I bought myself a power meter today. I've been running around the house ever since, measuring the standby and operating power on various electrical appliances. We've all been told that our appliances should be turned off at the wall to prevent them gobbling power, but it really sinks in when you can measure it for yourself! So far I have discovered such interesting snippets as: Washing machine on at the wall but off at the machine = 11 watts Washing machine on at the wall, power on at the machine but not washing = 16 watts Washing machine fully functioning (cold wash) = 41 watts So my washing machine is using about a quarter of the power it would use when running, just to sit there and think about running! Crikey! Also: The TV uses 11 watts on standby, but 0 watts if I push the little button on the set to turn it off completely. The DVD player is the same - 11 on standby, 0 if turned off at the appliance (not at the wall). The stereo uses 16 watts on standby, and still uses 11 watts if turned off at the appliance. It's only by turning it off at the wall that I can get it down to 0. Even the little radio in the kitchen uses 6 watts when plugged in but doing nothing. The best thing about this is the price of my power meter - $20 at Bunnings. The brand is "elto." I had heard of the "Centameter" - a gadget that lets you measure your power use over a whole household or individual appliances. I've been saving up to get one, but at $190 they're a bit out of my budget. Looking at the Centameter website (www.centameter.co.nz) it definitely looks easy to use, easy to read, and has a lot more functions than my cheap version. My cheap gadget can only measure one appliance at a time, and the display screen is very small and hard to read in low light. But for me the $20 power meter is doing the job quite nicely. And by helping me to convince other members of the household to turn things off at the wall, it will probably repay its purchase price very quickly. I'm very pleased with my purchase. Tomorrow (in daylight) I will be entering the unit price of my power so my gadget will be able to tell me not only my consumption in wattage but also my consumption in dollars. I can't wait!
Submitted by Lindis on 25 August 2008 22:16:05
Comments
I own both. The centameter is great for the overall picture. I live in a big house with lots of kids. Making sure they switch stuff off is a nightmare the centameter is great for the instant overall view. However is is useless for measuring small appliances or draw currents. Hence the meter like yours. I too was amazed that the washing machine all lights off, switched off except at the wall used 16w or 2.5kwh a week just sitting there.
Submitted by Codecraft on 28 August 2008 17:00:38
Update:
My $20 gadget has already had an effect on our lifestyle. Previously I just couldn't convince my partner of the value of turning off things like the washing machine at the wall. And if I turned off the TV he grizzled and complained that he couldn't just press the button on the remote to turn it on! He actually had to get out of his chair and walk across the room!
When we got the power meter, the two of us went around the house looking at the consumption of various appliances. We worked out that having the TV and the washing machine on standby 24 hours a day used the same amount of power as having the dehumidifier turned on and running for the same period.
Having five different appliances all on standby was equal to having a light left on in every room in the house, 24 hours a day.
Suddenly we have some perspective on the true consumption figures, instead of just speculation. We have both become more careful about leaving things turned on - and we feel good that we are actually making a measurable difference.
Submitted by Lindis on 9 September 2008 13:29:59
Hi
I've recently bought an eFergy whole house meter - similar to Centameter, but lacks the Temperature and humidity display :( but has a memory function - stores usage by day, week and month. :) Very useful. It can even be set to sound an alarm if you are using too much power! ;)
Cost £35 = about $90 from http://www.electricity-monitor.com/efergy-wireless-energy-monitor-p-8.html. It can be used in NZ as voltage is set by menu and it doesn't need to plug in.
Am finding it very useful. It works by clamping a sensor over one of the main's feed cables where is goes into the mains meter; and then there is a wireless display.
I also wanted to measure power usage on e.g fridges, washing machines, bread makers where usage is off and on. I intended to use the eFergy for this, but just clamping the sensor over the appliance power lead didn't work (as the lead has both positive and neutral wires, and the current flows cancel out as far as the sensor is concerned.
Solution was to adapt and use a short extension lead by very carefully trimming off a few centimetres of the external insulation, being very careful not to nick the insulation on the internal wires. I then clipped the sensor over the live lead only - I thinks it's at least 90% accurate. Then I plug the appliance in using the extension lead.
This measured:
* New, front loading washing machine uses 0.5 kilowatt hour for a 30 degree wash, heating from cold. "Cold" wash (actually 20 deg) uses about 0.3 kWh
* Old fridge freezer uses 2 kWh per day - and this in the cold conservatory.
* Bread maker uses 0.25 kWh per loaf.
Definitely recommend buying a monitor. It certainly makes energy use visible.
cheers
Bill
Submitted by BillDash on 27 November 2008 15:57:13
Hi,
Sorry I'm slightly late to the thread-I'm just wondering if you could tell me where you got your power meters from? I'm keen to get one, but the cheapest I've found is $32 + p&p.
Also have you found anyone selling wireless energy meters in NZ other than centameter? Which I consider is probably overspec'd and overpriced for the general household market its aiming at. I've just come over from the UK, and I'm suprised they're so hard to get hold of here.
thanks
james
Submitted by jimmyj on 26 May 2009 11:56:41
Hi James,
I got my power meter from Bunnings (the big box hardware place). The brand is elto and is cost about $20. As far as I know the centameter is the only NZ-made power meter - mine was made in China.
Submitted by Lindis on 4 June 2009 12:16:39
Hi James
I test and buy products for sale for the energy efficiency company Right House.
I have the tested the Efergy E2 and and the Wattson and have used the Centimeter OWL and Efergy ELite and the normal Centimeter and found the following:
The Efergy E2 and Wattson are the 2 that record energy use that you can download, so you can see what energy is consumed when your asleep or at work.
The Wattson dowloaded displays breaks down the intervals into 5 minute record points the E2 Efergy breaks down hours only.
You can measure kW average and used and CO2 produced through energy use and cost per hour. You also have the breakdowns to measure and compare days months and even years.
The Wattson can be loaded onto PC and Mac the Efergy on PC only.
We use the Wattson for energy assesments as it records in 5 minute segments but recommend the Efergy E2 for a house hold and SME.
The E2 is cheaper and comes with it's own disc so you don't have to be connected to the outside world to download the software as the Wattson requires you to download software from their internet site.
Use of the monitor system and the future switches(wireless remote for wall sockets) will allow you to see what changes you can make by getting rid of stand by loads.
The information gained from the devices are only useful if you change your use of equipment which is why we promote the future switch to enable people to use a wireless remote in a place they choose to turn off an appliance or appliances at the wall.
Right House stock the Efergy E2 and future switch and can order the Wattson but don't stock them.
I hope this helps.
Sandy Antipas
Submitted by santipas on 17 October 2009 14:18:24
Hi there. Ive recently purchased an Efergy E2 from Smart Concepts NZ. Its a fantastic gadget. I tried righthouse but had no luck. Chris Jaquiery from Smart Concepts ( www.smartconcepts.co.nz )offered the best price at $175, including software , USB cable, and instructions.
I hooked the unit up, no problem. But I was curious about the accuracy. So, i looked on the power rating of my electric jug, then when i turned this on.... Wa - la a fairly precise reading. I noticed however that the accuracy was a little off with the lighting load. But overall... I can definatley see visably how much each applicance, light, oven or whatever was costing me per hour.
This device has changed the way I use things around the house. And now I can have a good idea of how much my power bill will cost.
You can also set the thing up so that it changes Tarriff at a certain time, so that on night rate the monitor adjusts automatically.
I cant believe how much power my appliances use on standby mode. Apparently Smart Concepts sell a standby killer, which im very keen to invest in. It is a remote control plug that you turn off from remote. If you have allot of things on standby, you can slo get a five plug remote. Does anyone know if these work well? Interested to hear your feedback.
CheersWalt
Submitted by walt on 13 March 2010 23:09:14