vphase-ripoff or worth it

[ssray]

This was in the times today http://www.vphaseplc.com/ .
they claim that by keeping your voltage down to 220v it will save 17% of the energy you use.
True or false?

last time i measured ours we had 249v, so would reducing this to 220v work?
Btw Its £299 inc vat.

Ta

Ray

 

[RF Lighting]

It might save a bit on a resistive lighting load, as they will be dimmer.

Stuff like your kettle will use exactly the same amount of electricity to boil. It will just take longer.

Not sure how an installation could stay within the permitted volts drop requirements of BS7671 with one of these jobbies installed

three HUNDRED quit??? Thats going to take a while to pay for itself

 

[flameport]

Mostly false.
Can only be used on non-heating appliances and the savings with electronic equiment are minimal or even zero. That doesn't leave much else to save electricity with.

There are also the significant installation costs to consider as well as the cost of the device itself.

 

[electronicsuk]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1287884#1287884

 

[333rocky333]

http://www.powerperfector.com/

These are currently being fitted in major supermarkets, however it is causing some problems where the voltage is too low in parts of the building
I can get some pics of the guts if anyones interested.

 

[ColJack]

Not sure how an installation could stay within the permitted volts drop requirements of BS7671 with one of these jobbies installed

220 is towards the lower limit of the allowed supply voltage, volt drop is then allowed on top of this..

although I suppose how you define "origin of the installation".. is that at the meter tail screws or at the output of the breakers in the CU?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Not sure how an installation could stay within the permitted volts drop requirements of BS7671 with one of these jobbies installed

The answer is not at all, as the device itself drops 4.3%...

It may well sit upstream of all the final circuits, but its presence does not mean that the installation nominal voltage is suddenly no longer 230V.

three HUNDRED quit??? Thats going to take a while to pay for itself

Plus installation costs, which are labour and CU mods, as it has to be supplied from the CU.

Oh - and your whole installation is then limited to the largest MCB you can get for your CU - their diagrams show it being supplied by a 50A MCB.

Does it come with a polishing kit containing a lint-free cloth and a small bottle of snake-oil, I wonder?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

220 is towards the lower limit of the allowed supply voltage, volt drop is then allowed on top of this..

No it isn't - the 10V that it takes out is 10V out of your voltage drop allowance.

although I suppose how you define "origin of the installation".. is that at the meter tail screws or at the output of the breakers in the CU?

To my way of thinking there is absolutely no doubt that it is at the cutout.

 

[Lectrician]

although I suppose how you define "origin of the installation".. is that at the meter tail screws or at the output of the breakers in the CU?

To my way of thinking there is absolutely no doubt that it is at the cutout.

I would say the meter terminals

 

[Spark123]

I have seen a device which claims to save money by reducing the voltage to discharge lighting with the old type ballasts, they said it wouldn't save money with HF ballasts.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I would say the meter terminals

Even so it's not at the output of the voltage conditioner, so why they bang on about how it must be installed in accordance with the wiring regulations whan at a stroke it drops more volts than are "allowed" for lighting circuits beats me.

I wonder if they are going to wriggle around the fact that the regs don't actually mandate a particular VD limit?

 

[brig001]

Don't know if this study has been posted here before: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~aupec/aupec04/papers/PaperID77.pdf proves it doesn't work.

Bri.