P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

Works as it should

UPDATES at end of the review.Several reviews show the receptacle melted after using them with appliances that draw a fair amount of current. This should not be happening because these units are fused with a SEFUSE Thermal cutoff (at least mine is). I found out by using the device in a manner I knew was a little risky. Temp environment was over 106*F ambient and knew I was using it potentially at its upper limit. Well, it did fail and instead of throwing it away, took it apart to see if it was beyond repair.My rating is based on my experience with it over the last 3 years or so and the great service it has given me. I should probably add that the fact it failed under extreme use without melting the receptacle is also testament to its safety design and warrants some credit.The SEFUSE has a TEMPERATURE rating in addition to in this case, a 15 AMP current rating. For replacement parts, I have seen these rated between 128*C to 240* C. I guess the theory is that it can be used up to it max rating as long as the temperature rating of the installed SEFUSE is not exceeded. If this thing starts to go above the SEFUSE rating, the SEFUSE should fail well before the monitor's receptacle starts melting! I would guess that the Kil-A-Watt folks *might* have used a SEFUSE with a higher temp rating in some production runs than the original design called for. It might also be possible that the SEFUSES received by the mfr were faulty or mislabled. There might be some warranty wiggle room here for those where the monitor started melting. It was designed not to do that!My SEFUSE is *open* indicating that it did its job to prevent overheating the plug/unit. I have to look closer at it to see if I can determine the rating, otherwise I will have to take the new 4440 I just ordered apart and look at that one. There are ways to test to see if replacing the SEFUSE is the problem, but won't go into it here for liability reasons. SEFUSES are available on Amazon at a pack of 5 for under $10. Looks like a stout soldering iron will be needed to effect the repair if you want to pull the old leads from the board. I have done similar repairs by cutting the leads of the failed component and installing the replacement matching its lead length to the original installation. A much lesser wattage soldering iron will do the trick.I like mine and needed a second one anyway. I am fairly certain replacing the SEFUSE in mine with one of the correct rating will restore original safety design and operation. I do not encourage user replacement of any components in this monitor. This review serves only to explain my experience and what I plan to do to try to correct it.UPDATED 9/19/2019The SEFUSE was in fact the issue. If one does a search on Disassembly and Repair of the Kil-A-Watt meter, a video will likely be available on the topic. The SEFUSE in this instance was rated at 99C (210F) in addition to its current rating. A word of caution here. I have seen this component with temp ratings spanning 77C to 240C at 15 amps. It is available with the same rating at 10 amps. The closest one I can find on Amazon is 94C (201F) at 15 amps. If you decide to take this on, be SURE you do not exceed 99C for the replacement component. Since it is available in such a broad range, it reinforces my theory somewhat that some production runs were using the wrong value on the low end (causing early failure) as well as perhaps on the high end (causing the case to melt). This doesn't excuse the failures, but offers some explanation as to what might be occurring. As long as the case is not damaged, this is likely an easy repair for someone with this type of skill. The 94C component is close enough for me.UPDATE 9/23/2019New meter arrived and the SEFUSE checks out at 15A/99C. Back of meter rated @1800W. MAX Power on packaging states 1875W. Would use the meter only for a quick measurement and NOT for sustained use much above 50% of its rating. Will just order the 94C SEFUSE from AMZ. to repair the old one.

Works great

The Kill A Watt Energy Monitor (I have the P4400) can be mighty useful for determining energy usage of plug-connected devices, especially ones with varying usage, such as refrigerators, plug-connected air conditioners, humidifiers and dehumidifiers, and perhaps computers.I got mine in 2018, so it may not be quite the same as current models.A few things could be improved:• It would be mighty nice for the display to have a backlight. But, unlike some others, I have no problem reading it when shining a flashlight on it in a dark location.• For some devices (e.g., a refrigerator), it can be mighty inconvenient to read without using at least one extension cord, which is a bit Mickey Mouse. A Kill A Watt Connect (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVS4WXM9) might address this, but some have suggested the 32″ connecting cable is on the short side. I don’t have that model, so I can’t comment from experience.• When plugged into the top outlet in a duplex receptacle, it blocks the lower receptacle. Again, a short extension cord could fix this.• As several others have noted, the outlet receptacle is mighty tight. Not so tight as to be unusable, but much tighter than a normal receptacle—and it doesn’t have the same feel as a hospital-grade receptacle, which is also pretty snug.• There is no battery backup, so acquired data are lost in a power failure. Power failures where I live are infrequent, so this isn’t a big deal for me. There are other models that do have battery backup.This model doesn’t calculate energy cost (some others do), but this isn’t a big deal for me; I think it’s probably easier to just put the energy consumption data in a spreadsheet and figure the cost there.There are some other brands that cost less and even have more features; I haven’t tried them so I can’t really comment. I haven’t felt the need for most of these features strongly enough to try another model.Were it possible, I’d probably give the Kill A Watt a 4.5.A Poor Man’s Clamp Meter?For devices like a hair dryer or toaster that have relatively constant consumption when in use, I’m not sure it’s necessary to accumulate months of data unless one is a real fanatic—so a quick measurement will often suffice.Though intended for monitoring energy use, the Kill A Watt is also an economical substitute for a clamp meter and line splitter. I have a hard time believing that it’s in the same league, but the specifications suggest otherwise—and the indicated values are very close to what I get with a Fluke 87 and i400 current clamp. For someone who’s not an electrician, the Kill A Watt may well be good enough, and it’s easier to use and less expensive. One big convenience: it’s easy to quickly switch between current and voltage under load at the press of a button, which is much harder to do with fancy meter.The Kill A Watt also provides watts, VA, and power factor at the press of a button. Results can sometimes be surprising: I have one low-flicker LED bulb with a power factor of 0.7, while this isn’t great, I remind myself that the VA is still a lot less than that of an incandescent bulb with a unity power factor. And it’s interesting just to know this stuff.For this purpose, the Kill A Watt seems better suited than some of the newer models with extra features that don’t really apply.

First one succombed after five years. It is a very useful meter to control the electric power power in my house.

Used it to test a kilowatt output of a generator. Works as advertise.