Comments on: Kill-A-Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:04:30 +0000

@David You can download the manual here: http://www.p3international.com/manuals/p4460_manual.pdf

By: David Morrison

David Morrison — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:17:45 +0000

Thank you for your review.
The Kill A Watt meter is handy. However, mine came with no eight page manual. Still working out my bugs. I believe I understand the RESET button. What of the SET button?

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:53:51 +0000

@Eric I’d be afraid to try something like that too… I’m not sure how you would calculate the power usage of your dryer. I don’t know if they make a 220 version of their products or not. You might want to contact them directly.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:44:48 +0000

After thinking about it, I realize that the dryer circuit legs may not have equal loads. I’m betting that the dryer motor that turns the drum is 120v and connected to one leg while the heating element is probably 220v and therefore connected to both legs. Even so, it would still be pretty cheap to have a KAW monitoring each leg. I’m still a little hesitant to try it, partly because it is a 30 amp circuit.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 01:15:14 +0000

I have the Kill A Watt P4400. I’m trying to figure out how to monitor the energy usage in our washroom which we share with someone else. The problem is the 220v dryer. Does anyone know if it would work ok simply to monitor one leg of this circuit and just double the kwh number that results? I have plenty of wiring experience and could easily run one leg of the dryer circuit into an outlet for the KAW and then plug in the leg to complete the circuit to the dryer.

Thanks for any ideas/technical advice.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:17:36 +0000

I have a P4460 which I purchased when we moved to a new town, to see where we stood with our appliances and to keep in check with the elec co.
I set it up properly with my wifes laptop computer and it imediately hung up and i could not clear it at first.
So i got it cleared and checked the circuit the service was wired correctly and I have now tried 4 circuits and it hangs up imediately each time.
Has anyone else had this problem?
The warranty reads like a tuff luck letter, shipping charges and loss liability, are borne to us ,which already costs almost if not more than the unit does.
And then the way they cover their butts nowadays I figure they will find a way to blame me.
So I guess I just talked myself out of useing the warranty.
Anyone else feeling defeated by todays quality and service by American distributers selling Chinese Garbage at 600% markup and then turning their back on us?

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 02:12:29 +0000

@Gina Thanks! I’ll be interested in what you find out by testing your home appliances. It sure is an eye opener to see what portion of your electric bill comes from different devices. I agree that it would be great to have something similar for Water and Gas. Especially for water… right now the only thing that uses gas in my house is our furnace.

By: Gina

Gina — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:58:15 +0000

Julie,
What a GREAT article on the kill a watt EZ!! I have been on the fence but am getting one today! Your detailed sensible pictured approach was helpfull to us greenies.
This will be fun. Am most curious about a 15 year old fridge and my computer stuff. Have already switched to CFL bulbs – but with the bad mercury, am wondering why we are using these? Not a great alternative overall. Will probably be switching to new LED bulbs.
Only wish there was a similar product for Gas usage. And how about Water usage…

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:10:11 +0000

Thanks for the info Julie – that appears to be what is displayed on the back of the device in this article, but it was too small to read the numbers. I believe that is an equivalent certification, but I will check with my ‘electric expert’. I went ahead and ordered one anyway.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:43:17 +0000

@Linda I just dug out mine and on the back there is a sticker that says ETV Listed conforms to UL Std. UL 3111-1 Certified to CSA Std.c22.2 No 1010-1 Not sure what that means though…

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:31:47 +0000

Hi,

Does anyone know if the Kill-a-watt is UL listed? Someone told me not to buy it if it isn’t, but it is priced so much better than the UL-listed ‘Watt’s Up’ appliance monitor.

Thanks

By: Kill-A-Watt Powerstrip from P3 International — The Gadgeteer

Kill-A-Watt Powerstrip from P3 International — The Gadgeteer — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:27:50 +0000

[...] the years, The Gadgeteer has reviewed a couple of Kill-A-Watt products – most recently, the Kill-A-Watt EZ by Julie. Now P3 International is offering the Kill-A-Watt PS, a powerstrip that protects your [...]

By: bambi 22

bambi 22 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:37:13 +0000

works good, it is being used for my sience fair project

By: TrickleStar TV TrickleSaver Power-Strip Review — The Gadgeteer

TrickleStar TV TrickleSaver Power-Strip Review — The Gadgeteer — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:57:12 +0000

[...] the sum of Xs’ power (or Amps) use does not exceed 10A. I used a watt meter (one similar to the killawatt) to measure the basic vampire and working mode of my Samsung DVR/VCR which showed 0.05 and 0.1 A, [...]

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:22:55 +0000

@Rod The EZ is the newer version shows the rate by hour, day, week, month, year that a particular device is using. The previous version only showed you the rate and you had to do the other calculations by yourself.

By: Rod

Rod — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:35:46 +0000

What is the difference between a Kill A Watt and a Kill A Watt EZ ???

By: Keep an eye on your MPG with the ScanGauge II — The Gadgeteer

Keep an eye on your MPG with the ScanGauge II — The Gadgeteer — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:44:07 +0000

[...] for your car that provides a realtime miles per gallon display. It’s almost like having a Kill-A-Watt Electricity Monitor for your car. The Digital Gauges give you realtime data for your vehicle and the built-in Scan Tool [...]

By: BillT

BillT — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:08:46 +0000

I have the EZ model now for about a month. Been testing refrigerators. It seems to have a ‘bug’ – hangs; no button works – until it is unplugged from AC and re-connected. I have left it measuring on one frige – and have been reading the $/mo from time to time – always about 3.5-2.8. Then next reading I get is about 9.5. Hmmm. So, I have read out the data – appears that the measurement period is about 94.57 hours …
I noticed that you have measured for 115 hours on one of your gadgets. Anyhow, I’m going to RMA it.

By: Les Hudson

Les Hudson — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:33:23 +0000

I dont understand the difference between active power Watts and the Power Factor (P.F.)
I got my Kill A Watt yesterday and my TV, VCR, DVD & Satalite box all turned off ( stand by ) is 30 watts or 50 power factor.
Which number will give me an accurate instant usage reading?
Thanks Les

By: Terry

Terry — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:15:41 +0000

I realize this is an older posting, but after reading the comments I thought I could help a little bit. I work for an electric utility (cooperative) and after attending a forum on these I was investigating which in home displays and monitors would be best to offer our consumer-owners. The kill-a-watt looks to me like a good piece of an integrated system that would also include an in home electric monitoring device. As far as plugging in your electric rate, I would recommend taking the bottom line on your electric bill and dividing that number by your kwh usage. This way the fuel adjustment, debt adjustment, taxes, etc. would be included in the cost. This would “true up” the actual cost of a device’s use. Technically you should only add the parts of your bill that vary with the amount of usage: fuel adjustment and taxes vary with the amount of energy used. Monthly service fee or customer charge or whatever your utility calls it is the same every month. Don’t worry too much about PF on the display. This is the power factor and no utility charges residential customer for a poor power factor. Power factor is what some company is using as a selling point on their energy saving device (I think it was around $300). This is just a capacitor to bring a lagging power factor closer to 1.0. It does not save money. One more thing, you are correct about voltage fluctuation. It is a function of how much load is on the line, and at our utility we correct the voltage on average every 30-45 seconds, and then only if it is more than 1.5-2 volts out of range for that period of time.

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:45:38 +0000

Interesting comments. I think I might buy one. Any ideas on how to check a hot water heater – 220 V

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:17:52 +0000

My electric bill just shot up $60 since last month, and my roommate blamed my new laptop. Good to know it’s less than $4/month to run the thing.

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:38:05 +0000

Tail Chou:
It appears to work when used with a 3 to 2 prong adapter. I plugged the combo into a wall socket and it powered on normally.

By: Tail Chou

Tail Chou — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:12:06 +0000

My house has the old style 2 prong plug in’s on the wall outlets.
Will the Kill a Watt work with the grey outlet adapters as most
other things will?
Thanks,
T’ail

By: norman

norman — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:28:19 +0000

120 volts AC is the nominal voltage-it can vary quite a bit depending on load. A few volts each way, as you’ve noticed, is normal. Brownout conditions can reduce voltage to 110, or even 105. I’ve also seen as high as 125, usually when there’s a problem in the local grid, when an area looses electricity, and surrounding areas absorb the overvoltage until it’s corrected.