I'm all about saving money on electricity but what is this?

imola ghost

I'm interested in solar power and all of the green type savings my wife and I can use and I ran across this.

Could someone explain what this is and does? I watched the video demostration but still don't understand what it does and does it really work.

http://www.power-savetv.com/1200.html

Pudge565

I'll tell you what it is it's a scam. You can't save on a power bill without using less watts. The only way to use less watts is to use less appliances for less time or to buy new more efficient appliances.

TazinCR

It is nothing more than a whole house surge protector at 3 times the price.

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Matsukaze

It's a power factor correction capacitor. This type of device can make sense for large industrial facilities, which are charged extra by the power company if they have a poor power factor. For a typical residential customer, all it will do is lighten your wallet.

EBFD6

I agree with everyone else, this product is a waste of money.

Power factor correction is something that is commonly used in industrial plants with a large amount of motor loads (and in some cases is mandated by the power company). It compensates for the inefficient power used to start and run motor loads.

In no case will any house ever come close to needing, or have any benefit by, having power factor correction installed.

Save your money, total scam!

wire_twister

Send ME the money it will do as much good as buying that thing!! Come to think of it, at least I will save money on my bill, by using your money to pay it.

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Jimmy

Life is tough, Life is tougher when you are stupid.

darren

What a joke, but obviously some people fall for it or they wouldn't sell it.

I looked at the FAQ on the product and two things made me laugh. They say your home has a power factor of .77, i find that hard to beleive.

They also say you can't use it with fuses. Whats the differnce between fuses and breakers?

BigJimmy

Geez. And I thought that attic full of grow-lights was mostly resistive.

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J. V.

If you want to save money on your bill, these scams will not save you a dime. Reducing power consumption is the only way to save.

1) Install CFL bulbs in every fixture you can.
2) Set your T-Stat on your AC up a few degrees in the summer, and lower a few degrees in the winter.
3) Use spring timers in bathrooms. Especially if you have kids/teenagers.
4) Get everyone in your household to understand that "leaving a light switch on is the same as leaving the water on in a sink or shower"
5) Use high efficiency appliances.
6) Replace filters as recommended by the manufacturer.
7) Reduce outdoor lighting. Flood lights and similar use tons of power.
8) Adjust refer settings, both freezer and fresh food compartments.
9) Insulate all hot water lines.
10) Insulate your house to the max. (more is not always better)
11) Use motion detectors where applicable.
12) Grill out as much as you can (this way you can drink beer too)
13) If you are not home for many hours per day, a hot water heater timer might save some. But this is up for debate.
14) Wash clothes in cold water. Clothes lines are great if you are up to it. Not for me though.
15) Take showers not baths. Use water saving shower heads.

The list goes on and on. Ask your power company to provide you with their publications on energy savings plans.

Solar heating can be very beneficial on hot water heaters and swimming pools. My neighbor made his own with plans from the net. His pool is warm even in the winter. In the summer he bypasses his water heater and turns it off. We are in the southeast, so our winters are not that bad.
I am certain others here have more ideas to save, lets hear them!

SD515

Does it come with "Ever Sharp' Ginsu knives and the 'Miracle' stress relief bracelet too?? Or did I need to call in the last 10 minutes....

_______________________________
If it sounds too good to be true.....

Thermographer

I saw something like this demonstrated at a factory I worked at. We hooked it up to a panel running around 100 amps. When we turned it on, the panel dropped to 67 amps. I was using a fluke amp meter and seen it myself. For industrial applications, I would be a believer.

Power factor come from motors if I remember correctly. So unless your running the fridge, dryer, washing machine, A/C compressor at the same time, the payback on this would take many years before breaking even.

J. V.

The utility charges for watts used not amps. I sure would like to see that magic trick myself.

Thermographer

Okay.. 480 volt panel at 100 amps vs 480 volt panel at 67 amps = less watts.

BigJimmy

Ok, I'm a little rusty on my watthour meter construction but the only way that the disc will rotate is if the current and voltage (in the meter, not incoming phase) are 90 deg. with respect to one another. The design of the meter achieves this in the way the separate coils for the current and voltage are built with respect to one another (again don't flame if I'm not 100% accurate) to create the shift in fields required. One of my professors in school demonstrated how you could slow down/stop a watthour meter by careful application of a capacitor (which in itself will shift current and voltage by 90deg. ideally). Thus, you are shifting the two magnetic fields by an additional 90deg. which cancels out the magnetic effect required to make the disc spin (and again, without doing some research, I cannot remember if the fields are then 0 or 180 degrees shifted w.r.t. one another at this point, however it does not matter as the result is the same). I do NOT advocate doing this as it is tantamount to theft of service but I'm guessing that is what this little gizmo is doing.

In the end, there is no device that magically SAVES/CONSERVES POWER. Only modifying the HO's consumption can do that legally (JV had a trove of good suggestions). It is merely using physics to trick the watthour meter into recording less than actual usage.

Again, sorry for being so rusty on magnetic circuits and induction discs.

Jimmy

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Thermographer

What this is doing is correcting power factor. This is not jimmying the meter. One of the factories I worked in used capacitors that cycled in and out automatically depending on how many CNC machines were running at the time. The reason they bought into this system was not the reduced electric bill only as it wouldn't have been that much, but the power company was going to start charging for a bad power factor.

The demonstration I saw was in a factory that had power factor correction capacitors out on the utility pole, but nothing that cycled in and out as more induction load (motors, lighting) were brought online.

As I said, I do not think this will help out for a homeowner. If your not running any inductive loads, most likely you would be correcting for your neighbors fridge and doing nothing for your meter. This unit would improve power quality but not energy efficiency and the average homeowner would not see a payback.