Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor
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List Price: Our Price: $38.90 You Save: $61.09 (61%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor
Customer Review: Did not work right out of the box
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this with high hopes and after the relatively easy installation onto my power box and the installation of batteries it all seemed like a dream come true. I actually saw my power usage for a full 10 minutes!
Then the sensor box flashed a message SLEEP. The manual stated that this means the sensor unit was not sensing the sender unit so I replaced all the batteries, readjusted the sending unit and did multiple resets and reprogramming. All I could ever get was a brief repeat of my usage for 3 to 5 minutes before the unit went to SLEEP again.
Although Black and Decker help desk was quick to answer and it sounded like a real and knowledgeable American-based person was on the phone they told me what I already knew. That the unit was defective and to send it back.
That loss of 2 to 3 hours of my personal time on my PTO was too much and I will never buy a Black and Decker item again. I may try to buy the Blue Line product that does the same thing for more money but not until I get another vacation to waste this effort on in case they have a similar problem.
Customer Review: Does what it is supposed to but not as useful as i thought
Summary: 3 Stars
This was great for the first few weeks. Worked perfectly, first time. Its been working all winter long. But after a few weeks you forget about it and your back to you old ways. There is a delay on this device too because of the fact that with works off an optical sensor reader on the top of the meter. I think in hindsight something like the TED The Energy Detective Electricity Monitor TED1001 with Footprints Software. The device reads directly from the current going through the cable and the software consantly tracks the data so you can go back in a month and see how your usage fluctuates. I think that would have been more beneficial information for me to work with. Constantly watching the black and decker is not practical. The only problem is the price difference.Customer Review: EM100 vs. Kill A Watt.... The real saving is not to buy either - Just turn off the lights!
Summary: 3 Stars
After reading a ton of reviews on these different types of energy meters, I got excited and bought the "Kill a Watt EZ" meter by P3.... I didn't know about the EM100B at the time. I share this with you because i will assume you have heard about the "Kill A Watt EZ" as well, and maybe your on the fence about which to buy. So after reading some reviews I would have to say that my Killa Watt was fun as soon as I got it in the mail, I attached it to a light buld and a flurecanct light buld and found that either way it costs about 1/4 cent for the flourescaent bulbs per hour and about a 1/2 a cent to run my standard bulb. I found that my Plasma TV costs about $.08 an hour to run and if I left it on all year 24 hours a day about $500 to run.
I would have to say, givein the $80 price tag for the EM100B, if you take the advice of myself and some of the other 1 or 2 star reviews on the B&D product, you could be saving money simply by just "turning off the lights and your PC every night". Using my Kill a Watt was fun for 2 DAYS... now it sits in my drawer,, because I already know that all I have to do is shut off my bathroom light and i'll save a half a cent an hour..... quite frankly, I didn't relize how cheap electricity was... that now, I'm like, oh, it's just a half a cent... i'll just leave the light on! : )
In short, buy this if you are super curious and just want to have the latest gizmos, I'm not reccomending either if your goal is to save money. If you want to save money, follow the comment I wrote about turning off the lights and such... you'll be $80 ahead of the game.
Customer Review: Easy setup, good for kids
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this product thinking that it might help save energy and teach our kids to turn off electrical devices (lights, TVs, etc). The product was relatively easy to setup and it has proven to be a good motivator for kids and has helped to lower our usage. Our electric meter is situated under gutters which have been dripping water from ice dams during the last couple of weeks. The meter has a hard time seeing the signal under such conditions, but this is understandable. Overall I have been pleased. It would be nice to be able to download the data as others have suggested.Customer Review: Easy to setup & use and very effective step in controlling energy costs
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The entire unit comes in 2 peices - a circular bracket which goes around the energy meter and a handheld device.
The bracket needs to be installed around the power meter which measures the power consumed and transmits to the handheld unit.
The main setup that is required to be done is on the handheld unit where you need to enter the energy costs - cost per kwh (you will find this on your energy bill). Once this setup is complete, you can measure the amount of electricity consumed by each of the devices in your household.
Once you measure it, you should know how to control ! It is simple logic that Air conditioners are power hogs, but there are lots of others which consume a lot more power - if you go to your bathroom, if you find 5 incandascent lights burning above the mirrors - it is high time you replace them with flouroscent lamps/LED lamps (LEDs are a bit more expensive, but last a lot longer).
Overall, it is a lot of fun to play with to see how much power is consumed(thats how I took it) and then get down to the serious stuff of making some good investment in replacing your lamps to start with and maybe get into your washer/dryer to get energy star compliant devices.