power convertor 240v to 220v.. help required aquiring one

Basil1234

right was watching diy sos the big build haydock last week where they did this house up completely and they had new energy expert on there anyway had a plastic box looked like a consumer unit which was basically a stepdown transformer took 240volts in and spat it out at 220volts the idea being its saves energy that most appliances run between 220-240v anyway you get the idea.
now problem is this i have used google etc and cannot find any for sale on any site!
so can anyone help me out here please and point me in the correct direction please? needs to be about 100A as is the consumer unit
wouldn't be nice if the beeb put info on its website about this sort of stuff!
cheers in advance.
basil :money:

keystone

Forget it Basil. It costs a small fortune (more than you'll "save" on your electricity bill) and its total hogwash.

Cheers

System

You will probably use more power with one of these convertors as you will actually lose power in the conversion in the form of heat. Also something like a kettle will take longer to boil due to the reduced voltage and consequently the same, or more, power will be consumed.

sillygoose

I saw that, it would only work with linear loads like filament lamps, heating etc but all you gain is dimmer lights, slower heating. Might as well fit lower wattage bulbs and the heating will be on longer!

Almost all electronic power supply items will compensate by drawing more current.

Your electricity consumption is in Watts which is Volts x Amps, to achieve say 60 watts a TV must have to run, if the volts go down the amps go up!

I actually think it was misrepresented in that I think the true purpose was to do with the solar panels. I think it was so they could supplement the house mains supply with power from a solar powered inverter, effectively slowing the draw from the grid and how much the meter read. To do this at normal grid voltage would be to risk over-voltaging some thing that don't like over 240v (whilst most don't mind a bit under). I think the device would also regulate the mains closely at 220v to protect the solar 'top up' inverter as the mains can vary with current load.

No wonder Billy was con'fused' !

SplanK

voltage coming into the house will vary anyway... most houses run are supplied with 230v.. or they should be - depends on the time of day but ive seen mine as low as 220v and then as high as 250v (I have a uninteruptable power supply connected to my server which records voltage). The difference is due to suppy and demand... if demand is high and supply isnt there... then the voltage will drop.... if the supply is high and the demand low then it will jump up.. most appliances generaly do not mind such swings in voltages as long as its not too sudden or too high/low- more appliances than you think have transformers built into them so they get a regulated supply anyway - its just the transformer that gets hit with the swing.

in fact - with the voltage analyising tool... you can see when there is an ad break on a popular TV channel - such as X factor - voltage drops when everybody rushes off to make brews and turn on lights to wonder around the house, then raise when the ad break is over!

totalsolutions

Fawlty logic

996ducati

If you apply Ohms law...voltage down = current up

Using more amps costs more!

Basil1234

did alot more research and the outcome is this , yes does save about 9% electricity problem is cheapest can just buy unit is £270 to get money back just for unit on my current electricity cost per month £30 is 9yrs so is non starter. found info in an sparks forum where they talk between themselves saying how they would have trouble selling it due to cost and then there charges to fit it people wont buy it. and is the vphase vx1 best price i could find just the unit is here anyone find cheaper is better than me.

keystone

I still think its a con and as regards cost I believe I stated in my first post that its non cost-effective as you have found out for yourself. Any "alternative" that burbles about "power correction factor" is also a con because they would only work if your electricity consumption was measured in kWAh instead of kWh.

Cheers

Craftyscholar

sillygoose wrote: »

I saw that, it would only work with linear loads like filament lamps, heating etc but all you gain is dimmer lights, slower heating. Might as well fit lower wattage bulbs and the heating will be on longer!

Almost all electronic power supply items will compensate by drawing more current.

Your electricity consumption is in Watts which is Volts x Amps, to achieve say 60 watts a TV must have to run, if the volts go down the amps go up!

I actually think it was misrepresented in that I think the true purpose was to do with the solar panels. I think it was so they could supplement the house mains supply with power from a solar powered inverter, effectively slowing the draw from the grid and how much the meter read. To do this at normal grid voltage would be to risk over-voltaging some thing that don't like over 240v (whilst most don't mind a bit under). I think the device would also regulate the mains closely at 220v to protect the solar 'top up' inverter as the mains can vary with current load.

No wonder Billy was con'fused' !

Thanks for the info - if it was needed because of the solar panels that makes sense - but why didn't they say that.

Also they showed them flushing the cistern from the new rainwater tank - funny, I don't remember any shots of them working in the heavy rain it would have needed to fill that tank.

plumb1_2

I know the plumber who did the gas work on the job, he never got a mention in the credits. he was telling me how little(nil) the so called stars of the show do.