Energy Display Meters - I like them!!

Morn

I know that there are 100s of other threads on these devices and I know that some people think that they are somewhat pointless for varying reasons.

We got ours the other day and I have managed to get the daytime wattage down from 0.400 to 0.160 by turning a few devices here and there off etc...

Whilst I admit that it is common sense that if an electrical device is not on it will not use power there is something satisfying about seeing it on a screen. I think that this will have paid for itself in a couple of months so if you have the $ then splash out on a cool gadget.

I got the efergy model from eBay and can vouch for the simplicity in set-up.

Regards

1carminestocky

I couldn't agree more. It's usually only the people who have never used one of these monitors who slag them/can't see the point of them (or in extreme, fortunately rare and easy to control cases, slag the people who HAVE them, lol)

linni

I want one too.. I shall be off to Lidl on Thursday for the £6.99 one. Unless of course you know where I can get one cheaper!

lagi

Do you just plug it into an empty socket and it reads everything going through the circuit and you just switch items on/off. Or looking at the picture of the lidl's one do you have to plug each item into the thing to calculate its usage?

linni

Good question - I would like to know too!!

Morn

The one I have connects to the main cable coming from the meter to the fuse box. It shows all power coming in the the flat and thus gives an overall feel of how much power is being used in the property.

I have read that you get that you pay for in terms of the meters and that people have had weird and wonderful readings with the cheaper models.

I paid £34 inc postage for mine and chose the model because it got good reviews, I think it is wise to spend a little more to ensure accuracy and quality.

I just put the kettle on and nearly died when I saw how much it put the kw reading up!! :eek:

Regards
Morn

Premier_2

There are two types of energy meter, both with their pros & cons.

The type the OP is referring to monitors the entire consumption (like your electricity meter does, but more visably and with extra functions too). What it won't do is identify that part of the 400W 'background dribble' is in part caused by the 11W that washing machine is drawing even thought it is turned off.

This is where the lidl type device comes in handy. It measures the amount of electricity being consumed through a specific socket so tells you what each specific appliance is using. What it can't obviously monitor is the whole household consumption at once, or indeed those devices hard wired e.g oven, shower, lighting, extractor fans, etc

espresso

Morn wrote: »

I have read that you get that you pay for in terms of the meters and that people have had weird and wonderful readings with the cheaper models.

I paid £34 inc postage for mine and chose the model because it got good reviews, I think it is wise to spend a little more to ensure accuracy and quality.

The cheaper plug in types are actually more accurate than the wireless types whole house types! I bought one of the plug-in ones from Lidl and have checked it's accuracy, it's still working fine today.

lagi & linni

The plug-in types sold by Aldi, Lidl, Maplin etc. simply measure the appliance that it plugged into them. This makes them more useful for monitoring the actual cost to run various thermostatically controled appliances like friges/freezers etc. They also store cumulative totals (hours on, cost, kWh) which the OWL and it's variants don't.

lagi

Sold, will treat myself to a Lidl's one. Bet the computer uses lots.

1carminestocky

Speaking as someone who has both types, if you were to purchase one only with a view to getting your usage down then IMO the wireless ones would be my first choice every time. I know the naysayers/geeks will complain that the plug in type are more accurate (I'm sure they are right, of course) but the point of the whole house wireless monitor is IMO nothing to do with being the last word in accuracy (I remember one efergy user comparing what figures his efergy had stored for a week and compared it to his meter and the difference amounted to 10%).

No, the whole point of the wireless monitor is for the current whole house usage (OK, give or take 10% accuracy) to be constantly 'in yer face' and difficult to put to the back of your mind like you would do with the results gleaned from theplug in type. Kids love them, too.

PS espresso is misinformed about OWL variants not storing data, several do, including the OPs efergy. Be careful who you listen to here...

Morn

Thanks for clarifying that espresso, I can see your point with the accuracy of the wireless option so I think that a belt and braces approach is the way to go.

I will get a plug in one which will allow me to measure a single device, the question is how good is the Lidl one??