Luxury fake power saver plug (with schematic)

The power saver scam has a long history.  In the past, travelling salesmen used to give a seemingly plausible demo of the device using a rigged suitcase presentation.  Now with the Internet the scam is pushed via social media platforms like Facebook and misdeclared adverts on platforms like YouTube.

Some of the sellers use tear-jerking stories of young kids inventing the devices and sharing them with the world to help people, despite being offered millions of dollars by "big oil" to suppress it.  They often use stolen video footage redubbed with the fake story.
The sellers often base their payment system in a country with low moral standards and drop-ship the items from China or local warehouses.  If you've been duped it is not advised to engage further with them.  Look on it as a lesson to be more cynical in future.

In reality, if your power company charges you for "apparent power" (a real risk with "smart" meters) just randomly plugging a capacitor into a wall socket could cost you MORE.  In a worst case scenario this plug could cost you an extra unit of electricity for every day it's plugged in.  Over the 365 days of a year that could be a significant cost.  (£80 a year at local rates.)

Add the risks associated with the bad electronic design and you also increase the risk of having a house fire by using one of these pointless devices.

The only time a capacitor is going to reduce your electricity bill is when you are charged for apparent power (kVA vs kW), it is used with specific types of highly inductive loads, is matched to them and only active when they are.  A simple capacitor does not improve the power factor of modern electronic loads.


If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-   http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.


#ElectronicsCreators

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *