Home Energy Monitors

Home energy monitors like this are a valuable tool for anyone concerned energy conservation.

Home energy monitors – What are they?

Home energy monitors, first of all, it is a device that will typically monitor your electrical usage for your entire house. The large majority of them require little electrical knowledge to install, and can be done in minutes. What they do is measure the amount of electricity used by placing a clamp around the wiring leading into your electrical meter. As electricity flows into the meter through the wires, it generates a magnetic field around the main cable. This magnetic field fluctuates constantly as electricity flows back and forth because it is AC, or alternating current. The electricity moves very fast, enhancing the fluctuations, and generates an electric field in the clamps that we put around the cables leading into our outdoor electrical meter. That is what the sensors do is sense the electrical field generated by the electrical current created in the clamps. That data is then relayed to the transmitter, which the sensors are plugged into, and the transmitter relays that signal to the display unit, which is located inside your house. They range of most transmitters I have reviewed have an approximate range of 100 feet. You can deduct approximately 15 feet for each wall in between the sensor and the monitor, so you should keep the display unit as near to the transmitter as possible to avoid weak signals, signal interruptions or signal loss, and keep the walls in between to the minimum.

Home Energy Monitors – What do they do?

This is a typical question for many. We have explained how they work, but what can they do? They basically just sit there and monitor your electricity use and save the data in on board memory so you can observe trends and patterns of your electricity use. That is it in a nutshell, they won’t save you electricity, they won’t turn off appliances or lights for you, and they won’t save on your electric bill. What they will do, however, is give you real time data of your current electrical use, within seconds, to give you an idea of how much electricity you are currently using. With this data in hand, it gives you a real time knowledge of exactly how much energy you are using, and with that knowledge present you with the opportunity to change your electrical use habits. If you are one to leave things on a lot, or not ever really consider how much energy you are using until the electric bill comes, then this is a great energy efficiency tool for you. With the exact knowledge of how much electricity you are consuming at any given time, it allows you the opportunity to eliminate some of that electricity use being consumed if it seems or is excessive. In most households and businesses today, there is a great deal of energy which is not needed, and thus, wasted so to speak. We can eliminate most of that waste with the addition of home energy monitors, which can help not only reduce our electricity waste, but in turn, our electric bill as well.

Energy Monitors – What are Some Features

There are a multitude of these useful tools on the market today, with a wide range of functionalities, features and prices. They also widely vary on installations and set up difficulties. The most common types come with clips, which I mentioned above, and are easy to install. Others wrap around the outdoor electrical meter with a belt, and monitor the wheel rotation and are also relatively simple to install. Then there are some which need to be installed directly into the breaker box and need a qualified electrician to install, like the TED 5000. This is your decision, and you should take the time to find the right model for you, and not wind up with something that gets you in over your head.

Some of the features are typical, like current energy usage in kw H, average power consumption, daily, weekly and monthly data. Others have computer interfaces, usually a usb connection and software that allows you to view your data on your computer and gives you a more detailed and better visual experience, like the Efergy E2. You can save your data on your computer and monitor anytime. Google is currently working on an online energy consumption product called the Google power-meter, which allows users to track their current electricity consumption online and on your mobile phone as well. It only works with 2 home energy monitoring devices though as of the writing, but they are working on expanding that process. This option may not suit everyone, as for me I would be fine with a regular display in my home or on my computer. In essence, energy monitors won’t do a thing for you, but it will give you all the knowledge you need to act and reduce your power consumption and your electricity bill, along with your carbon footprint. Now that is a real winner in my book!