Voltage harmoniser ????

fwor

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Would it be cynical to ask how you or they could prove there were any savings?

Why would that be hard to measure? It's easy to measure power consumption - there are loads of devices that use a sensor at the consumer unit/meter. Why would it be hard to simply have a bypass switch on the optimiser, turn on a representative set of appliances (or turn individual ones on, given enough time) and measure consumption with and without it in circuit?

Ok, you would then have to make some assumptions about how much you use each type of appliance to estimate annual savings (or lack of), but that doesn't sound difficult. I'm a bit surprised that an organisation like Which? has not already done this - but perhaps these devices have not yet been hyped enough to come to their attention...

Automan_2

I also just got the Everest leaflet which mentions these devices (also offering their electric solar installs).

Checking the VPhase website I see the device does not feed your whole house and devices like electric showers and cookers are excluded.

Thus you need a consumer unit that supports spilt loads so some circuits are powered via the VPhase (which wastes the energy of a child's nigh-light and goes into bypass if the load on it is high) and the other circuits are just off the raw unregulated mains.

Sorry I cant post the link but check the vphase uk trade-zone

So, if I wanted one I would also have to pay to have a new consumer unit installed as my old Wylex board does not support split loads.

I myself cannot see this saving you much cash but it may protect your home appliances from higher than normal mains voltages. Of course any electronics in your cooker will still have to take the strain

Most my devices that are on 24/7 have switch-mode power supplies and the first thing these do is turn the AC mains into DC which is then regulated. The efficiency of these I suspect only varies by a small amount if on 200 to 260 volts.

Another factor now which upsets your mains is if any of your neighbours have a solar PV install with a grid tie inverter.

These have to push the mains voltage up to above the current voltage so the flow of energy is reversed out of the house rather than in.

The more installs in your area, the higher they voltage will rise (up to the permitted maximum). Then of course the systems will not work.

As this becomes more of a problem, the electricity boards may drop the supply volts to a lower level. Then when the sun comes out all our voltages will rise within the limit (253 volts).

Automan.

prowla

lindabea wrote: »

Thanks guys for all your replies. Sounds like it's a device mainly used by organisations rather than for domestic use. I came across it in a leaflet I received from Everest. They don't say much about it, except that it could save me around £135.00 a year in a typical household. HMMM - I'm always sceptical about claims like these.

Does anyone know what the installation cost might be?

The word "could" is key. I would also hedge a bet that it says "up to" rather than "around" £135 a year.

JD2011

You've only to put in voltage optimisation scam into any search engine and what you get is a great deal of forum material on the technicalities of the scam behind this type of equipment.

(Disclaimer;
There are some well established and respected companies in three phase voltage optimisation.)

Most people recognise that the claims being made on this technology are grossly exagerated. The problems start when people try and use what is essentially a three phase technology in a single phase application. . Taking one issue at a time:

The upto 13% reduction in electricity bill claims made in the marketing of these products is what most people believe it to be absolute snake oil. The term upto includes zero and the reduction is only applicable to a very small percentage of electrical equipment (in a single phase application such as a domestic premises are). This is because the voltage optimisation (VO) technology will not work with thermostatically controlled loads such as electrical heaters, refrigerators, ovens....etc.(most white goods) and it will not work with any electrical equipment supplied by Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) like Low Energy lamps, computer equipment...etc (most post millenium brown goods). In fact in single phase application vo only really works with old incandescent lighting and equipment powered by old low frequency transformer based power supplies. This is why most of these companies nearly went bankrupt in the late nineties when companies started to replace their old choke base flourescent lighting units with electronic (SMPS) units.
The sad thing is that when people are sold on saving energy they will pay a lot of money to get their electrical installation up to the standard required by the electricians who are required to install these units. There in lies the rub these companies are mostly jumped up electrical contracting companies trying to turn a fast buck and queering the pitch for effective electrical energy saving technologies that are in the pipeline making their way to market.

Secondly, the VO fraternity when selling their three phase equipment are very quick to lunge into a sales patter that involves phase imbalance. What they do not mention is that in a single phase applicaiton the VO unit itself, by definition, introduces a potential phase imbalance e.g. at the substation supply (in the grid itself) where currents are caused to flow in the neutral conductor which cause a heating effect. This heating effect decreases the efficiency of the grid itself. Thence, installing VO units causes the the carbon footprint of the grid itself to increase which offsets any savings made at the consumer end. Arguably, these inefficiencies exceed any savings made! Unfortunately, the consumer is not able to see this.

Anthonis

I would say this is crap... Just money and brain washing.... Buy good expensive UPS with VO and you gonna have same VO even better coz has batteries inside

kwikbreaks

I'm pretty sure a worthwhile reduction in heating costs could be achieved.

Provided enough leaflets for these units could be collected they could be reconstituted intp papier mache logs and used for fuel. IMO a far more certain saving than any the actual units would produce. Now if only that snake oil could be extracted it might be good for lamps too...

moonrakerz

A "harmoniser" eh ! Does it hum ??

kwikbreaks

I just love these old threads.

Fifer

moonrakerz wrote: »

A "harmoniser" eh ! Does it hum ??

Something smells fishy ...