Meter Energy Monitor

Redbullmaster

Can anyone recommend a good Meter Energy monitor, I tried one from amazon but I had to sent it back. As I think it was a return from a different customer, it had a scratched screen. Plus the time froze after 7 hours of use with it.

The one I had seems to be a generic version and most others are based on the same design, not sure if I am allowed to link to it so you can see which one I mean.
 
I would like one where I can input my kw cost to see how much it costs to run the item. But the one from amazon you have to round up/down to the nearest unit. Then the reading made no sense as it didn't give me a cost that made any sense to the KWH.  

Thanks for any help

QrizB

There used to be half-a-dozen on the market but there seems to be less demand now (probably because energy companies have stopped giving them away to customers and are promoting smart meters instead). I have a couple of ten-year-old ones that still work well.

The Geo Minim+ is one of the few remaining models. has a fairly good reputation and gets decent reviews.

Neil_Jones

Surely you can work it out yourself via maths?

If you have a device that eats 200w of power if you leave it running for one hour and your unit rate is 10p per hour (for argument's sake) then that device will cost two pence per hour.

Or am I missing something?

shinytop

Neil_Jones said:

Surely you can work it out yourself via maths?

If you have a device that eats 200w of power if you leave it running for one hour and your unit rate is 10p per hour (for argument's sake) then that device will cost two pence per hour.

Or am I missing something?

Yes. The OP wants an energy monitor that works it out for them (via maths).

Swipe

The Owl monitors are OK. I've owned a couple of them over the years:

https://www.theowl.com/index.php/products/energy-monitors/

Redbullmaster

This is the device I'm referring to
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monitor-Backlight-Electricity-Consumption-Analyzer/dp/B085S7Q1T4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=electric+monitor&qid=1631260416&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEySk9HTkZSNDIyNk9KJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzQ1ODYwNElLWDE0WTEzODlSJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3NTU3MTIzSzBXT0M2WFlNM0E1JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfcGhvbmVfc2VhcmNoX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

As I just want to plug in the different devices in my flat and see what they are costing to run.

Yes I could use math, but as these are suppose to work it out for you. I thought it would make my life easier. 

As my tariff is 12.425, my TV ran for 7.5 hrs at 1.720khw or it has a reading of 182.5 w. I wasn't sure of the math to use if I'm honset. Nor sure if I divide the 1.720 by 7.5 and then times it by the tariff. To get the pence per hour. 

But the device gave a reading of 8.20, not sure if that's correct, as didn't tally with my math. 

QrizB

^^ I've got one of those and it does what it says it does.

• Your TV ran for 7.5 hours and used 1.720 kWh. That's an average load of (1720 / 7.5 = ) 229 watts.
• The instant that you looked at the meter, the TV was using 182.5 watts. This is less than the average but you can expect it to vary.

Your tariff is 12.425 p/kWh. Your TV cost per hour is (0.229 x 12.425 = ) 2.845 pence.

(I'm not sure, from your description, which reading on the device was 8.20?)

Redbullmaster

The 8.20 was the cost, not sure if it's defective or I set it up wrong. I put 00:13 as the cost in the tariff setting. 

QrizB

You can put 12.42 or 12.43 in as the tariff rate if you want a more accurate result.

Redbullmaster

Do you think it was defective or human error? As I sent it back, I will reorder a new one and hope I get the right cost on it.

 

QrizB

Redbullmaster said:

Do you think it was defective or human error? 

I honestly couldn't say, sorry.
I will have to dig mine out and re-acquaint myself with it. I do recall that it's a little bit idiosyncratic but I don't remember it being grossly inaccurate.