HeyBub wrote:

(Probably even longer ago and farther away) But can't a suitable capacitor
change the phase on a motor such that the reactive load is out of phase with
the resistive load thereby fooling a KWH meter into thinking the motor (say
on an AC unit) is all reactive and therefore not measured?
..
The electric meter will in all cases read the real power used. You can't
fool it with caps. High capacitive loads don't fool the meter any more
than high inductive loads.

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To the OP:
For residential customers the powersave 1200 is a scam. For others it is
probably a scam.

Power factor is an issue with most industrial and some commercial users
because the utility measures 'reactive' power (separate VAR meter) and
adds a penalty to the utility bill. The utility does not measure
'reactive' power for residential users.

The utility meter measures the actual power you are using. It does not
measure the higher current that results from low power factor as some
literature implies.

In a residence, low power factor results in the current being a little
higher so the I squared R (heat) losses in the wire are slightly higher.
The powersave only helps in the losses in the wire from the meter to the
point where the powersave is connected - negligible. And the amount of
correction must be adjusted as the power factor in the house changes.
Does the powersave do that?

There were 2 threads at alt.electrical.engineering recently on the
powersave1200:
ttp://tinyurl.com/39de4q

http://tinyurl.com/36w67f
(entire thread)

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