PowerCost Monitor ™

the unit began to drop communications.The unit lived up the positive reviews and worked flawlessly for two weeks but after a week of high humidity in the Dallas area the unit began to work erratically. I did everything changed batteries, and finally brought the unit inside until the weather improved.The unis was never directly rained on our meter is under the gable just the ambient humidity affected the unit in some way.I finally was able to get the unit back online but the following day the same happened.I spent a lot of time with the Level II tech at Blueline. I have no weather stations, no interference of any kind (the unit worked perfectly for two weeks).I emailed photos of my meter and the meter box to Blueline this went on for a week back and forth with emails from the tech asking for more information I finally decided to get a refund on the unit.If you do use one of these devices you are hooked it sheds new light as to really how much energy a common house uses.It does take anywhere from 20-30 seconds to respond to changes in energy use as some have mentioned.I was having withdrawal symptoms while the unit was down.I ended up going with TED (The energy Detective 1000 series) this is a simple unit to install and is rock solid in operation with a feature rich information set with a very nice display! The unit displays usage in real time updates are updated within one to two seconds.I am one happy camper save the batteries go with TED.

This meter provides a way to read what your electric meter is reading, day by day or hour by hour. It provides for detailed entry of the intricacies of your billing scheme, including different rates for different times and over-amounts used. You can turn on your electric stove, air conditioning, any large consumption electrical appliance and see not only how much current it's drawing, but how much it's costing you to run per hour according to your billing rates.Only 2 shortcomings: It takes 30 to 90 seconds to register a change in consumption, so by the time you're checking consumption of central air, a refrigerator may have cycled on to distort the readings. And secondly, the consumption wattage is in chunks of 100 watts, so you can't note minor change in usage.But otherwise, the PowerCost is an intriguing instrument for a fair price.--Mike

I bought the monitor to learn more about my electricity usage. It's easy to install but two major flaws led me to return it.First, the data it delivers is too inaccurate to measure power. The display only shows 1/10th of a kW (i.e., 100W) but the underlying accuracy seems even worse (maybe 200-300W). Also, the measurements are not real-time--it may take a minute or more for the display to update after a change in use.Second, the display unit needs to be in close proximity to the meter to work. I often had no reception inside the house unless the unit was within a few yards of the meter (which is outside the house).The monitor also has no memory, so it's not possible to see your usage over the day. It would be nice to be able to read this out via a USB port.

I doubt this review will see the light of day. I ordered the power monitor from an Amazon vendor and got it in a timely fashion. It was sold as new and the box it came looked beat up aside from normal shipping and handling. I installed it and did get it to function although one function was clearly not normal. It functioned somewhat normally for just over a week, became sporadic [reported batteries dead or weak] and then died altogether.Definitely not a happy customer.I reported the condition to Amazon and the vendor and no one even replied. I guess the business only thrives on positive reviews and glowing responses.clint vance

This cost savings meter is an excellent way to learn about your energy consumption in an easy to read format with easy installation. The instructions provided are clear, the software it comes with is helpful. The main thing we enjoyed was the digital display which is easy to read and gives a great deal of information....from current energy consumption, cost of energy, weekly & monthly comparisons to the current temperature.I would recommend this product to anyone who wants to save money on power and learn what household items are consuming the most or least energy. This power meter will show you in REAL dollars and REAL kilowatts how your conservation decisions are effecting ACTUAL energy useage and your bottom line.

I purchased this and only had it going for about 1 week and then the massive ice storm of 2009 struck. We were without power for 10 days, so I haven't had much time using this, but it is a great device. With this you can watch the electric meter disk turn faster or slower with each thing turned on. Letting you monitor which items are the most power hungry.It also has an outside thermometer letting you know the temp first thing in the morning.Like keeping an eye on the speedometer of your car only better, this helps you keep an eye on the speedometer of your electric bill!

Didn't work reliably on original meter. Can't use any longer since the meter was changed to a smart meter.

Like the title says, it's nice, but very hard to use... did not transmit well, and stopped working often...