20 Best Plug In Power Meter (2022 Updated)

Compared to other plugs I’ve tried, these are awesome. Yes, they’re more expensive than some, but these are head and shoulders above anything I’ve tried. They are Homekit compatible, The Eve app, or Homekit app will control them.

They turn on and off, schedule times on or off, etc. , etc. , etc. If connected to a home hub, like a HomePod, Apple TV, and so on, you can control everything from anywhere. They monitor energy use. Their info is very easy to understand.

They can connect to each other via thread, extending the area of the smart home and it’s devices. They are not connected to any cloud, so my personal information is safe and protected. I loaded the app, plugged it in, and within a very few seconds it was up and running.

From there, it was just a matter of identifying the room it was in, naming its purpose, and entering our electric rate so it will tell us how much our electric bill will be based on our use. We have our computer stations with multiple monitors connected to it, and with the app I can see every detail, how much each computer uses, how much monitors use when sleeping or awake, how much each device uses, what the electric bill will be, by minute, hour, day, week, month or year.

Well worth it! This gives me the information I need to make decisions on how best to save energy, and make wise use of resources.

I’m pretty late to the home automation game. My old man gave me one of those SmartThings Hub and a SmartPlug one Christmas a few years ago and I could never get it to work. I decided to try it out again, but use the Apple ecosystem.

I plugged the Eve in, then went to Apple Home app and registered the device, and in about 5 minutes everything was working as advertised. As an added plus, I set up an old iPad Mini 2 to be my hub so I can schedule stuff without buying Apple’s HomePod nonsense.

Great way to re-use old gear and be environmentally friendly.

I haven’t yet gotten to try using this with Thread (I lack a border router) but the setup and reliability has been amazing. It’s a little slower than my other devices since it’s Bluetooth, but once it operates on Thread, I’m told it should be much faster.

I only wish there was a version without energy monitoring as I assume that’s what pushes up the price point quite a bit.

I use this to monitor power consumption of my computer system and all of its accessories. I went with this product as it was the only one that I had yet to see a failure with a burnt outlet, a potential for a fire.

This one seems to be rated for continuous use where others are for temporary usage. I had not seen any reviews of burning failures. It’s got great options for monitoring volts, watts, amps, max watts and amps, cost details, etc.

My only small gripe is that the yellow back light does not stay on. It’s in a dark spot in my office, and a not so easy to reach spot, so I can’t just glance at the display easily. Otherwise, I do highly recommend this product.

This device does what it says and seems to perform well. The only dislike is the display. It has a view angle in that you have to have the right light and the correct angle to make any of the display readable.

It is almost like the battery or the voltage driving the display is very weak. You can ultimately make out the readings. The idle stats cycle very fast so you have to hit the leftmost button to cycle through them to view.

All other features and operations are good and these issues are minor unless you are going to view it repeatedly.

Competitive price, all the reporting functions you could want, and quick shipment. Instructions are better than average. The display font is small and the display has less than perfect contrast, especially when the backlight is on.

I use a magnifier to read it. Reading is more difficult when running on batteries (even for a fresh pair). One star deducted only because of reading difficulty for older eyes. Still useful and a bargain.

just got this meter about a week ago. I try to save where i can and i was curious about how much power everyday appliances were pulling. my electric bills are reasonable, but I would like to save. So i went around and plugged this meter into some of my appliances and below is what i found out.

vicks warm mist humdiifer 360 watts. used 2. 45 KW running for 8 hours. Bissell upright bagless vacuum cleaner-954 watts (WOW) acer chromebook charger-46 watts Iphone charger- 5 Watts small lamp with led bulb-9 watts 7″ digitial photo frame- 3.

6 watts pelonis 20″ high velocity fan 56 watts (low) medium 63 watts and high speed 70 watts true air purifier (small room up to 200 square feet. low speed- 8. 8 Watts, medium speed 16. 8 watts and high 31.

5 watts used 0. 79 Killowatt in 37 hours. rca clock radio-1 watt midland emergency weather radio- 1. 2 watts Radio shack 200 channel scanner radio-2. 4 watts Vizio 19″ LED TV-16 watts Home Essentials Direct alexa dot- 2 Watts Directv c-31 mini client- 5 watts FIrst alert carbon monoxide detector-0.

2 Watts george foreman 4 serving grill- 1000 watts and 9 amps (WOW) this is just to give you a idea of what small appliances around the house pull. you can calculate the watts to killowatts via online calculator.

the humidifer, the george foreman grill and the vaccumm appear to be the biggest power hogs. luckily i don’t have to run them long. just know the limitations of the unit if you overload it, it will MELT.

i will update as time goes on. this is handy device to help you determine how much things acutally cost to plug in and run.

I got this used and it seems to be 20% low of every utility on the amps and watts. Then at a certain low and high it registers 35% low of the manufacture’s specifications. The voltage drop test is probably the best thing you could do with it.

On this dud the voltage drop test is also strange because I have new extension cords and the voltage seems accurate but unbelievable high drop in voltage. I learned about the 3% maximum drop rule to save your electric tools at voltage calculator.

net. Then the Home Depot 50 feet extension cord at 14 gauge is claiming 15 amps but only if you magically have the full 125 volts in which the higher volts the more efficient. And then on top off that the 15 amp chainsaw can actually take more than 15 amps if you cut too much too fast as with any electric utility.

So I ended up buying the 12 gauge wire which should be well below the 3% voltage drop rule but for some reason it registered well below what the voltage drop calculator. net is estimating. So I couldn’t really tell if I could have kept the chainsaw at 14.

5 amps by maintaining a high speed and not force it to work too hard OR where the exact amount of applied pressure will cause the full 15 amps and without going over 15 amps with heavier gauge cord.

I bought a P4400 in 2011. It showed which household items were power vampires, some using as much power off as on. I could switch them off with power strips or unplug them when not needed. By measuring the power consumption of internet-related equipment, I could estimate how much time a given UPS could give me in the event of a power failure.

I kept a spreadsheet of wattage of various items under different conditions, to help future troubleshooting. When my internet speeds slowed down, the P4400 showed me the culprit. The power consumption of the $4 power supply of my VOIP telephone adapter was abnormally high.

For the refrigerator, I measured KWH per day for a summer kitchen temperature and for a winter kitchen temperature. After that, the P4400 could show me if the refrigerator was still operating as efficiently, or maybe I needed to check for dust or ice.

If a refrigerator wasnt cooling, the P4400 was a quick way to see if the compressor was drawing current. Last year, I bought a smart charger for car batteries. It had no ammeter. Clipping in a multimeter would have risked a short, a disconnection, or damage to the meter.

I plugged the charger into my P4400, and with the multimeter, I determined how many watts the charger needed for each amp out. Then I didnt need the multimeter. By showing me input wattage, KWH, and time, the P4400 let me know output amps, amp hours, and charging time.

The other day, my P4400 was in the engine compartment of a truck as I charged the battery. In case of an unexpected shower, the hood was up only three inches. In a sudden, heavy shower, enough drops blew through the crack to wet the P4400.

It still gave credible wattage readings, but not KWH or amps. I bought another one immediately. The P4400 has proved its value. Update: Last year I bought an electric chainsaw. I finally got around to using the P4400 to see if the manufacturer’s horsepower claims are true.

Apparently so. It also showed me how much voltage I was losing by using 150 feet of extension cords. The flashing display of the P4400 warned me that the current could damage it if I ran the saw more than a few seconds.

The manufacture recommends 14 gauge cord or larger. My cords aren’t marked. To test, I used an electric skillet. Unlike the saw, it’s a resistive load, and it doesn’t draw enough current to endanger the meter.

First I plugged the P4400 into an outlet and plugged the skillet into the P4400. I noted the voltage drop when I turned it on. Then I plugged an extension cord into the outlet and plugged the P4400 and skillet into the cord.

I noted the voltage drop and the amps. I subtracted the voltage drop at the outlet from the voltage drop at the end of the cord to determine how many volts I was losing in the cord. Dividing that by the amps gave me ohms.

In the cord, current runs through the hot and the neutral in series, so the path is twice the length of the cord. To get ohms per foot, I divided the ohms by twice the cord length. Knowing ohms per foot, I could look up the gauge online.

My cords are 16 gauge. I can probably get 2. 5 horsepower with them. I might get 2. 75 horsepower if I upgraded to 14 gauge cords. I’m satisfied with 16 gauge.

A nice, economical power meter. I bought it mainly to verify that the heated pet pads and seedling tray heaters were actually working. This device is simpler than dragging out test equipment. My biggest complaint is that the unit is designed to work on a 20A circuit.

While it’s true that most 20A circuits should be limited to 18A, the unit has a very slow-blow fuse of 15A.

I picked this up to check on my power strips and make sure I’m not overloading anything. It’s a fantastic way to check how much power your devices are using and could definitely be helpful for slimming down your electric bill (if you’ve got the know-how).

It’s much lighter weight than I ever expected, though that doesn’t really matter for a device like this. In any case, great product (and at a great price), would recommend.

All of the features work. Used in a school bus converted to a camper. Nice for monitoring house battery. The gadget uses a tiny amount of power itself. So, I’m going to add master switch for periods that the vehicle is not in use.

The gauge snaps into a rectangular opening, something you’ll have to create for a nice looking installation. The shunt is even more of a challenge. It’s on the ground side. It has to be insulated from the vehicle chassis.

Every metal part of a bus is grounded. It took a good deal of thought, time, and effort to make a make a sturdy, insulated mount for the shunt. I made one out of Delron plastic. A mass produced, plastic holder would have been real welcome.

Thermostat wire works well to connect the gauge.

I liked this item so much I bought two. It was exactly as described with the online wiring diagrams being a great help. One was mounted in my electrical panel in my camper van and the other was placed in a small project box to serve as a line voltage monitor for mobile ham radio usage.

Pictures have been posted.

I installed mine in a protected location outdoors. It does not get wet, direct sunlight, no over voltage or current and it lasted only a few months.

This product has extreme utility. The instructions are clear. My electric rate is 0. 0799. I have it set for. 08. I tested one heater on high and low getting 1000 watts and 1300 watts. I have other heaters I have to test.

I have been tripping a breaker recently. I have a new Honeywell Heat Genius heater with six settings and with no indication in the manual regarding how many watts they are. This product has my genuine endorsement.

– battery compartment requires screwdriver to open for 2 button batteries (included) instead of more common AA or AAA – it connects to an a/c plug, does it really need batteries at all? – instructions are awkward, a little hard to follow – when moving it between devices to measure, the only way to reset the time & power counters to 0 for a new session is a tiny Reset button which also resets the cost back to $1.

00 per KWh. It’s fairly fiddly to set it back again to $0. 29 or whatever your cost is. – cost per KWh is constant, so estimated usage cost is less accurate if your electric costs vary by “time-of-day” – you may need a (fairly hefty) extension cord so you can see the display conveniently + clear, easy to see & read display + pretty good product for the price.

The unit is not of bad quality, but the instructions don’t match the unit. You are suppose to be able to set the time on the unit but I cant get it to do any thing in the time window and the instructions aren’t any help because the pictures don’t match the unit.

any thing I try to do is just guessing because instructions don’t match the operation of the unit.

To make sure your Gas Powered Generator is putting out 120 Volts and 60 Cycles or Hz. 60 Cycles & 60 Hz means the same thing. All AC current in the USA operates at 60Hz. Your electrical company automatically set your home outlet grid to 120 Volts and 60 Hz.

If you are running a gas powered generator you can very the electrical output by the rpm’s of the gas engine. You need to set the engine rpm with the Kill-A-Watt Electric monitor set on Volts until the LED screen reads 120 Volts.

Next, push the button that says HZ. If the Hz are low or high, it’s best to go on YouTube so you can see what to do. Ask how to cycle set a gas engine generator. The above Kill-A-Watt Electric Monitor is essential to setting your gas powered generator to the correct Hz.

The Kill-A-Watt Electric Monitor has other uses as well. Hope this was helpful if your thinking about buying this tool.

Am using this to gather wattage info for all lights, electronics in outlets, appliances etc to make a decision on a back up generator. For most things this gives you the wattage and I like the KWH option so I can see what something may use over 24hrs or a week or such to get average wattage it may consume.

Only items I have seen I cannot get wattage so far are for an electric dryer and the heat system due to higher wattage they put out. Will get this thru some other means. The only stop gap I have seen is this unit can only go up to 1850 watts otherwise it may kill it.

Would be really cool also if they could do an upgrade that would give you what the highest wattage recorded was over a period of time when using the KWH feature so you might be aware of what somethings or an outlets peak wattage could hit.

ie: under KWH toggle to number of hours measured, total KWH, and add a toggle to show highest wattage seen during that time was.

The Kill-A-Watt™ monitor measures just about everything you could reasonably expect of an instrument of this size and shape: volts, amperes, watts, power factor, volt-amperes (related to watts but not quite the same thing) time the appliance was on, and the watt-hours it consumed while it was on.

This last one is a great one for refrigerators and other devices that run for an extended period and cycle on and off during that period. For this price, you can’t reasonably expect anything to monitor the current waveform, so I won’t complain about that.

On the front is a polarized North American/Japanese socket with a ground receptacle. On the back is an unpolarized plug with a ground pin, which is OK if you have a suitable socket to plug it into. However, if you have an older house that has electrical sockets without grounds, you will need a “cheater” adapter; but if you possibly can, I would recommend using a grounded socket to avoid shock hazards.

If you have to plug this device into an outlet strip, you might also have to unplug a lot of things around the socket you intend to use before you can plug in your Kill-A-Watt™ monitor. You can get around this problem by using a short extension cord between the power socket and the Kill-A-Watt™ monitor.

SOME PEOPLE ARE POSTING MISSINFORMATION! This does allow you to rest watt draw in real time, if people would just read the very easy to understand instructions and spend 5 minutes with the device before writing bad and missinformed reviews, they wouldn’t have so many problems.

This also let’s you calculate how much something costs to run over multiple time periods such as weeks months and years. Great device and if you know how to use it you can tell if a refrigerator for example is in good health and if it’s efficient or needs to be replaced.

This is a great monitor. Breaks down wattage usage in hour, day, month and year. As in other reviews it’s just an awesome monitor and other reviews has it not so awesome as it may overheat and melt even under the rated wattage.

Not that expensive for what it does. If any improvement would be to design the lower half plug in area so that the lower plug in your house receptacle can be used. Right now the monitor takes up the space of a duplex receptacle.

You will need a power strip of some type if you have other appliances or lights plugged in. I watched a 9 minute video someone had made and it convinced me to purchase this one. Glad I did. It’s being used to determine how many times in an hour or day our sump pump cuts on and off.

I have an alarm on the pump when it doesn’t not work, but I am interested in knowing how often it cuts on and off, during rainy days. I can figure this out from the wattage usage. I’m done typing. Just buy it and put it to use.

There are no dislikes to this item. Best way to keep an eye on what your small appliances are going to be costing you to operate, as energy cost go higher consumers are trying to shop for energy efficient products.

This is a big help for saving energy and checking the efficiency of anything that uses 120 volts AC – 100% Satisfied with this product.

I LOVE IT !!!!! Especially how fast it can tell me the watts that are being used. I don’t use any of the other technical functions it has. I just use the volts; amps and watts; straight out of the box.

Those three values cycle thru on about a 10 second rotation. I didn’t touch one button; just plugged it it and let it tell me what I wanted to know. I even bought one to give to a contractor friend.

How on earth I ever got by with out one of these. They are AWESOME. Way Faster ! Way Easier ! Multi function read outs. Positively a best buy in simple electrical meter reader. It would make a fantastic gift to anyone that messes around with electricity at home.

I wish I knew of these sooner.

I recently bought a small inverter generator and wanted to check the actual wattage requirements of my appliances as well as tools and equipment. The P3 also shows the max startup watts of appliances which is necessary to know when estimating current draw so I don’t overload the generator.

It is easy to operate, large LED readout numbers, and fun to estimate electric cost of each appliance. I now know how many total electric items I can operate on the generator at one time. This helped me plan for home emergency power outings which are sure to be more frequent in the future.

I have owned the P3 for about a month.

Healthy unique chewy candy ! I love it! I work in a group home for kids ages 11 to 18 and they truly are the best kids! They love when I bring Natures Candy!! It also helps with with sour tummys! No more pepmo Bismo!!!.

This candy starts put mild, then the ginger really kicks in. Soft and chewy I’ll buy again. Great for ginger lovers.

great flavor. love them

I’m trying to figure out solar power and battery storage and this piece of genius is making me look pretty good. Totally helped me in so many ways.

works as stated and at a great price. quality made, very happy