Many of you have probably seen ads for miracle appliances that can save 30-40% on electricity.

A gray-haired, authoritative-looking man, introducing himself as some kind of professor of some sciences, convinces that the know-how that he holds in his hands can work wonders:

- compensate for reactive power;

- filter interference;

- protect our network from ... phase imbalance;

- protect against lightning strikes.

Moreover ... some of his "colleagues" announce revolutionary news in general! The device CONVERTS useless reactive power into… useful active power. Laughter, and only :)

To be honest, after such information processing, the hand reached for the phone to place an order. After all, the number of devices is limited! Suddenly I can't!

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard the laughter of my TOE teacher. Thirst for freebies almost won over common sense. Moving away from euphoria, I began to analyze the noodles that my uncle had just hung on me from the TV screen:

Let's point by point. I will try to explain in a simple language, with a minimum set of terms, that all this is nonsense and DIVORCE for money. But scammers invest a lot of money in advertising, so it pays off ... at the expense of not very smart buyers :(

reactive power.

This useless component of power is present when operating inductive types of loads (transformers, electric motors). You can compensate or eliminate its influence with the help of a capacitance or, more simply, a capacitor. The value of this capacity is calculated under a certain load. No more and no less.

If the capacitance is larger than necessary, there will be overcompensation, if less, undercompensation. Both these phenomena reduce the whole idea of ​​compensation to a minimum.

Here the question arises: is it possible that automatic compensation is implemented in this device depending on the load. I doubt. Do you know how much such a system costs?

And the most important thing! Our apartment meters count only active energy!!! There is no point in compensating at all ... for your wallet. Unless RES will say THANK YOU.

Interference filtering.

The harmonic filter is generally heavy and expensive. Although ... the man said: “Know-how!” Might be something new!

Phase unbalance protection

I will not repeat myself about the complexity and high cost of such devices, I will only say this: “If we are talking about phase imbalance, then the device is connected to a three-phase network. But in fact, it just plugs into the outlet, where there is only one phase and zero!”

So what is the protection?

Lightning protection

Devices that are designed to protect the network from surges (including lightning strikes) are connected between the phase wire and the ground wire.

That is, the device must at least have a grounding contact on the plug. Is he there? HA!

Well, now the most interesting. What is inside this device?

In cheap ones - only a couple of LEDs and resistors to power them

In more expensive ones, you can find a capacitor, a diode bridge ... But all this works only so that the LEDs create the appearance of the device.

Enthusiasts even redrawn the scheme of the device. How do you like this arrangement?

Conclusion: the benefit of the device is only moral - you calmly and happily pay your electricity bills, thinking that without the device the amount would be 30% more!