Today's candidate ...

[ban-all-sheds]

... for the Russ Andrews Snake Oil Trophy.

http://www.energybulbs.co.uk/produc...+Wizard+/Ecotech Energy Wizard Plug/444456156

 

[westie101]

These savings have been verified by an Independent Regulatory Compliance Laboratory and results showed that when the Energy Wizard plug in was used there was a reduction in energy consumption.

No doubt because a more higher loaded appliance couldn't be plugged in.

What an absolute load of total @@@@

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You don't plug anything into it - you stick it in any socket and your appliances start using less energy. The specific heat of water gets reduced, for exmple.

 

[westie101]

That's my point, if I unplug my tumble dryer and plug this in the socket in it's place, of course I save as the tumble dryer doesn't work!!

 

[Spark123]

Find a mains socket you don’t currently
use. This is the place to locate your
Energy Wizard

Still can't see how it will work

 

[flameport]

The only way such a device could work is via power factor correction, which is presumably what they are alluding to with '... optimizing the voltage and current demands ...'

However this isn't happening in this instance, because altering the power factor won't make any difference to a normal electricity meter, the device is far too small to contain the capacitors required, the device could not measure the power factor for the installation or anything else via a normal socket outlet (therefore being unable to adjust to the hugely variable loads within a house), and their example savings of 4% on an electric kettle could not be achieved via power factor correction anyway.

 

[Spark123]

I see what you mean, a kettle having a unity power factor.

 

[flameport]

Some more info:

The manufacturers website is here: http://standby-saver.co.uk/energy_wizard although bizzarely not linked from the other pages on the site, which is for another energy saving device.

They have already been investigated by the ASA after a complaint about false claims - the complaint was upheld:
http://asa.org.uk/Asa-Action/Adjudications/2010/10/Associated-Newspapers-Ltd/TF_ADJ_49148.aspx

This person has opened one and found very little inside:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=40885148&postcount=49

and some pictures of the insides of some other similar devices:
http://www.bigclive.com/power.htm

Clearly there is no way these devices will save anything.

 

[sparkticus]

It probably is a PF correction device of sorts perhaps analysing the current/voltage ratio with a DSP then attempting to compensate with rapid current injection (isn't that the way some of the new fangled harmonic distortion PF correction devices work?) I can't quite get my head around it at the moment (need to draw it out on paper) because the current injection would use energy and I may be talking rubbish but I think you could achieve some correction in such a way but not much, in other words you might be able to PF correct small loads/small phase angles. In short, a waste of money.

 

[sparkticus]

It probably is a PF correction device of sorts perhaps analysing the current/voltage ratio with a DSP then attempting to compensate with rapid current injection (isn't that the way some of the new fangled harmonic distortion PF correction devices work?) I can't quite get my head around it at the moment (need to draw it out on paper) because the current injection would use energy and I may be talking rubbish but I think you could achieve some correction in such a way but not much, in other words you might be able to PF correct small loads/small phase angles. In short, a waste of money.

Just read the links, nope - no DSP in there. In fact it uses power and saves nothing so sounds like a trading standards case to me.

 

[Spark123]

I don't see how they can monitor current either, usually the measuring device has to be in series (or a wrap around CT) as opposed to being in parallel.
Not that pf correction will save a domestic customer any ££s as normal meters measure in Watts, not VA.

 

[sparkticus]

I don't see how they can monitor current either, usually the measuring device has to be in series (or a wrap around CT) as opposed to being in parallel.
Not that pf correction will save a domestic customer any ££s as normal meters measure in Watts, not VA.

Yeh, the whole thing is ridiculous. You could monitor current by detecting voltage drop across a resistor (or a more sophisticated system) but you would need to go through a fairly tedious calibration sequence first (correlating the VD to a known load somewhere on the circuit) This thing is an outright con. I'm amazed at what people do and often get away with!!!