry). I think i am being ripped off.

Its highly unlikely your being ripped off, but you can figure out where you using energy, lightbulbs (especially incandescent), fridge, computers, space heaters, air conditioning, TVs, etc.
You could buy a kill a watt and figure out how much each appliance uses, the meters discussed in this thread can calculate total at a given time and total over a month, you could cut yoru bill in half but that would involve some work and lifestyle changes (after a while you forget your doing it because it becomes automatic, and the money saved is yours to enjoy, i recommend paying off loans and credit cards)

I bought this for $1 on a yard sale... tried it and it really wasn't helpful... probably if you want to monitor a particular appliance you want to compare with previous readings... but all in all, it's something you still have to manually track as it doesn't give you logs or anything but the final consumption....

khulit wrote: ↑I bought this for $1 on a yard sale... tried it and it really wasn't helpful... probably if you want to monitor a particular appliance you want to compare with previous readings... but all in all, it's something you still have to manually track as it doesn't give you logs or anything but the final consumption....

Thats what it does, tell you how much energy your using, and it can tell you what a particular device uses, especially those you can't plug into an outlet (stove, dryer, furnace, central air etc.), or combinations of devices (TVs, speakers, DVRs etc.)

I'd buy it from you for a dollar, heck even double what you paid.

This is identical to the Blue Line one that is given free from Peaksaver (and loaned from libraries). I have both and they're excellent for their purpose. It's good to check everything is turned off when leaving the house.
And gives pretty accurate outside temp if the sender is not in direct sunlight.