Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor
Customer Review: Energy Saver one month later
Summary: 5 Stars
After a month I can say this product works. It reports energy usage and seems accurate. The outdoor meter and the indoor meter agree to within one kWh over a span of 400 kWh. More than good enough for my needs.
Just a few low points. The user interface is primitive, but likely will improve over time. The wireless range is best under 70 ft through one wall, but over 100 ft and though three walls it lost the signal a few times the first day. Mine is now on located just one wall thickness away from the outdoor transmitter for maximum signal.
I no longer need to go outside to read the meter several times a day and then tell my kids to conserve. Now, I ask the kids to "tell me" how much electricity is in use, and they decide what to turn on/off while watching the meter. That was worth the price alone, second my electricity bills were cut dramatically after one week with "kid help", and we saved $150 in energy this month.
As a reward my "energy smart kids" now get a few $ each week our energy use goals are met. Every dollar I share with the kids appears to be worth ten dollars in reduced energy costs.
Customer Review: Energy User
Summary: 4 Stars
Since I have only been using the Power Monitor for a short time,I don`t really have a good idea of its capabilities yet.
It seems to be doing what is claimed for the product.
Customer Review: Exactly what I wanted
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently had my house audited for energy conservation, and showed this power monitor to the guy. He said that the electric companies don't want the consumer to have this because of their awareness the average consumers bill drops up to 20%. I was much easier to install than other review that I read, the other reviews tried to over complicate the set up. I keep rereading the directions, thinking that I was doing it wrong because it was easy.
The monitor has been a great teaching tool for the kids, and wife. I would recommend this monitor to anybody.
Customer Review: Excellent gadget with many features
Summary: 5 Stars
The cost of this is so low that with all the features its a definite buy for me. The setup was very easy. Also if you want to make adjustments in your kilowats per hour it takes less than a minute. Your then able to fine tune what your monthly electric bill will be. With the clear feature you can reset to zero thus establishing another estimate of your next months bill. In your area prices may change between winter and summer rates and you can adjust the charges very quickly.
The setup is very simple. The manual takes you through step by step the different meters you might have.(Make sure you have a meter that is compatible although most are). That took me less than five minutes and it was in sync instantly. Again just following the manual step by step provides a very simple installation.
One nice feature that i wasn't expecting was the outside temperature reading. Found it to be very accurate to the degree. Sometimes our weather temp is affected by the sun but this is right on. I've seen some posts complaining you can't measure individual appliances, tv,s ect. But there is a seperate feature to do just that. I thought it worked very well. Especially the high kw ones. I quickly found out the top 3 energy users in the house. Just by turning on on using that feature.
In summary. Simple but very accurate. I'm still trying to fine tune but can get almost to the cent the upcoming forecast for the bill. For the price of these things a definite buy.
Customer Review: Excellent monitor
Summary: 5 Stars
The monitor is easy to set up and read with good instructions. We have southern california edison with a 5 tiered system. The monitor has gone to "sleep" (several times in 3 days which seems to have been solved by 2 new batteries in the monitor) which has interrupted continuous monitoring but appears to be accurate. Monitoring of individual appliances is dependent on no other appliances turning on or off at the time. Readings occur every 30 secs. I simply watch the readout change when the appliance turns on for 30-90 secs. The reading is verified by the Kill-A-Watt EZ P4460 P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor (on sale at Costco for $27 right now) readout on the same appliance (also highly recommended). Costs can be dramatic. We use a space heater for about 2-3 hours at night to warm up the bedroom. That calculates to about $50/month! Will try to remember to update after a couple of months use.
UPDATE (3/31/10). Just finished the first full interval allowing comparison of monitor KWH used to the SCE monthly bill KWH. The device was 6% low (i.e., 94% accurate). I suspect it was probably dead-on accurate but the SCE bill is fragmented into more than one category used in calculating monthly usage (and you thought your phone bill was complicated!). Essentially, SCE adds small absolute and % charges to the variable 5 tiered charges each month. It'll probably take an hour to figure out how to bring the 94% value to 100% agreement. If that gets done, I'll add another addendum. Meantime, 5 stars!!