TechGuru

Do Power Savers
Really Save Power?
Many companies have found market for their small handheld products that
claim to save 30-40 per cent electrical power, thereby reducing electricity bill.
But can you really save electricity by plugging in a small device?

A power saver unit plugged into a wall socket

Shweta Dhadiwal baid

t is rightly said, Energy saved is

energy produced. Power saver is
a smart attempt in this direction.
The theory behind power savers or
energy savers (used interchangeably
by many people) is foolproof, but there
are a lot of conditions that affect the
practical applications of power saver
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devices. Heres what we asked the

manufacturers...
What is a power saver?
A power saver (PS) device resembles a mosquito-repellent plugin gadget (like All-out or GoodKnight) and is
meant to save power in houses, shops
and small offices. It is plugged into a
socket to work in parallel with other
appliances connected to the electrical

circuit of an establishment.
What are the benefits of power savers?
Power savers primarily save electrical power. However, these also
improve the quality of input electrical
signal, and thus enhance the life-span
of household appliances.
How do they work?
The design of a power saver is
based on the principles of power factor correction (PFC), harmonic current
filter and surge protection. While PFC
helps in reducing reactive power wastage, harmonic reduction improves the
quality of power signal.
In the long run, surges may cause
heating and seriously damage the
household devices. The improved
quality of the signal prevents damage
to the transmission line. The circuit of
a power saver is designed to prevent
heat loss by appliances.
What is inside a power saver?
The device has a big PFC capacitor and a current harmonic filter circuit. Some devices also have
metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) that
act as transient suppressors, protecting the circuit from voltage spikes. A
series connected thermal fuse is used
with MOVs to provide protection
in the event of short circuit. Power
savers come with integrated voltage
stabilisation circuit too. A light-emitting diode (LED) is used to indicate
power-on condition.
Is it legal to use power savers?
Yes, it is absolutely legal. Using a
power saver does not mean fiddling
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TechGuru
or electronic meters.
The traditional torqueResistive and Inductive Loads
operated meters are highly
Type of load Power saver Examples
sensitive to spikes, giving

benefit
incorrect readings someResistive
No
Bulb, geyser, electric iron
times. Electronic meters,
Inductive
Yes
Air-conditioner, refrigerator,
on the other hand, are more


water pump, washing machine,
accurate. All these factors


tubelight
influence the savings from
power savers.
Table II
Visit www.derc.gov.
Power Consumption by
in/ElectronicMeters/
Different Devices
Awareness/FAQs.html#a1
Device
Wattage Number of units Total wattage to learn more about meter
Air-conditioner 1.5 kW
1
1.5 kW
readings.
Tubelight
40W
4
160W
A typical home electrical circuit with power saver
Under what conditions
...
...
...
...
is the power saver really
with the electricity meter. A power
effective?
Total
2.1 kW
saver is connected to the electrical
If you have only resiscircuit after the meter, which means it
power savings. The saving is only in
tive load (bulbs, iron, geyser, etc), condoes not hamper or manipulate meter
terms of wastage or reactive power.
necting a power saver to the electrical
functioning.
There is no reduction in true power
circuit wont give you any significant
Can I use it in my house to save
(actual working power) required by
power saving. Even if you add a
electricity?
the appliances to function.
tubelight and a fan to these devices,
Power savers can be used in flats,
Ageing of appliances. Efficiency
you wont be able to save much. You
houses, shops or small offices. But
of any electronic/electrical appliance
can save only on those devices which
power savings depend on the type of
contribute to the inductive load, such
decreases with ageing. This also rethe load being used in the building.
as refrigerators, washing machines,
sults in more heat losses. Power savWill it give me 30 per cent power
motors and air-conditioners.
ers show significant savings with old
savings as claimed by the manufacAgain, the percentage saving deappliances.
turer?
Locality. Areas with high voltage
pends on the parameters mentioned
Most companies claim that their
fluctuations like shops and restauearlier. Power savers save only the
devices can save 30 to 40 per cent of
rants can gain additional savings from
power that is wasted or is not useful.
Are power savers tested or certipower. However, the actual savings
power savers.
are only 5-10 per cent.
Electricity meter. It also affects the
fied?
What are the parameters on which
working of power savers.
Power saver devices may not necesthe savings depend?
Atmosphere. Working of air-condisarily be tested. However, agencies like
The power savings depend on:
tioners and refrigerators depends on
National Test House perform tests and
Type of house. In old houses, wear
the atmospheric temperature. Thus the
issue certificates. These tests do not
and tear in copper wires may result
atmosphere plays an important role in
comment on percentage saving. They
in current leakage, thus adding to the
power savings.
provide only factual readings with or
What is the role of electricity mepower loss. In such houses, power
without the power saver in constantsavers may facilitate better savings.
ter?
load condition.
However, in houses with new wiring,
Electricity is not stable, as flucEFY Lab reviewed the test certhe percentage saving from power savtuations occur from the supply side. At
tificate of a power saver, which
ers is relatively less.
the same time, the load in houses is not
indicated six per cent savings for a
Type of appliances. More inducbalanced. Meters installed in houses
window air-conditioner through the
tive appliances in a house means more
are either traditional torque-operated
power saver.
What are the different types of power
savers?
Before choosing a power saver, you need to figure
Power saver devices come in difout the resistive and inductive loads in your house.
ferent kilo-watt (kW) ratings of power
You must have some inductive appliances to avail
capacity. Commonly available are
the power saving benefit
3 kW, 6 kW, 10 kW and 15 kW. Gener-

Table I

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TechGuru
The theory: How it works
Most of the household appliances such as refrigerator, air-conditioner, fan, fluorescent tubelight and mixer grinder are inductive in nature.
Inductive loads create a phase difference between the AC current and voltage. The wires and the transformers are also inductive in nature.
Inductive loads require reactive power to work, which increases the current that the source
provides. This can be explained very clearly from the Macs dragging analogy shown in
Fig. 1. The true power or the actual power to drag the load is kW in forward direction.
Power factor is the cosine of the phase difference between the current and the voltage.
When the voltage and the current are in phase with each other in an AC circuit, the electrical
energy drawn from the source is fully converted into another form of energy in the load, and
the power factor is unity. When the current lags the voltage, the energy is wasted in reactive
power and the power factor is less than unity, making the system less efficient.
Power factor correction is a method in which a reactive load is introduced in the opposite
Fig. 1: Dragging MACs BMI Walogy
direction to cancel out the reactance of the inductive load by using a power-factor-correction
capacitor.
In India, the power factor is usually in the range of 0.7-0.8 depending on the house and
load. The capacitors used for PFC are a special type of low-voltage capacitors. (Please refer
April 2006 issue of EFY for details on PFC.)
Current harmonic reduction and surge
protection. Power electronic equipment are a
source of current harmonics and electromagnetic
interference (EMI). It means that the input-side
current waveform is distorted as the sum of multiple
frequencies is fed at the input. The harmonic currents
introduce losses in every element of the electrical
distribution system.
The harmonic voltages and currents deteriorate
Fig. 2: Utility interface needs harmonic filtering
the quality of power and give rise to the following
unacceptable issues:
1. High voltage and current distortion (total harmonic distortion) at the load
2. High neutral-to-ground voltages at the load
3. Heating losses in transformers, bus duct, feeder, circuit and the appliance itself
4. Reduction in power available from the wall outlet to about two-third
5. Overrated line-frequency transformers and DC-side filter capacitors
Fig. 3: Current waveforms
There are two types of harmonic filters: passive filters and active filters.
Passive filters are one or more circuits comprising inductors and capacitors and even resistors
sometimes. The values of these components are designed such that they remove particular frequency instead of the entire spectrum of
distortion. Passive filters are less expensive than active filters.
Active filters virtually remove all the distortion from the system. These continuously monitor the distortion in the waveform and provide
controlled current injection in order to remove the harmonics by generating a sinusoidal current waveform that is in phase with the input
voltage. The filter design is dependent on the kVA requirement of the load, harmonic profile of the load current and also the configuration of
the existing system.
ally, household load does not exceed
15 kW. Therefore a single power saver
can be used with single-phase supply
in houses and shops. For three-phase
connection at a small office, three power savers should be installed separately
in each phase.
How can I choose a power saver?
Before choosing a power saver,
you need to figure out the resistive
and inductive loads in your house
(see Table I). You must have some
inductive appliances to avail the
power saving benefit. A process
called energy audit can help you in
deciding the power saver capacity
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that you need.

Table II shows a sample of the energy audit that you can do individually.
From this table, you can get a rough
estimate of the total wattage of devices
in your house. The total wattage value
will help you in deciding which power
saver to use.
For example, if you have a total
of 20kW load in your house, of which
approximately 15 kW is from inductive loads mentioned in Table I, you
can use a single power saver of 15
kW. If that is not available, you can
use a combination of 10kW and 6kW
power savers. Using a power saver of

more than 15 kW will not give any additional saving.

For a small office with three-phase
connection, you can calculate the load
in each phase and repeat the above
process before installing the power
saver.
Do I have to take any precaution
while plugging in the device?
Power savers are very easy to install. However, you must make sure
that the neutral and ground lines are
insulated and there is no loose connection. Plug the power saver in a socket
that is closest to the mains circuit
breaker.
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TechGuru
What is the life-span of a power
saver?
The lifespan of power savers depends on the life of PFC capacitors
(measured in the number of burning hours) used. PFC capacitors are
manufactured by Siemens, ABB, GE,
etc. From their datasheets, we found
that the life of a capacitor is 6-8 years.
Some capacitors come with even higher
burning hour ratings.
What are the other benefits?
Power savers reduce the heating loss in appliances. This helps in
improving their life. Also, the lower
value of current harmonics improves
the quality of signal. This reduces the
carbon emission on the power generation side. Thus, it is beneficial for the
utility company providing electrical
supply. For 1 kW of power, 11 kg of
carbon is emitted.
How much do these devices cost?
The range is widefrom Rs 400 to

Contributors to this article

1. Ravi Kumar, E.S. Electronics, Bengaluru
2. Dr Manish Sharma, professor, IIT Delhi
3. Milind Patwardhan, professor, VIT Pune
4. Wintech Power, Delhi
5. Buztec, Chandigarh
6. Electronic Control System, Nagpur
7. EFY Lab, Delhi
Rs 1600. This cost is not dependent on
additional features or higher savings.
Rather, it is based on the capacity of
the devices and varies from one brand
to another.
Tips on buying a good power
saver?
Power savers have been much
hyped through SMS marketing and
telemarketing. Here are a few buying
tips:
1. If you have very few inductive
appliances in your house, power saver
may not be the option for you.

152 Beach Road, #23-08, Gateway East, Singapore 189721,

email: sales@futaba.com.sg
http://en.futaba.co.jp/index.html

6 0 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u

2. Buy the power saver only from a

reputed company.
3. Seek existing customers testimonials/comments.
4. Go for a power saver that comes
with guarantee period exceeding 30
days, as you cannot judge its benefits
in less than 30 days.
5. Try buying from a seller who
offers money-back guarantee, as there
are duplicates with just an LED circuit
available in the market.
6. If you have a small office and a
three-phase supply, the power saver
may be effective.
Where from can I buy a power
saver?
Visit www.eleb2b.com and select
the section for domestic power saver
manufacturers. You will get the list of
all the manufacturers along with their
contact details.
The author is a senior technology journalist at
EFY

+91 80 2338 7197,

smgroup@vsnl.com

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