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Thread: Earthwise Power Saver devise scam.

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    Default Earthwise Power Saver devise scam.

    A report on Sydney's ch 7 News told of a recent scam of a devise claimed to save '35% off your Electricity Bill'
    The devise was being sold door to door and if I heard right, if you paid cash up front, it ONLY cost $1400 !!!
    On TP, it was $2000.............

    The unit labeled EarthWise Power Saver is coloured green (what else) and is the size of a small inverter with fins on the side.

    They didnt go into details on how this was to work but testing of the devise revealed it actually USED power, not saved it.

    The Company has been closed and all their stock confiscated, at least in NSW as I dont know if this was the NSW Consumer Affairs Department or the Commonwealth.

    The report went onto say it is doubtfull any one who may have purchased this devise will ever get any refund.
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    Hhmmm. Looks like a similar deal is being flogged on feebay
    “There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary – and those who don’t”

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    hmmmmmmm most likely correction, which is useless if you are being charged kw/h from your local retailer. MacDonalds and other large business' can save if billed monthly at kVar on a demand tariff.

    Not sure if the new range of smart meters that are being installed look at power factor in the Mainland, but there is nothing here for the domestic customer in Tassie



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    How similar these two devices are I have no idea so they cant be compared with any accuracy.
    Obviously there is a huge price difference with the US device selling for $150 and the now discredited Earthwise one for $1400.
    I have no idea what the consumer Laws are in the USA but they are far laxer than ours from what I have seen allowing often ridiculous claims being made regarding the value of the products being sold.

    There is only one way I know that works every time to save power and that is the OFF switch !!!!

    My only knowledge of 'Power factor' comes from an electrician who told me that over a period of time, he had removed capacitors from a series of fluorescent lights as they had failed he thought in a shop and one day the meter/fuse board starting smoking !!!
    Apparently with the capacitors removed, this caused a rise in power/current flow? and that overheated the wiring and it began smoking, fortunately it was seen early and it didnt catch fire and burn the place down.
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    Yes the supply and wiring has to deliver that extra load even though it is "virtual"

    Those cheap power meters that you can get at Jaycar, etc can not differentiate real from reactive power, so a capacitor (what is likely the content of those magic power savers and in most cases pretty useless) will show power consumption although there is practically none.

    I asked the question if reactive is metered a year or two ago on this forum after a similar scam device was promoted on "Current Affair".
    The general consensus was 'no' back then but with the newer meters installed these days and regulations that might be constantly changing quietly behind our backs to maximise profits, one never knows.
    Switched mode power supplies that every device uses these days can have poor power factors that are difficult to compensate.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
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    In my posting about the over heating wiring, in one way I was wrong when I said the fellow concerned was an 'Electrician' as he would be today.
    He was actually a 'serviceman' employed at the local 'Sell everything from a Needle to an Elephant' family run department store and he serviced their electrical appliances and transitioned from Radio into TV when it was introduced.

    I am not suggesting he wasnt competent in what he did by any means but this side of the trade back then (post WW2) would have been a separate course mostly for Contractors and Industrial Electricians and generally not encounted by him in his daily work.

    I think the rules have changed today but pre 2000, there were many who were classed as 'Electricians' but were generally engaged in low voltage systems and were not certified to work on 'Mains' (240V) and unless they did a 'Bridging Course', could not wire a house or any service other than 'Home Lighting' systems either AC or DC over 32 Volt.
    Last edited by gordon_s1942; 21-12-13 at 11:16 AM.
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    power factor correction using capacitor banks as freakee1 has pointed out can save a fortune for large commercial energy customers, with peak demand metering, especially if they have a large inductive load, eg a Supermarket with lots of compressors etc for the refrigeration, but for a domestic situation, completely useless and a waste of money.

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    power factor correcting units are huge money savers, most have said if the consumption is huge. At work we have three which helps keep the Pf at .9 which saves a shit load on importing Mvars.
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    Default PF (Power Factor) Correction for the home? +582% error in Electronic meters

    Quote Originally Posted by Svenok View Post
    power factor correcting units are huge money savers, most have said if the consumption is huge. At work we have three which helps keep the Pf at .9 which saves a shit load on importing Mvars.


    The problem with electronic meters reading incorrectly explains why PF correction works in the home.
    PF correction is just a bunch of large capacitors which clean up the power.
    Cleaning the power allows the meters to read correctly... saving power.

    Thus both sides of the debate are right... PF shouldn't work at home... but does because the meters which read the power are over reporting the amount of power being used.


    :-)

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    Holy thread resurrection batman, what are YOU selling?
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    I don't think he is selling anything. That link is legit from a Dutch university.
    Finally after 3 and a half years somebody responded to my questioning in post #5 in regards to the newer (smart)meters and switched mode loads.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 11-07-17 at 11:28 AM.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

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    There is a recognised problem with electronic power supplies (SMPS) and electronic 'smart' meters which due to the meter's inadequate determination of RMS values of a distorted sine wave. Conventional disc type meters are not as susceptible to inaccuracies caused by distorted waveforms.

    The solution is for 'smart' meters to be made somewhat smarter in the way they determine the true RMS values of voltage and current and it could be done but at the expense of reduced revenue of course.

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    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    I don't think he is selling anything. That link is legit from a Dutch university.
    Finally after 3 and a half years somebody responded to my questioning in post #5 in regards to the newer (smart)meters and switched mode loads.
    Better late than never

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    Switched mode power supplies, LED lighting etc introduce more capacitive load so those so called capacitive power factor correction units are making things worse, not better.
    There are at least commercial power factor correction units where instead of capacitors the unit varies inductance to compensate for the PF change from lagging to leading.

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    Default IEE publication: +582% error in smart meters

    The article appeared in an IEEE journal.



    :-)
    Last edited by slicker; 20-01-21 at 03:42 PM.

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