Energy meters...which one to get?

Canadian Tire has one for $25. Made by UPM.

Ebay has the Kill-a-watt P4400 made by P3 International for roughly the same price shipped.

Anyone have experience with either one of these? good? bad?

Originally Posted by GTI

Canadian Tire has one for $25. Made by UPM.

Ebay has the Kill-a-watt P4400 made by P3 International for roughly the same price shipped.

Anyone have experience with either one of these? good? bad?

My first impression is why do you want one.

These are mostly a waste of money. You can easily calculate how much kwh any given device uses by looking up it's power usage in the manual or power brick, or even doing a Google search.

Check with your local library - they might have several that you can borrow for a week or two.

The problem with ebay stuff is that if it breaks down, it's a real pain to return. And even if the seller allows you to return it, you're stuck paying the postage.

Got the one from CT. There was that $10 off $40 coupon and I already had to buy some other stuff.

Going to test it on some computers. Vancouver libraries are on strike right now too.

Can you post the results? Very interested not only in computer power consumption, but how accurate ratings are. For example, does a 60W lightbulb actually use 60W? How much power does a vacuum cleaner use during regular duty vs full duty (eg. something stuck on the vacuum hose tip).

Originally Posted by eelfliw

Can you post the results? Very interested not only in computer power consumption, but how accurate ratings are. For example, does a 60W lightbulb actually use 60W? How much power does a vacuum cleaner use during regular duty vs full duty (eg. something stuck on the vacuum hose tip).

You can't just post a flat rating for PC power usage. It varies wildly with what USB devices are plugged into it. I mean you can actually get USB powered coffee mug warmers nowadays.

Also our PC uses many times the amount of power while playing a FPS game than it does while just surfing the web. This is because modern CPUs throttle down to consume less mW when unused. Graphics cards are the new power-hungry devices. It would be nice to see more low-power research go into that area.

Originally Posted by brunes

You can't just post a flat rating for PC power usage. It varies wildly with what USB devices are plugged into it. I mean you can actually get USB powered coffee mug warmers nowadays.

I'd imagine the OP would include some info about the PC. Afterall, it's not as simple as a 60W light bulb.

It's like asking people what kind of mileage they get with their car. People will tell you the type of car it is along with mileage.

Ive used the Kill A Watt
Its pretty neat

Each unit has it's own distinct advantages but I thinlk th UPM is slightly better as it can retain it's readings via battery backup when you unplug it or move it.

Not all appliances can be correctly read by the nameplate of energy use sticker
as different strokes for different folks .
A single person will obviously open and close a fridge less often than a family of 4 or more. As well, a user can decide if an appliance is using excessive power due to age ,wear, failure,habits,etc and take the appropriate action.

I can reliably comment on these a I have imported several Kill-a-watt units from Hawaii and used them as well as bought and tried the UPM.

I got the UPM reading a P4 box and it's reads 205 watts at full load running folding@home. It calulates 59 cents after 48 hours using at 0.062 cent per KWh. Running idle it pulls 123 watts. Probably useless info since I'm not gonna turn off the comptuer anyway, but good to know what it costs to run things.

Does anyone know if this would work on an old fridge or freezer? If I could provide concrete numbers, maybe I could convince my SO to replace them right away.

Originally Posted by cookiemunster

Does anyone know if this would work on an old fridge or freezer?

It will work on any 120 volt device and will also tell you your phantom load when the device is turned off.

Originally Posted by GTI

I got the UPM reading a P4 box and it's reads 205 watts at full load running folding@home. It calulates 59 cents after 48 hours using at 0.062 cent per KWh. Running idle it pulls 123 watts. Probably useless info since I'm not gonna turn off the comptuer anyway, but good to know what it costs to run things.

Why wouldn't you turn it off?

What does it draw in sleep mode? Are you including the monitor in that?

Anybody done any looking into how much power AC->DC converters draw when they don't have a load connected? It seems like more and more devices are rechargeable or just run on DC power so you have to use a converter. I'm curious as to how much energy we're wasting with these devices.