Can anyone recommend a mains monitor for occasional plugging into sockets to monitor power usage of appliances? Ideally it would have a display for monitoring over a time period for thermostatically switched devices. I’m not looking for an overall wired-in solution, just a pluggable unit to check standby currents and fridge / freezer consumption etc. so I know where the £££s are going.
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Or have I missed summat?
That’s the problem. There’s too many to choose from, many of which seem to be from three-random-syllabled suppliers in the far East.
Does anyone here have experience of a reliable well built monitor which doesn’t electrocute you as soon as look at you?
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Ah.
Point taken.
And I don’t mean plug point.
You are right to be careful!
A lot of them are fiddly to interpret or read, or downright unsafe! I’ve binned several in the last two decades.
The best one by far among those I have tried is this twelve-year-old Belkin, it’s very accurate (or it was when I compared it with a lab reference), easy to read and does exactly what you want. Alas, it’s no longer available.
Some burst-mode or poorly filtered switching power supplies can confuse its reading, so I just take an average on what it shows because the summed total over time is still correct.
Right now, this Maxcio is monitoring my newish heat-pump AEG tumble dryer which seems less efficient than the previous old AEG that died.
It is accurate enough, but a pain to read because of the poor display and too many confusing unergonomic options. I found it a very steep learning curve and I’m supposed to be technical with electronics etc. I could only give it three stars.
I’ve been using this Owl house monitor for the last twelve years, and it’s still accurate with a granularity of about 16Watts. Don’t even think about using its dire software, but the remote display works all over the house.
Much better ones are on the market now.
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Pack of 3 smart plugs.
They don’t have a display but link to a smart phone app via your wifi. They will give you daily and monthly power usage for whatever is plugged into them, and you can switch the power on and off remotely if you want to. You can also view the power draw - e.g. my kettle shows 2800W being drawn and I can see that it used 0.53kWh yesterday.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09QQCVGSX/
Easy enough to set up and use.
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I’ve just clicked the ‘buy’ button on a Maxcio monitor which apppears to do what I want. Some don’t give instantaneous power under a couple of watts but this one does (although usage under 4 watts isn’t included in the timed cumulative measurement.)
I’ll report back once I’ve used it a bit.
John, those devices you mention look interesting, and cheap as Alexa controlled switches, although I’d like to see a stripdown of of one as they’re very small for what they do. No wifi hub required so looks like a Zigbee mesh type arrangement.
Thanks Richard, I thought you’d chip in 
The basic one seems to have had an upgrade with a blue display with wider viewing angle and there’s fewer complaints about the setting up.
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I’m a bit fuzzy on the tech, i.e. don’t know what zigbee is, but I took that to mean no smart home hub (e.g. Amazon Echo type hub) required. You do need an access point/wifi modem router. I can operate the on/off and check the usage when away from home. And they handle 13A of course.
Re-reading the set up instructions I realise I should have kept the boxes, which have a QR code on them to scan during set up. Oh dear. Best not change my router, or if I do to use the old SSID and password.
I take your point re size - they are fairly compact but they don’t get hot, which is reassuring!
I think you can set them up with Alexa, but frankly I’ve found the Alexa app to be less than intuitive. I had some Alexa/Amazon smart plugs but they all stopped working after a while. And of course they don’t give you the power data.
The smart plugs just work over wifi using the smart life app. I use them to control lamps and a few other items round the house.
Thanks. I’ll probably invest in a set of these. There’s a few places they’d come in useful for turning equipment off overnight and there’s the power monitoring aspect too, as you say.
Couple of things to look out for with these plugs.
1, Check they work with the Smart Life app as this is the most used app, nearly all the plugs work with this though.
2, There are two types of these plugs, one with energy monitoring and one without.
Yes that is the app I am using, badged Gosund.
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Try the Tp link Kasa smart plug with energy monitor… I use it to turn my tv etc off overnight saving standby usage.
Available on Amazon, currently £29, but I bought one when on offer for £18…
Below is pic of device and stats readout via app…
You can also move it around the house to find out what is used where…
And before anyone asks I’ve plugged in two in tandem and discovered the plug itself uses 1w 
Cheers … Rich
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