Tesla device
I see advertised a device invented by Tesla that cuts your electric bill. Can't seem to find any info on this.
Forum Discussion
wa8yxm wrote:Apologies, but this isn't quite correct. Low power factor does not mean more power (in watts) is consumed. What happens is more current is drawn through wiring as the power factor drops below 1.0. Power utility companies charge commercial/industrial users for low power factor by reading KVA, KVAH & KVAR because it means they have to oversize supply conductors which gets expensive. Engineers and electricians make every attempt to keep PF close to 1.0 to avoid having to oversize supply wiring to equipment in buildings. And no discussion on power factor is complete without including "real power" and "imaginary power" and also leading and lagging PF. :D
IF you see a label with "Volt-Amps" printed on it, That means Volts times Amps, this is what you pay for.. Volts Times Amps, Times POWER FACTOR, is what you get. So bringing the power factor closer to 1.0, means you use less power.
A smart meter looks like in the pic. They have replaced most of the the old analogue ones in N. America with these. They've caused a LOT of controversy as many have blamed them for causing fire, cancer and being grossly overcharged. They transmit a meter's readings to a nearby transponder which saves on someone having to go manually read a meter at every single location.
Residential consumers get charged for the amount of kilowatthours consumed. If you look at a compact fluorescent lamp and multiply the current printed on the lamp times 120 volts, you get around twice the wattage of the lamp. Have a Philips 13 watt CFL that says 228 ma which equates to 27.4 watts (0.228 x 120). This also means that they are a very low power factor. Are we all being duped by these lamps and getting charged more on our elec. bills? I don't see any mention of voltamps (KVA) or power factor on our bill. Are the smart meters reading voltamps and converting it to KWH?
