voltage Optimiser - A Load Of Bull?!?!

[Knobhead]

Another nail in the coffin lid!

 

[trev]

Brightspark2 just proved the point that we have all been stating all along
Thanks mate

 

[Geordie Spark]

I do have some sympathy with these guys.
As others have said, until a quantifiable study has been done, you can't offer a sensible opinion.
I thought about the idea a few years ago, saving 10 or 20 volts on the supply, would it make savings.
There must be something in it, don't dismiss it completely out of hand.
I wouldn't pay for one at home personally but I'm sure they have their use somewhere.
The price of energy these days, if one can save £s somewhere...

Aye .... as a doorstop to stop the netty door banging in a gale.

 

[UNG]

Posted on this subject in another thread recently and the original poster in that thread was adamant that savings had been made using one of these units but could not provide any evidence that it was all down to the VO unit

The electricity bill that landed on my door mat in the last few days showed that in the last 6 months my electricity usage had fallen by 40 - 45% I know why and it has nothing to do with voltage optimisation but an electric shower being used a lot less since I finished remodelling an en-suite bathroom with a tank fed power shower. Having seen these figures it shows how consumption can alter quite easily showering for a minute less everyday would show quite a saving which some might attribute to VO units

Until I see some side by side tests that prove they do what they claim then these units have no credibility with me as there is no evidence they work and no quantifiable payback period. From the manufacturers claimed savings you could be lucky to achieve a payback in 4 to 5 years and that assumes the unit is maintenance free during that period but in the ever changing technology world is 4 - 5 years too long a payback period

Could I look a customer in the eye and sell them one of these units I don't think so

 

[Knobhead]

As an add on to UNG’s comment.

I think if someone installs one of these units they will enter a mindset of conservation, and so be frugal in their energy usage.

It’s just my theory, but it has as much validity as the claims of the VO manufacturers:
IE, nothing to back it up!

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Lights? Savings?


Just fit LEDS. forget the silly VO. The green halide in the garden will never ignite

 

[UNG]

If people are trying to be green with these VO units what is the carbon footprint of it's manufacture and installation and how big a saving do you have to make to offset this

 

[UNG]

As an add on to UNG’s comment.

I think if someone installs one of these units they will enter a mindset of conservation, and so be frugal in their energy usage.

It’s just my theory, but it has as much validity as the claims of the VO manufacturers:
IE, nothing to back it up!

If you installed an empty box it would be interesting to see what savings where claimed as there is obviously some placebo effect with these units

 

[Geordie Spark]

If you installed an empty box it would be interesting to see what savings where claimed as there is obviously some placebo effect with these units

Maybe that's exactly what these things are ??

 

[Knobhead]

If you installed an empty box it would be interesting to see what savings where claimed as there is obviously some placebo effect with these units

BBC’s watchdog filmed some one doing just that. An empty patress box with a blank plate and a bit of 1.5 T+E vanishing in to the CU. It wasn’t even connected to anything.

 

[plugsandsparks]

I did look at the Vphase units seriously, they were being promoted at a NAPIT conference and that is how i heard of them. What was clear is that they are not design to do anything other than drop the output volts and realistically the VA they can handle is limited even for a domestic. As already mentioned anything that is a heating load is automatically ruled out so this limits the installation to the lighting ccts and sockets in some parts of the house as there is some energy savings due to reduced losses in PSUs that are scattered around the house. I was interested in it for a client that was enduring a supply voltage of 250+ and his bulbs were blowing weekly / daily. In the end i converted them to a combination of low voltage and fluorescent.
Personally i cannot see them adding much value

 

[UNG]

BBC’s watchdog filmed some one doing just that. An empty patress box with a blank plate and a bit of 1.5 T+E vanishing in to the CU. It wasn’t even connected to anything.

What savings did they make or was that the problem

 

[Des 56]

If you installed an empty box it would be interesting to see what savings where claimed as there is obviously some placebo effect with these units

Well done ung, he has finally cracked the technology behind the infamous V phase :39:

 

[Knobhead]

They are based on multi tapped auto-transformers with solid state switching. Any transformer will have inherent losses. As the load increases the higher the losses. It then reaches the point where it goes in to bypass. Even at minimal load you can’t escape the transformer losses.

Many years ago I did an experiment on a large scale. Four 20MVA 33/11KV transformers with on load tap changers. Over several weeks I lowered the voltage available the plants. Voltage went down, current went up.
1KW = 1KW no matter what you do to it.