P3 International P4320 Kill-A-Watt Power Strip

Product Details

Product Reviews

(1 stars) - Power strip failed already
I bought the P4320 Kill W Watt Power strip on 27 January 2009. On 27 October 2009 it will not stay "on", and drops off. It pops a relay and gives the message "abnormal voltage." The voltage at all recepticals in my house measure 117v. This is not abnormal.

Unfortunately, the warranty for the device is only six months. The P4320 was doing the "drop out" thing during the summer intermittently. I wonder if I had acted upon it if I could have caught it under warranty.

In addition, I did not find a single device that would be better to put off of standby. At $70, it would take about forty years to recover the cost of the P4320.

The experiment was fun. But the parasitic current issue is way, way overplayed.

(5 stars) - Great way to check standby power consumption, too!
Although the product description, in a strictly technical sense, contains an error in that it cannot truly measure efficiency of any appliance connected to it, it is extremely useful to determine the cost of operating any appliance or group of appliances...it provides all info, & actually more, than the average consumer might use (i.e. power factor, which is NOT a measure of efficiency).

Any appliance with a remote control consumes power in its "standby" mode, i.e. waiting to be turned "on" either by its remote control unit or its built-in "on" button/switch. As it is "waiting," it is consuming a small amount of power. For a remote-controlled home theater system, that could include a TV, audio-video receiver, cable box, CD player, DVD player, etc., etc.. Typically these are all plugged into a surge-protector power strip (or at least should be) & all consume some amount of power even when "off," i.e. in "standby." Although it's not much, in my case it comes to about $50/yr. That, of course, doesn't include all the other household items which can consume power constantly, clocks, computers, battery chargers, cell phone chargers, etc, & which the Kill A Watt PS can also independently measure.

The cost of operation is very easy to determine: Just plug your surge-protector power strip (or device or devices) into the Kill A Watt PS (for a month, for example) & it continuously records the power consumed in "standby" of everything connected, as well as, power used during normal operation. To determine the cost, check your utility bill to get the cost of power for the month...then just take the total cost & divide it by the total kWh on that bill to get the price per kWh for that month. That number (price per kWh) can be multiplied by the kWh that the Kill A Watt PS measures & the total is the cost for the elapsed time (number of hours) that is indicated on the Kill A Watt PS. If it was plugged in for a month (24 hrs times 30 days=720 hrs ), just multiply the cost by 12 for the annual cost.

Really pretty easy... you will probably be amazed at how much power can be used just watching a home theater system. By the way, raising the volume, obviously uses more power! You can watch that happen with the Kill A Watt PS.

Although the product has some surge protection, I found its surge-protection energy rating to be considerably lower than I personally would feel comfortable with to protect my home theater system, so I don't use it for that purpose.

One note of information: When you unplug some appliances with built-in clocks, it is likely that the clock will have to be reset when plugged back in.

All-in-all I found this product extremely useful & it, when used according to its manual, performs simply, quickly, & safely, as advertised.

BTW, Amazon had the best price by far (Aug 2009)!

(1 stars) - Kill A Watt power strip
Dead On Arrival. Does not power up and all sockets in power strip are dead. Further, the clam shell packaging the unit arrived in was already opened at one end.

(5 stars) - Useful and well built
I am a power electronics engineer and find this a very useful and well-built device. If you want to analyze the energy usage of the electronic devices in your home or office, this can help. I found it especially useful in optimizing the power consumption of my plasma TV.

Additionally, it acts as a surge suppressor, has a cord for remote mounting, and looks nice enough to make a nice addition to your entertainment center...rather than having to hide it behind something else like a traditional ugly power strip. The two expanded sockets on the end are very handy for wall cubes as well. Overall, excellent value.

(5 stars) - Great energy-use tool
I love it. It has done just what I bought it to do - figure out what it is costing to run various computers and electronics around the house and at businesses.

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