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Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Get real-time info on your electrical usage and track spending. Display Type: Digital, Battery Required: Yes, Battery Type: AA, Battery Included: No Installs on electrical meter and transmits information wirelessly to in-home receiver/display Appliance function provides baseline energy usage, allowing user to track energy usage changes Predictive feature provides actual energy consumption and estimates future energy use, measured in dollars or kilowatt hours Sleep function provides longer battery life when unit is not in use
Average Customer Rating:
out of
5
14 of 16(88%)would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Excellent energy monitor.,
November 2, 2009
By superplumbermi
from Portage, MI
"If you want to monitor how much electric you are using at any given time, this is what you want. It tells you what you are using and allows you to turns items off and yo can see the saving immediately. Now you can find out where the "Energy-Hogs" are hiding in your home. I own a P/HVAC Company and install Solar Thermal & Solar Energy systems. People realize the savings that these systems put back into thhe grid when the sun is shining. I highly advise everyone to get them for Christmas presents for the hard to buy for person. It isn't difficult to install and will save you energy and money because it raises your awareness. Be Green - Go Green. Reduce our Carbon Footprint."
What is your level of technical expertise? Professional
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Review 2 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Works Great!,
October 19, 2009
By KenRH
from South Central Pennsylvania
"I purchased this item several months ago and it has worked great. It was easy to install. I had no problems. I have always keep an eye on my energy usage and this makes it easy to do from inside my house. Now there is less trips outside to the meter base during the month. It is another device that makes things in life easier to manage."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
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Review 3 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
works sometimes,
July 13, 2009
By jayc
from clinton twp
"1st 1 didn't work northern sent me another and it worked but when batteries died and i replaced them it never worked again"
What is your level of technical expertise? Professional
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Review 4 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Keeps you on top of your electricity usage,
March 18, 2009
By urnojfk
from St. Paul, MN
"I actually got this for a preset at Christmas and set it up in late December. The setup was a bit finicky -- the little detection arm that picks up on the rotating disc on the electric meter has to be positioned just righ (down to the milimeter). Also, I have found that in very cold weather, the rubber gaskets (I'm guessing) inside the positioning arm contract, and the arm gets out of alignment. You immediately know it's out of alignment because your "usage" drops to just 2 cents per KHr - not normal in my household.
Beyond those minor setup issues, the unit works great. I have the base unit very close to the sending unit outside the house, so I can't speak to the transmission distance.
It's great to get the instand readout and then go hunting for the baseboard heater that is set to high, turn it down, and see the readout also drop. It has definitely changed out habits when it comes to using our bathroom heater, the baseboard heaters and even some vampire charging bricks that were plugged in all the time.
Again, the instant readout makes the difference - immediate gratification when you unplug or turn something off. Have shown it to my kids and they are taking a more active role in shutting down unnecessary electrical appliances and lights.
Buy it -- it'll change your perspective on electrical energy use."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
One more thing to bug the kids about,
November 24, 2008
By theanswerman
from Racine, WI
"This works great. Can't find a single thing to say bad about it. Takes longer to watch the install video then to install it. Very simple to get going. There is less then 1 minute delay when changing loads, before the display sends it. Having the info display in the kitchen, allows me to see instantly when electricity is being waisted and show other what the cost of leaving stuff on cost. If you want to be more green, or just smarter about your electrical cost. You need this."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Will save you money,
November 17, 2008
By MCMIA
from Iowa
"Setup was easy and it didn't take long to cut .05-.07 per hour.
Monitor act as a friendly reminder when you have left something on."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Works great,
October 27, 2008
By Lawman
from Laramie, Wyoming
"I purchased to help me decide on how many watts of solar panels I needed to run the house in a grid-tie system, and for how much generator I needed to power the home. It worked like a charm and now I know exactly how much power I consume. It has saved me money in both the solar and generator, as I would have paid too much for higher wattage, not knowing my actual usage.
It had one other great effect I didn't plan on - My 3 little girls started watching the meter, and found it entertaining to see how low they could make it go... So instead of the girls being the biggest energy wasters in the house, they turned into little energy savers and always search the house for lights they can turn off. We have turned it into a game, and the girls love playing it!"
It had one other great effect I didn't plan on - My 3 little girls started watching the meter, and found it entertaining to see how low they could make it go... So instead of the girls being the biggest energy wasters in the house, they turned into little energy savers and always search the house for lights they can turn off. We have turned it into a game, and the girls love playing it!"
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 8 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Not bad at all,
September 24, 2008
By denkopf
from CT
"This unit went together very well, I did have a problem with mounting it to the meter, I have a Type 1 meter, that is the one with the rotating disc. however it has a monitor already installed by the electrical co inside the glass. I had to call tec support. They were very friendly and helped me out. The sensor had to be mounted to the side, this made the sensor housing stick out a bit having the clamp just catch on the glass out side edge. It took me about an hour of fiddling around setting up the readout. The DVD was a big help.
The big test is to see if this unit will operated a few years through the rain, snow and heat.
It is pretty cook watching the cost as light and appliances go on and off.
like I said the big test is in a year.... does it still work."
The big test is to see if this unit will operated a few years through the rain, snow and heat.
It is pretty cook watching the cost as light and appliances go on and off.
like I said the big test is in a year.... does it still work."
What is your level of technical expertise? Professional
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Very nice product but...,
August 18, 2008
By fwaid
from Victor, NY
"Bought the Monitor in July and was pleasantly surprised that it was so easy to set up. I like the display capabilities and the information available from the display. The only nit I have with it is the setting up of rate information. I know that in some regions there may be multiple rates to set up, but for those of us who do not have the need to enter such information it seemed overly tedious for this particular step. Also, I had to go through the entire process of setup again because it wasn't made clear how to keep the rate constant regardless of how many kwh used. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking to get a handle on their household electrical load and to see how one can reduce their costs by reducing their usage. If you want to see how an individual device or applance affects your usage and cost however, this is not the device to do that, unless such device uses a lot of power and would affect the total usage amount. Get something like a Kill-a-Watt Electricity usage monitor for that. These two products, working together, will really help you to monitor and help decide how to reduce your electricity usage - and save you money in the bargain."
What is your level of technical expertise? Professional
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Easy Installation and Usage,
August 11, 2008
By HaroldT
from Bloomington, indiana
"It only took a few minutes before I started receiving data on my power usage. I now have a much clearer understanding of which household devices are my energy hogs, and have been able to adjust my home power usage accordingly. Knowledge is power, and this device increases knowledge of power consumption. It easily pays for itself in a few months."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
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Review 11 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Inadequate Enduser info,
July 1, 2008
By Richard502
from Olympia, WA
"I have followed this product for a long time and was looking forward to purchasing and using. All the reviews, marketing and company website were very positive and seemed to be the best energy monitoring product available. After it finally arrived and reading all the support documentation I spent the whole evening trying to get the sensor to work. After calling Blueline's technical service imagine my disappointment when told that "unfortunately" my electronic meter was not supported by their monitor. NOWHERE in all the articles and literature I read that there was any issues with meter compatibility. In fact this statement is from the manufactures' website: "The PowerCost Monitor™ can be used by any consumer of electricity, residential or commercial". Please beware of possible meter incompatibility. If it would have worked for me as I have heard I probably would have rated with 5 stars."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Works as advertised!,
June 3, 2008
By Jonny5
from Seattle, WA
"and that is saying a lot. I was a bit sceptical at first, but having just bought a new, larger house I was getting some higher than average energy bills and decided to give it a try.
I've tested it four several months now and it seems to be quite accurate with the bills I recieve. Plus it shows you in almost real-time (~10 second delay) how much power you're consuming. You can go turn on the oven or dryer and see how much power it's sucking or costing you.
I have got to the point now where I know what the norm is at different parts of the day and it's way off then I can track down or figure out what is drawing the power. Very useful little device!!"
I've tested it four several months now and it seems to be quite accurate with the bills I recieve. Plus it shows you in almost real-time (~10 second delay) how much power you're consuming. You can go turn on the oven or dryer and see how much power it's sucking or costing you.
I have got to the point now where I know what the norm is at different parts of the day and it's way off then I can track down or figure out what is drawing the power. Very useful little device!!"
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Blue Line Power monitor,
April 14, 2008
By jamesc215
from Perry, Fl
"I got this device amost a month ago and setup was a simple. They provided a setup video clip for about every type of power meter there is.. I have one of the new digital ones and the setup took a whole 10 minutes. Programing the monitor to my power bill costs took another 10.. I've found things in my house to turn off that i would have never guessed pulled as much power as they did.. Right now I can monitor my power consumption down to the penny or watt depending on the view you set on the monitor.. It was well worth it's low cost and in 2 or 3 power bills it will have paid for it's self plus I now know about everything in my house that pulls watts and how many.. I went from pulling an Avg of 16 KW an hour to about 9.7 just turning things off I don't really use.. Plus it even tells you the outside tempature,the time and your total useage which you can reset and gauge you power bill monthly from and a peak meter.. I love it and it's cool blue backlight."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Handy device, easy to install,
April 14, 2008
By TrailBlazer23
from Boston area, MA
"I found this device relatively easy to install, and immediately useful. It is much easier to have a real-time display of overall consumption handy than than trying to measure each of the many devices in the house (especially since individually metering central systems like heat and A/C for electric consumption is not practical). I plugged in the PowerCost monitor and was immediately able to get a sense of how much power my central heating system fans were using by just cycling them on and off while watching the meter.
The couple of minor annoyances:
* Working out the absolute cost was not worth the trouble for me. My electric bill is broken in to so many parts (some fixed fees, some consumption based) that what the monitor shows for the month and what I actually pay are only approximately the same.
* A faster update time would make it easier to take individual device measurements without having to worry about whether some other device (e.g. refrigerator) is cycling at the same time.
* Recently I have been getting an occasional 0 display and incorrect temperature readout even though the signal reads strong. Not sure yet whether that is some kind of interference from other electronic devices, or something else."
The couple of minor annoyances:
* Working out the absolute cost was not worth the trouble for me. My electric bill is broken in to so many parts (some fixed fees, some consumption based) that what the monitor shows for the month and what I actually pay are only approximately the same.
* A faster update time would make it easier to take individual device measurements without having to worry about whether some other device (e.g. refrigerator) is cycling at the same time.
* Recently I have been getting an occasional 0 display and incorrect temperature readout even though the signal reads strong. Not sure yet whether that is some kind of interference from other electronic devices, or something else."
What is your level of technical expertise? Home Handyman
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
Powercost Monitor,
January 14, 2008
By JSNH
from Southern New Hampshire
"Good product. Easy to install. Near instant feedback on electricty use and cost. it is great to find what electricty cost so you can reduce what you turn on. The wireless comunication works good and have not changed batteries yet (2 months so far). You can not download information from it and it does not capture peaks other than a graph but it track usage and keeps a running total very well."
What is your level of technical expertise? Professional
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor, Model# BLI-28000
Overall Rating:
/
5
What an excellent product!,
September 9, 2007
By LukeK
from Greenville, SC
"I read an article about a product called a Wattson, which isn't available yet, however this product pretty much does what the Wattson does except for detailed tracking and computer integration.
The package is very simple to set up, all you need is a screwdriver. Batteries are included and the instructions are clear and easy to understand.
This product makes it easy to track real-time KWh usage in your home. I highly recommend it!"
The package is very simple to set up, all you need is a screwdriver. Batteries are included and the instructions are clear and easy to understand.
This product makes it easy to track real-time KWh usage in your home. I highly recommend it!"
What is your level of technical expertise? Professional
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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