"I love my Energy Monitor – do you have one?" blog discussion

madmos

ive got one, best thing ever, can you get one for gas ?

immoral_angeluk

vadek wrote: »

It's now about 6 weeks since I ordered mine. Not convinced that it will EVER arrive.

I thought that but it turned up last week. I love it!!

vadek

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

I thought that but it turned up last week. I love it!!

Just today had a text from EON to say that it's been dispatched.

When I last spoke to them, they said the demand had outstripped supply - so maybe they just got a new batch in from China and are in the process of shipping them.

I'm looking forward to its imminent arrival!

drdoom

Quick question on this guys.

I got an energy Owl from eBay a few months ago to monitor usage in my apartment.

I find it great but it seems to give strange readings at low levels of power consumption. For example it will often say I'm using 81 watts or 93watts exactly, this would be with the same items on, so there should be no different readings.

Are these things not accurate when it comes to measuring low level electricity usage?

Do you guys think your electricty consumption has gone down since you started using yours? I think mine definitely has, I've also found myself glancing at it far too often, can get a bit obsessional about checking power consumption:)

Thanks

vadek

My official review of the Owl CM119 is copied below. I plan to give it away when my EON monitor arrives.

"Whilst this energy monitor must be useful, by definition, there are several ways in which it could be improved. There's an older model British Gas monitor which is (was) mains powered and had a terrific analogue readout feature which gives an instant visual indicator of current power usage as well as today's KWh so far - much easier to read than numbers, although the numbers are there as well. This Owl meter would benefit from an analogue-style display.

The current wattage readout is reluctant to change. Once it's picked a figure it will stick to it unless there's a significant change in the power usage, such as turning a kettle on. It ignores lower wattage devices (under 50 watts, for example). I'd also like to be able to default the smaller readout to today's value rather than a grand total. I don't see how displaying the total KWh since the batteries were fitted is of any use.

I can't see a way to programme my e-on tariff into it as it assumes that tariffs are time-based so only has one rate for each tariff, whereas I pay different amounts per KWh subject to how much I've used so far regardless of time of day. So any cost reading will not bear any relation to the actual bill.

Finally, the stand for the receiver unit doesn't fill me with confidence. One little nudge will topple it.

So that's my verdict after one day's use. Maybe I'll grow to love it, but I have to say that I'm disappointed.

EDIT: now over 7 months later and I still agree with my original review. I'd add that the batteries on the monitor died after 6 months and I didn't bother replacing them. I've now ordered a free monitor from E-on and I'm hoping it's more use than the Owl. I'll give the Owl away to someone else as I wouldn't like to waste it."

artha

Idiophreak wrote: »

Can be false economy, I think...

My parents did this with their DVD players, telly etc...Which was great, saved a couple of quid a month...until both of their DVD players (£100+ each) died incredibly quickly. A lot of modern equipment just isn't designed to be hard powered off over and over again.

Does this mean that it is better (for long term cost efficiency) to leave equipment on standby?

Idiophreak

artha wrote: »

Does this mean that it is better (for long term cost efficiency) to leave equipment on standby?

I can't confirm either way, I have no science to back this up. All I can say is my experience - that I have two DVD players and leave them on standby - and they've lasted a good 3 or 4 years. My parents had 2 DVD players, used a "standby saver" and both their DVD players failed within 18 months. Might be a coincidence.

In other news, my EON smart meter arrived yesterday - it's brilliant fun.

vadek

artha wrote: »

Does this mean that it is better (for long term cost efficiency) to leave equipment on standby?

Electronic circuits and hard drives don't like shocks. Powering up or down are both shocks to their systems. They prefer steady states. This applies especially to computers, and all these devices are small computers these days.

So there's a trade-off between power usage and life of devices.

Bongedone

pinksleepybear wrote: »

In Bristol, you can borrow these from your local library for free for a month, but I think they can't be renewed online. You would have to take it back to a branch to have it renewed.

Might be worth checking out other areas too.

This is the case with lots of local authorities. Best check with them before making the journey.

vadek

Okay - so I now have a British Gas Owl and an e.on Energy Fit both giving me readings from the same electricity supply. There's a ten percent difference between the two KW readings. Around the 500KW mark on the Owl, the e.on meter will show 450KW. I've seen them way out of kilter when boiling a kettle.

Does anyone out there have any bright (and simple) ideas for how to figure out which is the most accurate?

Incidentally, the Energy Fit display is an awful grey on grey. And the temperature readout is larger than the KW readout. They got the wrong priority there, I think.