Has anyone seen this yet? Thoughts?
http://www.power-save.com/product.html

If you read their FAQ page, it's a capacitor.
It won't change your bill at all since residential homes have Kwh meters, not Kvah meters (well, at least most are).
The POCO, however, should love them.

[This message has been edited by WFO (edited 03-10-2006).]

I like the video. lol

Ever notice the back of your tv and the heat it gives off. It says it stops this wasted energy. LOL LOL

I think it's easy money for whoever sells these items and wasted money for whoever buys those gissmo's.

A low power factor will cause kWh meters to go slower, but not all appliances like a poor PF and more wiring losses are created.

warm TV's?
I fitted 2 x 110 Volts fans in series at the back of the lounge TV to dissipate that excess heat and prolong the life of the TV.

Quote:
"A low power factor will cause kWh meters to go slower,"

You sure about that? The Kw shouldn't change.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Alan

It is yours for only 3 "easy" payments of $99.00,a fool and a their money will be soon parted.......

Power factor correction is nothing new. As Rodalco pointed out, it's generally motors that have power factor issues, and not lights or heaters. In other words, you're fixing a problem you don't have.

Come to think of it, if the thing is hardwired on all the time, it will overcorrect the PF when the AC isn't running. Wonder if a leading PF is cheaper than a lagging PF?

Put a kWh meter on a test bench, run it at UPF then 0.5 PF.
Same test current.
Meter runs at half speed at 0.5 PF.
Bear in mind that extra losses appear in wiring if you run your house at 0.5 PF.

Why does it run at half speed when the current and voltage are the same? Because it's half the watts.
E x I x .5 (ie-cos 30 degrees)= watts
That's my point. It's a watt meter. But the WATTAGE of the LOAD hasn't changed.

Example. One Hp equals 746 watts. For easy math let's assume a 75% PF, so we're drawing 1 Kva to run this 1 Kw load.
Now put a capacitor on the motor sized to exactly compensate for the motors reactive vars.
The load doesn't suddenly change to less Hp requirements....it's still 746 watts. The VA is what has dropped to the same 746 VA (unity PF).
The Kwh meter on the house is just that...a watt meter. It never did register anything but the watt draw, which is the same as before.

As to line losses, you are absolutely correct. But in terms of significant savings derived from this in a residential environment, I think they would be negligible compared to the cost of the power saver.

And as I mentioned above, unless this device actually monitors the PF and varies the amount of capacitive vars it is supplying (which I doubt), it will run the PF to leading and add line losses back since the lines are now carrying load to an unneeded capacitor.
A leading PF is just as bad as a lagging PF (unless you are the POCO and they are needing all the help they can get.)