Thats the question on everyone’s minds these days. The Indian market is flooded with various brands of electricity savers. Some claim to be made by IIT Graduates, others are Chinese imports. Anyway as someone asked me, do these power savers work , i am an engineering student and have done a successful course in power apparatus 
, therefore i can answer this question.
If you want to learn how to tamper your digital electricity meter provided by BSES or NDPL, this is not the place ! These devices have nothing to do with meter tampering.
Power Savers are what you call Synchronous condensers. Most motor loads in our house are Inductive loads, like pumps, fans, mixers etc. Even Air Conditioners and Refrigerators are inductive loads. The power factor of Inductive loads is lagging and synchronous condensers supply a reactive power factor and help nullify the effect.
So we see in theory synchronous condensers do save power, but how much depends on the kind of load you have. These condensers wont work with resistive loads such as heaters, geysers, irons, bulbs etc. So if you live in a cold place, don’t expect lots of savings.
Also important is the product you buy, many of the products might be cheap duplicates with LEDs and nothing else, so its better to test the power saver you have bought than assume its saving power. You can ask your electrician to test the power using a wattmeter before and after switching on your power saver device.
Also if you find that the saver is not saving you enough power, don’t be hesitant to invoke the money back guarantee clauses and return the power saver.
Disclaimer : All advice above is on a as-is basis and we don’t offer any sort of guarantee on our advice, use your brain before making a purchase.
May 31st, 2008 at 3:44 am
So do these work, especially the one in the picture
?
June 1st, 2008 at 11:18 am
Well i am on the lookout for a wattmeter to measure the power consumed with and without the power saver. I will ask an electrician for it
June 6th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
1. What is a Synchronous Condenser? Is it a Sync Motor? If it is a static unit, in what manner is it different from a condenser?
2. After browsing, one learnt that the savers range from Rs. 300 to 1600 and even more. None of the manufacturers are known ones? One local distributor stated that his product costs more because it has a Twister and a Power Strip? He was unwilling to share much details. Can you, Sir, explain about he Twister/Power Strip?
3.Can u recommend any particular model. (I live in Delhi)
Thanx
June 6th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I am not an expert at this, but still this is what my opinion is , i might be a little off but i guess this is broad sense :
Sync condensers are capacitor based devices which provide a leading power factor nullifying lagging power factor of inductive loads. A synchronous motor in theory does save power by nullifying the pf of lagging loads. As you said condensers are static devices and infact a sync motor not driving a load is a synchronous condenser.
They also nullify spikes as they use capacitors and hence improve running of appliances.
Normal condensers or static capacitors provide a static reactance unlike sync condensers (Not sure). I have not heard of Twister and Power Strip , the shopkeeper might be fooling you. Power strip is in no way related to power saving as far as i know.
We do not endorse any particular brand, but do in for one where you get a money back guarantee and also the product has been certified by an Indian Govt. Lab, don’t buy from a local store as the shopkeeper might not refund the money. Try and go for products which don’t come in Chinese packing and are sold by Indian firms.