What's up with this Power-Save device ?

[bloadie]

I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable folks on this board have any info or opinions on the Power-Save device linked below.

http://power-save.com/

I'm curious how it might work although I have hunch its claims are exaggerated.

[Titantornado]

Ha, yea.  Probably made by the same company that makes the fuel line magnets that save you 25% on fuel too, eh?  They claim their gizmo restricts the wasted energy of appliances and only delivers the needed energy they use.  WOW, they discovered a way to make appliances 100% efficient?

I'll bet the only thing it's good at reducing, is your bank account.

.

[Shadow]

Heres what the patent number says about it,Apparatus and method to determine capacitance required to optimize power factor

Document: United States Patent 5440442

Abstract: An apparatus and method for optimizing power factor in single phase and three phase installations. Capacitor circuits are interruptably connected with busses by means of switches. Leads electrically connected to the busses are attached to the load leads. The correct capacitance to optimize the power factor is determined experimentally by closing the switches, singly and in combination, until the power factor is in the 95-98% range. A power factor meter is used to determine power factor.  

 But I agree its more than likely designed to reduce your bank account!

[Volvo farmer]

They used to make a similar thing called the "green plug". I think it has capacitors in it to improve the power factor of inductive loads but I'm not 100% sure of this. I do know that us appliance repairmen raked in quite a few service calls removing these from people's refrigerators when the refrigerator wouldn't run properly.

[dinges]

Aren't normal customers, i.e. consumers, only billed by kWhr? I thought it's only the large industrial users that had to monitor their power factor and stay under a certain value.

If so, reducing powerfactor will not reduce your powerbill. I.e. scam.

And what if you load the net capacitively (instead of inductively, like with motors) already? Then adding more caps would only worsen the situation.

Peter.

'a fool and his money are soon parted'.

[drdongle]

Byer beware!

[asheets]

NASA designed the 1st "green plug" unit, and you can find leftovers of these units all over the surplus catalogs.  Electronic Goldmine has had tons of these for years.

Why?  Because most refrigerators and like equipment come equiped with them now, so a stand-alone unit doesn't help matters any...