I just read a goofy article claiming that the utilities are all ripping us off by overcharging us somehow. The solution offered was to buy a magic "watt stopper" that somehow eliminates the noise on the mains and at the same time aligns the voltage and current on all of our power wiring. The article used a whole lot of words to not say very much, and it did not contain any actual useful information.

I found this to be rather non-believable, although certainly power factor correction is a benefit. But the small device shown is not at all similar in size to the power factor capacitors I have installed on machines. Not even a hundredth of the volume.

So I am wondering if anybody has seen an analysis of the advertised gimmick, or possibly done any evaluations of it themselves.

 

Some scammer is using his name illegally. I don't waste my time on cartoonish articles like that, much better information in available on the Ytube.

 

power factor correction is a benefit.

Home users are not charged for reactive power so there is no monetary benefit to correcting the power factor.

 

Home users are not charged for reactive power so there is no monetary benefit to correcting the power factor.

It is totally amazing how many people do not realize this. Large industrial motors are about the only application for PFC and perhaps offline power supplies.

 

It is totally amazing how many people do not realize this. Large industrial motors are about the only application for PFC and perhaps offline power supplies.

I monitor my local AC power generation for reactive power. Those cheap chinese power supplies without PFC can load up inverters.

The extra VA here is capacitive reactive power from cheap switching power supplies.

 

The extra VA here is capacitive reactive power from cheap switching power supplies.

It would help cancel the lagging reactive power from induction motors.

 

It would help cancel the lagging reactive power from induction motors.

Yes, when I run the local AC on the inverter AC source it drops but it only gives me ~50W of lagging reactive. It's got PFC correction. You can't win.

 

I see that many have a lot to say. The article is in a WOW provided section along with actual news.
Certainly "Tabloid quality" writing, though. And just enough technical content to mislead the unknowing.
I was hoping that somebody had opened one of the devices and could supply a description of what it contains. Evidently not yet. De-Bunking this sort of scam could be an interesting activity.

 

I don't know what is in it but I do know that it is a scam. There are a number of sites on-line de-bunking this and other similar products. Here is one of them:
https://malwaretips.com/blogs/elon-musk-device-energy-savings-scam/

Interestingly, I discovered that social media sites are not interested in protecting their users from being scammed. They will show any phony advertising as long as they are getting paid for it. I recently reported a similar scam ad to security on Facebook. Their reply was "We've taken a look and found that this ad doesn't go against our advertising standards".

 

I believe that Big Clive once made a teardown on one of these units. Either him or DiodeGoneWild. It had a capacitor of a couple of uF. A few VA at most.
The worst part was that the capacitor wasn’t even rated for across-the-line applications. No X1 rated.

 

OK, and THANK YOU for the link. It is indeed appalling that the wideopenwest group refuses to police even their home page. Evidently all of the claims about being concerned about fraudsters are just LIES. Perhaps it would be appropriate for the actual federal government to actually do something about reducing fraud.
I would start by making it a serious crime to spoof a caller ID.
Then trace back all of the posters of the fake advertising. If it is possible to track back to those who make threats then it should be possible to track back to those who advertise fraudulently. Then cancel their internet access. This would not be related to freedom of speech issues, because it is only fraud sales that gets hurt.

 

I see that many have a lot to say. The article is in a WOW provided section along with actual news.
Certainly "Tabloid quality" writing, though. And just enough technical content to mislead the unknowing.
I was hoping that somebody had opened one of the devices and could supply a description of what it contains. Evidently not yet. De-Bunking this sort of scam could be an interesting activity.

Most of us have seen this scam many times before dating back decades. So, no need to debunk, the many times debunked scam again.

 

I would start by making it a serious crime to spoof a caller ID.
Then trace back all of the posters of the fake advertising. If it is possible to track back to those who make threats then it should be possible to track back to those who advertise fraudulently. Then cancel their internet access. This would not be related to freedom of speech issues, because it is only fraud sales that gets hurt.

All of these things are already crimes. The scammers and look the other way advertisers/enablers, IMO much like drug dealers, accept the risk, they won't stop until there's no money to be made.

 

I don't know what is in it but I do know that it is a scam. There are a number of sites on-line de-bunking this and other similar products. Here is one of them:
https://malwaretips.com/blogs/elon-musk-device-energy-savings-scam/

Interestingly, I discovered that social media sites are not interested in protecting their users from being scammed. They will show any phony advertising as long as they are getting paid for it. I recently reported a similar scam ad to security on Facebook. Their reply was "We've taken a look and found that this ad doesn't go against our advertising standards".

YouTube and Walmart do the same thing. Every 5th item is sponsored and I can't filter out certain items. They manage to inject blatant propaganda into my searches as well.

There is a prolific scientist on YouTube who I have been following for a few years. The videos are all academic quality and he has a PhD. Now when I search him, the first 5 videos are clearly the left trying to take him down with pseudoscientific scandal.

These videos also appear before my own preferences. Not only do they control what I see, they control the order in which I see it.

This is going to get worse because the left is winning. Unfortunately this new form of the left is pretty much the old fascists. They abandoned the free speech ideology in favour of enforcing a pattern of speech under the rubric of victimization.

This has enabled the left to say almost anything without legal recourse because their opinions are their own and they technically are not making you do anything.

This extends nicely to false advertising for these groups because any suit against them invariably contains human rights violations (which only ever you have violated).

People often underestimate the radical left but they have some very smart people at the controls. Their main tools are propaganda and censorship and they use them well.

I fear for my countrymen because compelled speech is now part of our legal system. Where is the right on these issues? In jail or ostracized for their supposed crimes against humanity.

 

YouTube and Walmart do the same thing. Every 5th item is sponsored and I can't filter out certain items. They manage to inject blatant propaganda into my searches as well.

There is a prolific scientist on YouTube who I have been following for a few years. The videos are all academic quality and he has a PhD. Now when I search him, the first 5 videos are clearly the left trying to take him down with pseudoscientific scandal.

These videos also appear before my own preferences. Not only do they control what I see, they control the order in which I see it.

This is going to get worse because the left is winning. Unfortunately this new form of the left is pretty much the old fascists. They abandoned the free speech ideology in favour of enforcing a pattern of speech under the rubric of victimization.

This has enabled the left to say almost anything without legal recourse because their opinions are their own and they technically are not making you do anything.

This extends nicely to false advertising for these groups because any suit against them invariably contains human rights violations (which only ever you have violated).

People often underestimate the radical left but they have some very smart people at the controls. Their main tools are propaganda and censorship and they use them well.

I fear for my countryman because compelled speech is now part of our legal system. Where is the right on these issues? In jail or ostracized for their supposed crimes against humanity.

Please, too much conspiratorial drama in a topic about bogus energy savers.

 

I just read a goofy article claiming that the utilities are all ripping us off by overcharging us somehow. The solution offered was to buy a magic "watt stopper" that somehow eliminates the noise on the mains and at the same time aligns the voltage and current on all of our power wiring. The article used a whole lot of words to not say very much, and it did not contain any actual useful information.

I found this to be rather non-believable, although certainly power factor correction is a benefit. But the small device shown is not at all similar in size to the power factor capacitors I have installed on machines. Not even a hundredth of the volume.

So I am wondering if anybody has seen an analysis of the advertised gimmick, or possibly done any evaluations of it themselves.

Something using exactly the same marketing blurb (minus the reference to Elon Musk) appeared here a couple of years back. I might even have posted about it on AAC. The device looked like a non-switched-mode plug-in power supply, and had a couple of green LEDs.
It was priced just too high to get one for the hell of it just to find out what was in there.

 

YouTube ads typically say something like:

This
○ high school student
○ college graduate student
○ army engineer
○ NASA engineer
○ former employee of _________
○ retired expert in _________
○ concerned grandchild

recognized a serious

○ issue with _____________
○ need for _____________

and spent years developing _____________.

This amazing product

○ has been recognized by scientific organizations
○ has amazed industry
○ has reviewed awards
○ will revolutionize _____________

and you can buy it here today! But hurry,

○ supplies are limited
○ the government wants to stop sales
○ industry wants to stop sales

so this amazing product may not be available for long.



It's funny when the SAME product claims to have different creation stories in close proximity to each other.

 

Posted purely for entertainment proposes.

Wow, you would think they could fake better images with today's technology.

 

Please, too much conspiratorial drama in a topic about bogus energy savers.

You are one of the worst for instigating as well as fueling the fire on this forum. Don't bother replying.

 

You are one of the worst for instigating as well as fueling the fire on this forum. Don't bother replying.

Sure I am, no question about it but it's never some crazy political conspiracy theory about left wing control of youtube and associated nonsense.
I flame about sensible things, like:

There is a time and place for those types of comments. Yours was completely off-base, off-topic and off the rocker.