Wattless current?

[AE-NMidlands]

It's a phrase I heard an electrical engineer friend use, to do with how a/c drawn from the mains can be jiggled so that the meter doesn't read it properly.
It crossed my mind when a page linked from the article on the Australian battery fire thread advertises

See Why Power Companies Are Scared Over This Breakthrough Device That Cuts Your Power Bill By Up To 90%

https://getvoltex.com/article4/uk?gclid ... gLnaPD_BwE has some silly reviews "I also saved a ton buying Voltex, can't wait for my order to arrive(!)"
I can't see how "cleaning up" the way the energy is used can possibly save 90% of the consumption...
A

[spread-tee]

You know the old saying, "if it seems to good to be true....it is"

that review says it all, I just received this and already I have saved a ton............blah blah.

Spread

[Stinsy]

I remember in the old days you could use an inductor to make your electricity meter run backwards and therefore "save money" (or "commit fraud" depending on your perspective). I guess this device does something similar, maybe it is a capacitor and is supposedly makes your use less inductive (and therefore more capacitive), But that would make a tiny impact on the bill of a typical domestic user.

Certainly the website is full of BS red flags, there seems to be a way of writing that no genuine company uses to describe their products. The reviews at the bottom of the page are obviously fake too (normal people don't write like that).

[Stig]

Sticking an inductor or capacitor will change the power factor and hence the current but the electricity meter doesn't just measure current, it measures power. I suspect this is the same scam as the old "it'll make your meter run backwards" BS.

[Mr Gus]

This product types alleged performance have been a longstanding con of multiple decades.

It is ideal for bingo winged stupids of the facebook world (harsh but true as that's the marketing aim by dint of alleged feedback)

Anyone looked up the American HQ of these allegedly German entrepreneurs?

It reminds you of "Mine detectors" sold to MOD top brass right? BY A FORMER POLICEMAN ..likely because the LED circuit & a few capacitors is the basis of the design & auto validate that a product is "working"

"A fraudster who sold more than £55m worth of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other security hot spots has been jailed for 10 years.

Jim McCormick, 57, was found guilty of three counts of fraud over the sale of bogus explosive and drug detection devices for as much as £10,000 each when they were based on £15 novelty golf ball finders.

At the Old Bailey in London on Thursday Mr Justice Hone handed down the maximum sentence for a crime he described as "a callous confidence trick". He said the case was the most serious of its kind he has known"

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may ... man-jailed
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/04/ ... 34x376.jpg
https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/8809- ... t-so-much/

[nowty]

Its likely to be a very small power factor corrector, many domestic appliances have motors (like fridge compressors) or switch mode power supplies which usually means an inductive load. Adding a capacitive load to the mix may help correct poor power factor but you will only save anything against your bill if you are charged in kVAh (Apparent Power) and not kWh (Real Power). And then its got be be big enough and matched correctly to make a difference.

In the UK domestic customers only pay for kWh and not kVAh, so you will save nothing.

I recall my ex-employer was using a similar thing (bank of capacitors) for power factor correction but on a much, much larger scale. But they were saving money as they were billed extra for having a poor power factor.

Interestingly, smart meters do measure kVAh as well as kWh, so maybe in the future ………………

Example, my smart meter says I have a total import of 11278 in kWh (Real Power) or a total import of 11688 in kVAh (Apparent Power).

[Stinsy]

Its likely to be a very small power factor corrector, many domestic appliances have motors (like fridge compressors) or switch mode power supplies which usually means an inductive load. Adding a capacitive load to the mix may help correct poor power factor but you will only save anything against your bill if you are charged in kVAh (Apparent Power) and not kWh (Real Power). And then its got be be big enough and matched correctly to make a difference.

In the UK domestic customers only pay for kWh and not kVAh, so you will save nothing.

I recall my ex-employer was using a similar thing (bank of capacitors) for power factor correction but on a much, much larger scale. But they were saving money as they were billed extra for having a poor power factor.

Interestingly, smart meters do measure kVAh as well as kWh, so maybe in the future ………………

Example, my smart meter says I have a total import of 11278 in kWh (Real Power) or a total import of 11688 in kVAh (Apparent Power).

I guess your grid usage is probably more "reactive" compared with the typical consumer. I assume the initial surge of electric motors is supplied by the grid while your batteries (once they've had time to respond) supply the power to keep the motor running.

[nowty]

Its likely to be a very small power factor corrector, many domestic appliances have motors (like fridge compressors) or switch mode power supplies which usually means an inductive load. Adding a capacitive load to the mix may help correct poor power factor but you will only save anything against your bill if you are charged in kVAh (Apparent Power) and not kWh (Real Power). And then its got be be big enough and matched correctly to make a difference.

In the UK domestic customers only pay for kWh and not kVAh, so you will save nothing.

I recall my ex-employer was using a similar thing (bank of capacitors) for power factor correction but on a much, much larger scale. But they were saving money as they were billed extra for having a poor power factor.

Interestingly, smart meters do measure kVAh as well as kWh, so maybe in the future ………………

Example, my smart meter says I have a total import of 11278 in kWh (Real Power) or a total import of 11688 in kVAh (Apparent Power).

I guess your grid usage is probably more "reactive" compared with the typical consumer. I assume the initial surge of electric motors is supplied by the grid while your batteries (once they've had time to respond) supply the power to keep the motor running.

I think its mainly my battery inverter, most of them don't measure it but my SMA Sunny Island does and it generally is importing 250 Var (Reactive power) almost all the time, unless it is heavily exporting. However, that is off set from export of reactive power from my Solar inverters so I am a net exporter of reactive power, which I think is a good thing.



Just checked the totals on my smart meter for reactive power in just under 2 years the meter has been fitted,
Q1 - Total Inductive import 131 Varh
Q2 - Total Capacitive import 617 Varh
Q3 - Total Inductive export 2743 Varh
Q4 - Total Capacitive export 736 Varh

PS - I do like the thread name "Wattless current", as it sums up what reactive power is, as consumed in your home appliances. But along the very long transmission lines, thats where the power is lost as heat, more current, more heat. Therefore the power stations need to generate more power than we actually use. And for clarity thats extra power in addition to the pure resistive load of the transmission lines.