PN1500 Portable Micro Electricity Usage Monitor Electrical Power Consumption Watt Meter (110V, 1500W)

I've bout 3 of these over the past few years, and had my dad buy one too. All of them are fantistic and reliable. Small too. These are super usefull for diagnosing issues, monitoring power, or if your just plain curious how much that one thing draws. Really like the cumulative KWh that does not get lost even in power outages. I started using these for switched circuits on a solar system and they work great to log long term usage.

Very nice watt meter. It not only displays power consumption to 0.01 watts, but it also saves kWh and hour data after unplugged. This was a nice additional surprise not mentioned in the description.The LED backlight is another useful feature.

The PN1500 Portable Micro Electricity Usage Monitor is really easy to use and solidified my suspicion that an old freezer we had in the garage was costing us way too much money. What I really like is now that I know how much electricity that old hunk of metal was using, I can move this little device around to different items and see what they cost. I’m curious to see the difference between that old freezer and an energy-efficient refrigerator/freezer that we have in the house. Definitely worth the little bit of money that it cost for a huge amount of knowledge on what is costing electricity around my home. Highly recommend.

This review is for the Poniie PN1500 Electricity Usage Monitor. First off a couple of nits regarding Amazon's processing of the order. The PN1500 comes in a manufacturer's box that's 2x2x4”. Amazon shipped this one item in a 6x5.5x9” box; could have held about 20 of the PN1500's. I really don't need more cardboard that I can't find places willing to recycle. Next, because of a delay, Amazon “upped” my order to UPS vs USPS shipping. That's fine for summer weather; but for rural folks during the winter, the UPS drivers are dropping off more and more packages at driveway entrances rather than risk going down a snow covered drive that they might get stuck in. I've noticed my local UPS delivery trucks no longer have true mud/snow tires on their rear wheels for the last few winters. However, a recent Fedex delivery showed up in small van with good mud/snow tires on it.Overall I like the Poniie PN1500. It arrived in excellent condition and it's been working as advertised for a number of days now; but there are a few things to be aware of:First, it is a very small unit; about 1/3-1/4 the size of the Kill-a-Watt product. With the outlet just below the control buttons a large heavy duty straight appliance plug (vs typical two wire lamp plug or a right angle appliance one) may interfere somewhat with your access to the buttons. In addition, I've found I need to use the tip of my finger nail to press buttons because the buttons are fairly close together. This situation is compounded by the very small, 1/16” tall, characters used to indicate what mode the display is showing. The number size is absolutely great; but definitely not the screen mode indicators. Several times now I was briefly confused when I thought I was reading the KWH/Hour value and it was actually the Amp display. I would also like if the unit provided an average power consumption (energy used divided by on time rather than only elapsed time) of the device being tested in addition to the existing measurements.Second, like most of these plug in monitors, the display faces straight forward which might be fine for the 30” height of washer/dryer, kitchen countertop, or refrigerator outlets; but it is really, really inconvenient to operate/view for the typical 12” height of common USA home wall outlets. I've always thought these monitors should use a “remote head” for the display/controls with a simple 3-6 ft phone/ethernet cable connecting the plug-in part to the head unit. True, there are bluetooth or even wifi versions out there; but really folks – for something you need to check just once in a while after the initial fascination has passed. And double extension cords to move the unit out so it can be used is annoying as well.Third, having the backlight on constantly as default seems a bit odd. Nothing like having yet another “night light” glowing from behind a refrigerator or washer/dryer. I reset it to the 10 sec auto-off feature within first few minutes of using the PN1500. However, keep in mind that by pressing the Watt/VA, Hz/PF, or KWH/Hour button to turn on the backlight, you will also be selecting the alternate choice on these selections. For example, if the backlight is off and you last had the unit displaying Watts; when you press the Watt/VA button to turn on the backlight to read Watt again, you will actually have switched the display to the VA reading. Get used to double pressing button operation or using a flashlight in dark areas so you don't have to touch a button. This isn't a problem with the Volt or Amp buttons since they only have one normal function. It'd be nice if a quick press/tap of any button just turned the backlight on and didn't change anything else.Fourth, beware the wattage/amperage ratings on the unit. Oddly, the wattage rating is based on 110Vac. Most American households tend to have 115-120Vac these days. The 1540W maximum rating at 110Vac yields the specified 14 Amp maximum current; but if you have 120Vac line voltage the maximum current should limited to no more than 12.8 Amps. So, check your line voltage first after inserting the PN1500 in the outlet and before plugging your appliance into the PN1500. Then calculate your situation so you won't be exceeding the wattage limits of the PN1500.Fifth, there are obvious errors in the manual. Section 2 for “Voltage” shows a display of 220.0V even though the text says the range is 100.0-140.0V and the spec section states the unit can display 110-140V. Section 3 for “Current” states range is 0.00-15.00A; but specs state maximum rated is 14A. The list continues...Finally, the watts and PF calculation is just a circular explanation citing formulas; VA=Vrms*Arms, Watt = VA*PF and PF=Watts/VA. There's no proper explanation of how PF or Watts are arrived at. Obviously the device measures VA directly just like a regular multimeter would. Watt measurements have often been done by custom IC's that measured a heating effect (the heating technique avoids PF and non-sine wave influence) and then PF is calculated by the formula above. Other techniques require timing the difference between the zero crossing (or peaks) of voltage and current waveforms; but results can be erratic with non-sine waveforms (which the PN1500 manual states no “inferior quality power supply”; i.e. modified sine wave inverters). While the method of obtaining PF or Watts is unknown in the PN1500; I haven't observed any significant errors with the Watts or VA measurements and the PF values are on par with heaters and appliances I've tested in the past.

This power meter is pretty nice. I purchased this meter because I was hoping for some better accuracy and update speed than my P3 Kill A Watt power meter. Which in most ways it is better. Accuracy and update is better. Plus most measurements read 2 digits after the decimal. So the resolution is very nice on this meter. It also has a backlight display that you can turn on and keep on. Or you can set up so it only comes on every time you press a button and stays back lit for a few seconds.The biggest reason I use these power meters is to measure the Apparent Power (VA) the resolution is very good, but the update rate is about 1x every 4 seconds. So it's very slow. One or two other measurements are the same speed for update. But others are about 2-3x per second instead. So that's about the only gripe I have. But it's still a nice meter that is still worth 5 stars in my opinion.If you have ever used a P3 Kill A Watt meter, then expect an almost identical meter as far as available measurements, and functionality. But I would say this say this meter is better in all ways, except the update speed on the VA measurement. Though the resolution for VA is better on this one so I still prefer this meter.

We bought this to try to monitor our power consumption, we could not figure out why our electric bill was so high. Turns out its mostly just he way we are living. But we were able to figure out we were burning thorugh enough electricity on an ancient freezer that we really needed to buy a new one. The display in this thing is big enough and bright enough to read in the basement. Good way to check power consumption. And super simple to use.

Love these. Good functionality and price. Small footprint. Keeps track of KWh, time of use, until you reset manually. I can see W, VA, PF, A, VAC, and Frequency (one at a time). Screen lit so can see in the dark. Bought a second one so I can have one available for other uses.