I also measured my 5 year old desktop computer which draws about 190 watts. It drops to about 10 watts when powered down and only to 0 if unplugged. I have an Asus netbook that draws about 13 watts when plugged and running on AC. Now I tend to shut off my desktop most of the time except when I want to do some more serious surfing, email, or when updating files I want to keep secure (I have USB backup drives for the desktop. I use the netbook to check email or stock markets throughout the day, saving about 160 watts per hour. It also shows the value of shutting off the PC when not in use. When mine goes into “standby” it still sucks up 145 watts (the saving is mostly the LCD monitor in save mode).

Love hearing two smart people talking. So much bullshit around these days.

It sound like a useful device that is pretty accurate, and for $25, I’d buy a couple. I’m an EE and and an ex-physics grad, so I do understand all of the basics, but its a PITA that folks who build the appartments where I live (Hong Kong), and most of the appartments in Asia pay no attention whatsoever to energy conservation.

Out here, the main problem is heat. If its 30C all year round, then the main cost of life after paying the rent (building) and food is the cooling, ..the aircon!I have a batchelor falt that is little more than 200 square feet, but all the aircon can do is keep it dry and one or two degrees less than the outside air temperature. That means an appartment ambient of more than 27C for 6 months of the year with the aircon full on.

Compare that to a house I have in Europe that was 2,500 square feet? Bizarre thing was that was cheaper $ for $. Cheaper to cool 2,0500 square feet than 200 degC by degC. So the Hong Kong style buildings where it is just pure concrete with zero insulation, are costing me $100 a month instead of $10 per month.

When I complain to my landlord, he can use a weak excuses: “You leave the lights on to much(Yes, but all are fluorescent)”, “You cook a lot at home (true, but microwave covers half of it, and there the consumption is almost nil if you average it out over a year). I can just here the idiots saying “you don’t realise how much your TV costs “(zero, I don’t have a TV), “and the cooking” (2KW at say 1 hour per day, I can calculate that pretty easiily).

If I look at the real answers, I can estimate, roughly (+- 5%), that cooking is about 10%. Aircon is about 85%. The rest is the bits and pieces, mostly PC related. Lighting is irrelevant when flourescent tubes or bulbs are used.

At least when the idiots say “you consume to much, you should be careful”, then I can wave the $25 box in the air and say “That’s wrong, I have the proof on spreadsheet, next question?”

Commons sense and a bit of learning helps a lot. But, in the end, a black box can talk harder!

That’s not obtuse at all, it’s smart. While it doesn’t give you a number, it costs $0, no s/h, no packaging, no manual and no fishing it out of the closet. It’s also a good way to determine whether to bother unplugging wall-warts etc.
I recall a quick-thinking tech who used that method to check if a router was bad. The wall-wart was cold, which led us to isolate the problem in another 30 seconds.

My Dell laptop pulls 27 watts when charging.
My Dell PC with 17 inch flat screen monitor and 2 internal hard drives and one external hard drive pulls 130 watts on average.
At work I took a 22″ flat screen monitor and plugged into the Kill-a-watt and it only pulled 26 watts at medium brightness.

I love this thing!!! Also at home depot you can get an amp meter that you can put around the black lead on your large appliances–at the breaker box. You can the figure out how much it pulls at that moment, not over time like the Kill-a-watt but should give you an idea. Experienced persons only, don’t mess with your breaker box otherwise!!!

It’s an affordable product but to me is like a portable Breath alcohol content analyzer – When calibrated and working within specs its a good “guide”…but never admissible in court as fact as a booking stations much more expensive well calibrated machine is… So if you find a troubling reading might need a second opinion.

P.S. they have had a newer model out for a couple of years now that has a battery back up (for memory) so you don’t loose data if unplugged etc. P4460 but I dont’ think they fixed the display / lighting issue and it’s about $20 more.

P.S.S. Earth to Jim… you aren’t supposed to keep this thing plugged in for 365 X 24hrs a day to test a night light (you can accurately test a night light in an hours time as it’s a constant power draw)… BTW, I just replaced my night lights with .3 Watt LED versions – Much more light and less than 1 Watt of power. Jim my night lights also “claim” 4 watts but some drew more than 8 Watts.
And that’s so true of many items Jim; like TVs list “MAX” wattage. Because they can’t possibly know the true power draw once a TV is configured. So a 200 Watt Max rated LCD Big screen might actually use 120 Watts during the day and less at night when the Brightness is turned down to a lower but excellent viewing level… You can’t just read the ambiguous labels they put on an appliance and expect it to be accurate for all of them…or to account for appliances such as a refridgerator or an AC unit that can cost more as they age/become dirty.

Most of the time these meters should stay unplugged. BTW I didn’t buy TWO meters to test the second one but the 10Watts listed is MAX wattage…If your comments weren’t so silly I’d pull out my voltage meter and find out exactly what’s it’s drawing just to say nana boo boo!

Regarding the product… I’m going to buy one.

I want to know what an oil furnace burner costs to run.

As another reader mentioned, there are many things that even when not turned on, are not technically “off”, because they’re in standby mode, just waiting to be powered up by remote control or the push of a button. Most of these devices can be unplugged or connected to a switched power strip. The biggest money savers for me were replacing fitting the lights I use most often and for long periods of time, with compact flourescent bulbs AND using an outdoor clothesline in good weather.

Also bear in mind that today’s detergents are formulated to work just as well in cold water as in warm or hot. Water heaters gobble up lots of electricity.

Upon reading the users manual for the Kill-A-Watt EZ P4460, it indicates that it uses 10Watts, which comes to 87.6KWH per year. At a low rate of 14-cents/KWH (in my area), that comes to 12.26/year.
(Reference: http://www.ccrane.com/instruction-manuals/kill-a-watt-ez-P4460.pdf – I couldn’t find the power consumption info for the P4400)

So, to find out that your microwave oven display clock is costing you $2/year or a 4W night-light is costing you $3/year or that your 5W desk lamp is costing you $6 year (if these were all left on 24/7), you have used more power trying to determine how much you can save, than it cost you to determine the costs of those units.

When you’re doing your cost analysis, don’t forget to add in the $20-$40 cost of the unit… after all, those pennies add up. Has anyone asked how much energy the manufacturer is using in a year, to build these units? How much is this adding to the “greenhouse effect” on the Earth’s environment.

And while we’re calculating the costs to the consumer… it would be interesting to find out if the company received any federal grants to design & build the device and if they get tax credits/deductions for their contribution of an energy-saving device. If so, then we would have to determine how much this is costing the average taxpayer each year.

How much would we all save if we threw out our computers? Instead of sitting here reading about how much energy we could save by buying one of these units and unplugging our microwave or toaster when not in use. Of course, that would lead to more landfill rubbish and the environmental problems that would cause… and the cycle continues… I guess we’re doomed?

1
Kill-a-Watt is a GREAT product. Simple to use. Not cluttered. Like Einstein said: “something should be simple, but not too simple.”

2
GREAT price point.

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PROBLEM. I can only find ~1/2 the KWH on my bill. I have detailed my regrigerators’ usage, my waterbed heater, my PCs, my displays, my cable box, my projector, each carefully weighted by time usage. Now I’m worried that there may be a meter innacuracy or a short somewhere. I know that this segway is off topic — but I’d appreciate your pointing me to any relevant forums.

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I love the gadgeteer. It has helped my choose several PPC purchases, etc.

Thanks!
Henry Robbins

The reviewer observed that “At 3:30pm, my KWH read 0.06 and the cumulative time displayed was 2:00 hours.” for the TV during ON state.

This reading doesn’t sound believable. It indicates that each hour the TV runs like a mere 30W light bulb (0.06 KWH means 0.06 kilowatt hour or 60 watt hour, so divide by 2 hours, it means 30 watt power rating). Remember this was not measured when the TV is off, but when it was working.

Maybe should go for more expensive brands?