Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor

No problem with installation - easy as pie to clamp it on your meter.No problem with the base losing contact with the meter either, though it did appear to be messing with my home wifi for a day or so.No point in using it to estimate your monthly bill. It appears to base it's total off a rolling average, which means that the 8 hours at night using zero electricity makes the 30 minutes in the morning when the microwave, water heater, toaster oven and heat are all on not even register. For us here, it seems to get up to about a $10 estimate and at that point, there is so much "zero" time muddying the rolling average that any time spent with heavy usage doesn't even register.The 100 watt resolution also makes it hard to use to determine much of anything really. Also, because of the nature of the meter, there is a sizable lag between when consumption goes up and it actually shows on the base and because again, it's an average, the appliance you want to check has to be on steadily for a good amount of time. Can't measure the oven, it cycles off and on. Same for the dryer. Can't measure the microwave unless you leave it on for 10 minutes. Can't even use it to measure the electric furnace (my reason for purchasing it) because the heating coil isn't on steadily either.I was hoping this would get me a little bit of the info that the more expensive inductive ones offer, but it really can't. It's just a flawed design.

Our typical electric bill is between $300-$400 a month, which is insane for 2 people, both with full-time jobs, and no children and since we are in Southern California, we RARELY use the heating or air-conditioning. But we do have a swimming pool.I have replaced everything in the home that is reasonable with more energy efficient alternatives. Light bulbs, dish washer, clothes washer and dryer, etc.The bill amount is not budging.Bought this unit about 2 weeks ago, and installed onto an "older" (turning wheel style) electric meter on our single family detached home.We are getting "smart meter" upgrades this summer, and I will follow up here with the compatibility of this B&D unit on it once it is installed.I had the EM100B up and measuring in about 15 minutes, with a few checks back and forth in the beginning. A reset here, a confirmation there.The hardest part so far, was to put in ACCURATE power cost information based on my 3-tier SDG&E bill. That part took me about an hour of research, a phone call to SDG&E to confirm my findings, and then about 10 minutes to plug the data into the unit. This was because the taxes and surcharges also rise and fall with your energy usage, and correlate to the different tiers. If you don't take them into account then you are not getting accurate cost data displayed at any given point.We were however amazed once it started operating properly and everything was input and transmitting.Because of the fact that at the time of installation of the EM100B, we were unable to start our KWh readings at the moment they were recorded by SDG&E (thus starting our new billing and usage cycle) we quickly determined that the most important part of the information provided by this power monitor was the KWh readings.Looking at the COSTS of running appliances is one thing, but evaluating their KWh usage is the real key when you are billed the way we are.Since the EM100B does have the capability to input a tier based billing system, the moment you start it running, it of course starts at zero, even though you might already be into your 2nd or 3rd billing tier for that month, get it? Unless you start/reset the unit on your billing day, the monetary readings will be inaccurate, if you have a tiered usage billing system.Here comes the good news for us, as learned by this monitor... The KWh readings informed us that right now, our pool pump uses approximately 2.0 KW's per hour while running. (Which indicates it uses about 2000 watts to run!) A bit of simple math determined that the pool pump alone at 6.5 hours run time per day was pushing us into the second billing tier by using approximately 390 KWh's per month. ONE APPLIANCE was using ALL of the monthly baseline allotment from our power company! (Our SDG&E KWh usage tiers are 0-350 cheapest, 351-450 still pretty cheap, 451-700 nearly double, 700+ doubled.)This left us with under 100 KWh's for EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE HOUSE for 30 days before getting in the "we are going to stick it to you now because you have used too much this month" tier. Yeah right! (FYI, when we are home, and when the pool pump is NOT running our house seems to average about 0.4-0.6 KWh's of consumption.)Because of the readings from this unit, we are now shopping for a new variable speed pool pump, like a Pentair. Research shows that this type of pump must run longer, but can use from 1/2 to 1/4 of the energy that is needed by an older single speed pump such as ours. Sure they are nearly $1000, but in all of the calculations (and with an SDG&E $200 rebate) we should recover the costs of the pump in about 6-8 months, and possibly reduce our electricity bill by $75-$100 each month from here forward, if all goes as planned.So if you suffer from high electric bills, and you have done everything that you feel is reasonable in trying to correct it, minus installing solar panels and windmills, I recommend this device to help you get pointed in the right direction to rectify it.My only "complaint" is that it would be nice if it measured in increments less than 100 watts. Other than that, at $89 with free Prime shipping, I think this little device has found our electrical demons, and will be very interesting to monitor when our billing cycle starts later this month, so we can have accurate cost readings as well.

After seeing reviews, I was sceptical as to how well it would work. Now, 3 months later, I can safely say that it is ultra accurate. Last bill was $207.88 (Florida A/C usage and two tier billing) and this device stated it should be $207.64. Prior month it was off by $5, and the month before that off by $10. So it seems to adjust accuracy over time, even though it is reset each month.You have a choice of displaying KW used or money, and I choose money. (press a button to switch at any time). 20 cents an hour when pool pump is on makes more sense to me than 1.43kw. Makes it so anyone can see and understand what is being displayed about usage. It shows normal minimum usage with TV and A/C off at around 4 cents an hour, so you easily see a good base starting point.Prior to this I was using a Kill-a-Watt meter, and still use it at times for very small devices. The B&D power monitor can also measure small devices though. You just need to combine several of the small wattage devices to get an accurate reading. I will turn on three 100 watt lights, plus a couple low wattage ceiling fans, and depending on what is off or on, I can determine what each device uses. Accurate this way to around 40 watts.Concerned about battery life, so installed Sanyo Eneloops, and originals are still going strong 3 months later. Wireless range is fine here, at about 40 feet and through 3 walls. Installation took about 10 minutes, mainly getting the optical output on meter lined up with sending unit. Temperature display is a great bonus, as it shows true outside temperature from the shaded side of our house, which is much better than Internet or Windows sidebar temperatures. I don't care what the temp is 20 miles away, I want to know what it is here, and this shows it.This device will cost you more money than you thought. After getting this, I have added 3 ceiling fans, a solar attic fan (ridge vent useless here, so sealed that up first, then went with 12/24vdc 16" gable fan combined with 45watt solar kit from HF, with end results 15-20 degree drop in peak attic temps), repaired attic ducts, changed pool pump motor, added a Hot water heater timer, and turning up A/C 2 degrees. Based on readings from the B&D power monitor, all the above should pay for itself in less than a year.