In article ,
"Frisket" writes:

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
Unfortunately in the case of a compact fluorescent (and many electronic
appliances), the low power factor is not due to inductive or capacitive
phase shift, which means it can't be corrected by simple addition of
capacitors or inductors.

Forgive my ignorance but what causes the phase shift then? Even if the shift
isn't caused by these factors surely it can be offset by them. Capacitive /
Inductive effects will still push the current around WRT voltage won't they?
TIA, Richard.

These appliances have negligable phase shift, and are neither capacitive
nor inductive in nature. The low power factor is caused by them only
drawing current at the peaks of the sine wave, so they are powered
entirely from only a small part of the voltage waveform.

Actually, this is such a significant problem because of the number of
such appliances, that the mains sine wave is noticably flattened at
the peaks if you look at it on a scope nowadays.

--
Andrew Gabriel