I’m sure a lot of you have seen this on HSN or in the malls — that wattage-zapping device which claims could lower your electricity bill by as much as 30%. I got curious so we tried it out several months ago.
The theory behind the device is that it normalizes the current running thru the house (hundreds of meters of copper wiring running thru the walls) and thus reducing the power consumed thereby lowering the electric bill. I’m no electrical engineer so I can really explain it very well so an actual test should be in order.
The device, named Power Saver Max, is plugged into a wall socket and does all the trick. And it costs a whooping Php3,500 a pop. It used to be Php7,000 several years ago when it first became public.
Of course, there are various other factors that might affect the fluctuations in power consumption around the house but by taking monthly samples, we may be able to see some sort of a trend.
For the last 9 months, our Meralco bill has been pretty consistent with power usage in the vicinity of 750 kilo-watt hours. Then in October, we tried that wattage-zapping device. The sales guy guaranteed that if we don’t get lower bill in 3 to 6 months, we can return it and get my money back.
The October usage went down but the following month, it went back up again only to go down in December. Those drops accounted for just 11% and 16% reduction on the bills. I’m not yet convinced so I’m giving it another 2 months.
Anybody else had this one at home? Did you notice any changes in your electricity bills?
Loading ...
oh great it may guide to many users of electricity because you had already use of it.
http://cadztech.blogspot.com
for me, this is good only if your power consumption reaches 1000kw and above…kasi if you save up to 30%…that is only 300kw..and the cost per kw cguro sarado na natin 10pesos….so 300 pesos per month ma save mo…. in short mga almost 1 year mo pa mababawi ang investment mo na 3,500 assuming di sya masira after a year
pero kung nasa below 1000kw usage ka lang per month para sa akin di sya okay
@koolitz, 300kWh costs Php3,000, not Php300.
oopss sorry my mistake…below 100kwh not 1000kwh
the salesman at the mall said that you need to plug the device closest to the appliance that uses the most power and is always on. i guess that means the refrigerator.
i don’t know if this is just sales talk but he also suggested to get at least two of these for homes that consume about 650 to 1000kwh.
The theory of the device is sound actually, it’s basic electronics.
Add enough capacitance (much like a potentiometer for resistance) so that the power factor of your house’s circuitry reaches unity (IE. exactly 1.00) and you’ll get power savings.
Thing is, the capacitance that needs to be added depends on the current actual usage of the circuitry, in which case if you add/subtract a device, the power factor goes out of unity and the device either works poorly or fails.
Those are actually good results, considering you [I'm assuming here] have Christmas lights up during the Christmas season. Yeah, I suggest further trial and testing. Keep us posted.
So what if it normalizes the current? Does it mean your appliances would consume less energy? Many products go on the market today didn’t got tested by regulatory bodies. That is why the consumers really have to dodge a bullet when it comes to buying untested products.
i haven’t used one of these ‘power savers’ but the first thing that came to mind was the device was mainly a capacitor. sylv3rblade mentioned that it’s basically adding capacitance, and i think he’s correct.
in general, capacitance is added to the system to counteract the effect of inductive devices, i.e. refrigerators, air conditioners, large motors, transformers. by convention, a capacitor supplies ‘positive’ reactive power that would otherwise be supplied by the system (through Meralco). this supply of ‘positive’ reactive power generally lowers the current magnitude since it brings the power factor from negative to unity (1.00 pf).
if it’s truly a capacitor, precaution needs to be taken here – add too many of these ‘power savers’ and you risk having an overvoltage inside your house if you unplug/turn off your ref, aircon, etc. that is, if the ‘power saver’ does not have sensing of the power factor and doesn’t turn itself off automatically in the event of an oversupply. an oversupply of reactive power will bring the power factor to positive, and that will generally raise the voltage at your end.
in my opinion, it won’t matter where you plug the ‘power saver’ so long as you plug it after the electric meter.
also, Meralco’s residential billing structure and metering does not meter your consumption of reactive power (kVar) and reactive energy (kVarh). in commercial and industrial billing structures, kVar and kVarh is metered, and they are penalized if their power factor is below -0.80 or above ~1.00 and given a discount if it is in the region of -0.95 and 1.00.
however, i advice you to go ahead with testing, maybe there’s something else there that we don’t know of that would truly lower your consumption. like i’ve said, i haven’t used this device yet, and if it does what it promises to do, then i’m all for it
@jpeb
I think buying 2 or more really is sales talk, since the demonstrator I talked to advised against more than 1 unit
Of course, many things about the device really is questionable at this point…
hi!
does it work?
i think since october… two months are up now… =)
please advise. thank you!
@liz – sor far, there’s been some significant reduction in power usage. I still need a couple more months to see the trend.
I bought that a couple of months ago and it seems that it didn’t really brought my electric bill down.
Halos ganun pa din.
If you open the device, it is actually a capacitor and some electronics to do the “knight rider” led driver.
if you can backtrack previous years consumption much better for comparison since each month we have different consumption (higher consumption during summer etc). better compare per month this yr vs last year.
we’ve been using this device for 2years now, there’s a significant decrease in kw/hr. We bought ours for 9k, that was 2 years ago.
I’m using a different brand of power saver for almost 4 months now in my house. And my average cost of electricity was P2,500/mo. Now, my february electric bills dropped to P1,300. Also, we used a higher capacity power saver in our gas station. The Ave. monthly bill was P24,000 but last Feb. our bill dropped to P20,000.
I think if these power savers don’t give any savings to consumers, maybe they don’t need to market them in the first place.
Also, it’s better to judge them(power savers) if you yourself used it.
i just bought mine couple of hours ago and i bought it on sale at 1,900 per unit plus a 10% discount. I decided to have 2 units for the actual size of our structure. It seems that the way these capacitors & resistors work is to reroute unusable “leak” electricity into usable, much stable electric current that would generate electric power for various appliances. Therefore, practically speaking, the 20-35% power savings we’re talking here is actually the electric losses naturally occuring through copper wires, hysteresis (electric motors) and other forms of ripple. And perhaps the most effective way of utilizing this device is to have it closest to your main switch as it would greatly bypass incoming electricity to other electric outlets.
I will be using these units starting tomorrow and observe the effects on my bills for the next few months. Any significant kW/H drops on my electric consumption, i’ll let you guys know.
my father bought one at handyman about 3 months ago. i plugged it immediately and after 2 months i noticed a little decrease in our consumption. but just last night, the gadget overheated. i just dont know what happened but the plug was completely burnt.
I saw it on 20% discount sale this morning at Handyman. Does it really work? Any updates? Thanks.
FOR TED >>>>>> it doesn’t work during holidays and weekends because there is no work during these days
Can you possibly give me the contact numbers or email address of the manufacturer of this POWER SAVER MAX??
THE HANDYMAN STORE cannot tell me whom to communicate, there is no contact details on the box or even inside ( the piece of paper ):
On the month prior to purchasing the POWER SAVER MAX, our consumption was 885 kwhs, with the Aircondition unit open overnight ( with an average
14 hours a day operation )., after I bought the
unit, we were able to use the Airconditioning Unit even in the hot afternoon. Our consumption nevertheless fell to 820 kwhs.
With the almost 24 hours operation, our Aircon Unit
suffered lost compression, being more than 14 years old. but still delivers some cooling.
A couple of factors, the POWER SAVER MAX, classes resumption, and other factors brought our current consumption to 400 kwhs.
I will attend the orientation of this product tomorrow. ill update you guys if this product have a potential in the market
i just bought this powersaver yesterday.. this morning it made a somewhat zapping sound, it goes on for a few seconds then the sound stops.. after a few minutes it made the same sound..
does your powersavers happen to made the same sound?
thanks..
Don’t bother with these things. None of them do anything, and if they did, they’d be incorporated into appliances already. You’ve already got capacitors in your various machines and light fixtures to correct the power factor, and the ‘filtering’ does nothing at all for your electric bill.
The best thing to do is to learn to read your electric meter and learn the power consumption of each of your appliances. You may find, for example, that the electric heater someone uses to warm their feet takes more power than all of your tools.
I bought one.ill let u guys know if it does what it promises.
message for kaizn: any updates with your electricity bill? I just bought 1 unit last night.
i bought mine 2mos ago at sm for only php 1500. when i open it its just a capacitor & some circuits for the blinking lights. am a bit disappointed because it’s just a simple device. anybody with a little knowledge in electronics could have done it but our monthly bill went down by 6kW so it’s a little bit effective but not as effective as advertised w/c is 20-35% savings. anybody got any idea what will happen if we 3 or more capacitors to the device?
i only paid P1,500 for these..that P3,000 price is a rip off
the device is worth buying… i am using my aircondition unit 24 hrs 7 days a week. This is amazing. from 5000 a month now im only paying 1 peso… hahahhahaha
guys,
guys,
kiddin aside. i’m planning to buy one.
does it really work?
my monthly bill is ranging from php6000 to 7000.
i really need to know if it really work:)
thanks.
Allan, of course, you are not serious, right?
guys, the power saver max is really work, i already prove it.for my bill before P5,ooo it becomes 4k something…
ken, check ur grammar.
yuga, any update?
i bought 1 yesterday. the salesman said that if your monthly electric bill is ranging from 5k and above(mine is 7k to 9k), you should use 2 to 3 devices. but of course, he IS a salesman. so updates will still be greatly appreciated.
Power Saver Max would really works if your lightings are 3 or more fluorescent lamps 20watts or 40watts with ballast and 1 or more refrigerators in your house. More Offices and other commercial establishment may use this power saver if more fluorescent ballasted lightings and inductive loads.
I’m an authorized dealer of power saver max and our Price: Php1,500.00 per unit with also money back guarantee. Power saver correct the apparent power into true power. This would lower current consumption and results into lower power consumption. The running light (LED) is the discharge module of the capacitor that prevent from power collission of the capacitor power from the incoming power supply during brown-outs.
For more information please call @ my landline (02) 467 62 13 or cel.# 0919 442 50 51. Thank you more power saving.
For Aldrin : Thank you for explaining the running light (LED), which I always term as “Knight Rider”.
My unit has been serving its purpose since May this year, and it has so far paid for itself many
times over.
One tip I would like to share, count all your operating loads at the time you want to test the product, and then determine the KW load by adding the total wattages of the appliances running.
If the total load is 1000 watts or 1 kw., read the electric meter and read it after one hour, if the
difference between the 2 readings is one (1). Then you have an accurate electric meter, and your electric consumption is just right.
To Mr ElectricMan and others :
The powersaver max will work more effectively
on appliances which are already in use for quite some time., yes you are right in saying that manufacturers have already incorporated such capacitors, but these are just starting capacitors.
If the whole load is newly bought, it is best to wait for a few months or a year before using the
Powersaver.
It is best recommended that the Powersaver max unit
be placed near the main panel board, or at the farthest point from the panel board.
It will take a day or two for the maximum effect of the Powersaver to be realized, as it still has to clean and upgrade the entire system.
Reading from comments of users here,the power saver device can give significant savings if used for houses, offices, busines establishments with electric bills starting from 4000 pesos and up. I think it can also work for lower electric-usage houses,those ranging from 3000 – 2000 pesos or below but the amount saved will only be minimal.
Well any savings by any device whether in hundreds or even a few pesos is a better alternative than being charged monthly with transmission and system losses which apparently also include, aside from illegal connections, Meralco’s and their payment branches’ electric usage in a given electric grid.