Free & Cheap Energy Monitors Article Discussion

A.Jones

No doubt the "worth £35" part is just to increase the total value of what they are giving away (and hence, charging the rest of us).

I don't really see why they give them to over 70s. If they want to change habits in the long term, they should be giving them to new home owners.

aris

I'm wondering if there is a voucher code to get the USB version of the OWL - I would be interested in monitoring usage over time.

Telfax

Why buy a new monitor.

I have bought two from that well known auction site from people who have not even bothered to open them.

I can now monitor what I buy from the utility grid and how much I produce from my wind turbine. I turn as much as possible off in low wind when buying from the grid and only use electric heating when the wind blows.

You are absolutely right about taking the readings with a pinch of salt. the key thing is to make sure the sensor part of the clamp is closest to the mains cable (brown or red) and is not too close to the neutral cable (black or blue). They are most likely to read lower if they are not fitted properly. Please follow the safety instructions that came with the monitor.

Happy monitoring.

rogerblack

liquidity wrote: »

Without getting too technical a major contributor to the inaccuracy of these inexpensive meters has to do with the power factor of the loads

The silly part is that the OWL unit I have - it uses an AC power adaptor!
In principle, this could be used to provide an absolute reference for power factor.
But, I guess they diddn't think of it.
This is why I recommend a 'plug in' energy monitor too.
My induction stove reads 50W, if I believe the OWL.
But, in practice, there is no real power drawn (1-2W) it's just the massive filtering in the stove causing a false reading.