Ok, so I borrowed a Kill-a-watt energy meter from my dad so I could check it out. The first thing that I noticed is that it is huge, when I tried to plug it in the outlet, I had to unplug the item below it, because it covers the lower outlet. This is obviously for a reason as I'm sure it didn't happen by mistake. The second thing is that the display is quite hard to see and should really have a back-light. I just used an extra power strip to plug it into so that it wasn't in the wall. Large appliances like your AC, dryer(that makes your cloths drier), fridge, water heater are out luck for this device, though you can use other methods to calculate their usage. So lets get into some actual usage of the kill-a-watt meter.
- FIOS converter(where the optical cable comes into the house) 15watts at all times
- FIOS HD DVR by Motorola 29watts on standby, I didn't test while recording.
- Liftmaster 1/2hp garage door opener model number 41ac050-1 4watts standby, 63watts with light on, 490watts closing, 450watts opening(seems like the springs are wound tighter than they should be as this was repeatable).
- Whirlpool Microwave MH2175x5q-1 standby(clock running) 4watts, door open 35watts, counter light on 44watts, 127watts with the exhaust fan on, and ~1600watts with everything on.
- Whirlpool Cabrio Washer 1watt standby, haven't tested a load yet.
- I will add more here as I test a few more things...
All in all it is a fun gadget to play with, but I would not recommend buying one. To me one of the whole house meters that show a $ amount constantly is where I would spend my money. Though it is fun to check on some items, it's just not useful on a daily basis where a whole house meter could be useful every day.


