Guys, I got the idea how these masterpieces actually saves power. ... If you plug a dozen of this in your house it actually occupies a lot of sockets so you cannot plug anything else and it saves the power. That suddenly hit me.
Imagine the guys in China saying: OK guys, let's make this one a challenge for Big Clive to reverse engineer and be perplexed! Oh and put something in that'll shock him. Good clean fun 😂
They couldn't afford a 'death beam' (they don't like AC anyway), so fitted a 'tiny-wee' shock instead. In this case, the cost cutting managed to prevent a serious injury - first time for everything, I suppose.
I'm stunned they've actually implemented the ability to switch in and out the capacitor, would be very interesting to know what the designers were thinking at the time and if they were trying to justifying it to themselves it wasn't a scam. But the blinking red light before it turns blue 100% is just trying to convince the user it's doing something more advanced, no reason it couldn't just instantly switch on.
The more elaborate the rouse, the more likely the mark will buy in to it. Especially someone who might have seen BC's expose of the cheap and nasty version of these, and think these ones might be the real deal.
The resistor over the triac could help switching it off when the current zero-crosses. The LED mainly causes a phase correct current while the capacitor shifts the current. This makes it difficult for a triac to turn off because the current is almost never below the holding current threshold. By placing a resistor over MT1 and MT2 you can bypass the ohmic amount of the current and make the triac switch off 90° later.
Being a doctor I'd have given it the finger poke. And serve me bloody right! 😆 That was a mighty enjoyable teardown, Clive. I think you've save us all. ❤
I can't remember the last time a cap bit Big Clive on a tear down. But be honest, seeing someone get a tingle on a tear down makes a review at least 20% more enjoyable right!? 😊💚
I've complained about a few bits of Chinese crap recently that were sold mis-leadingly. And, they always give the same patter and I always say that I'm not using my money to return something. It's not worth them paying for return postage, so then they offer a couple of discounts, then they offer a full refund IF you leave positive feedback, which I never do, as it just encourages them to keep scamming. ALWAYS pay with PayPal, as PayPal have no issue with simply taking back the money.
I live in Germany and some commercial leaflets shows, lets say 2 bottles of Vodka and "the normal price" with a strike through and the discount price. However, "discount price" is still per bottle. Pretty annoying... b'cuz brain observes one price and two bottles. Both bottles have the same face forward, so it's not the backside either. Pretty deceptive... in the beginning.
Almost reminds me of the CAN bus "fuel savers". Some of those were ridiculously complex for just blinking two lights. I guess, though, when a micro is the same price as a 555 timer in the quantities they deal with, why not just use a micro?
The micro is actually cheaper, seeing as it is made in the millions, and is programmable, so the cost to use one is minimal, and you get to be able to do a little more than flash a LED. Much lower power use as well, saving on the cost of the power supply components as well, you only need a very low current supply to run it.
"Let's give it a fingertest - no, no charge. That's good" - Clive, the living example of work security while fiddling with electric gadgets. And I like it. #LLAP On topic: I like the fact that such manufacturers can make a living out of the idiocy of power saving esoterics
What?! Did you think that it was only fraudster businessmen/politicians like Trump and Co that could endlessly milk the mentally incompetent? 😉😁 Remember that the old saying that "There's 1 born every minute!" is itself not true. That would mean that there should be around 40 million alive at any 1 time. When in reality there's billions of 'em! 😱
@@chitlitlah I tested North American voltage as a toddler 65 years ago in North America, with scissors (went bang) and with fingers (unpleasant). Tamper resistant outlets would have protected me from the first experiment, GFCI would not have protected me from the second as I substituted my finger for a light bulb. Dad's response was "You shouldn't do that. Don't tell Mom."
@@davidg4288 A charged capacitor that isn't grounded on either side usually poses no immediate danger to life. It just hurts a lot. Unless you purposefully create a current path through both arms, and subsequently through the heart. Like Clive did.
Just a bit of pedantry; the triac turns off automatically when the current passing through it crosses zero. That is, having a pure capacitive load, exactly the point of maximum voltage across the mains line. So, the "hard" continuous command current is the easiest way to maintain the triac conducting. Probably, the designer's initial idea was to detect the moment of the zero crossing and to "compute" the delay of the gate control pulse for every half-wave of the alternating supply voltage. The measured 40 VA of purely capacitive reactive power is able to compensate for the same amount of inductive reactive power. If the utilities companies charge for the reactive energy, then something like this product, or simply a capacitor with a plug, may help save those 80£ per year (from BigClive's example).
@@rovhalgrencparselstedt8343No. If you push the load towards inductive, it's the real power that does the work, not apparent power. So you can't get away with trying to transfer real power to apparent power.
Not as much as it made Clive jump. I have to admit, I haven't seen Clive get a nip for years, so I confess to a little chuckle, and sympathy, because we've all been there.
yay a new clive video! i love these videos were you have these wierd items, ionziers, ozone generators, insect killers , and ofc power saver plugs and more, they are all so intressting how they are constructed, pretty much always some wierd suprise to find :P
What a brilliant idea to use a triac to switch the capacitor from the mains instead of a discharge resistor. That way, whoever touched the capacitor inside would get a nice surprise even after being scammed into buying a 2 pack and getting half. And the power saver was actually a power waster. Not to mention, the triac had a power supply that wastes power instead.
I have followed the power factor scammers for years and this may be the most sophisticated attempt yet that I have seen. People cannot understand the difference between real and apparent power and those are technical terms. They are seduced by the numbers on the ammeter going down and are willing to spend big on something that makes that happen. Just understand that NO public utility charges for power factor in single phase service and the meter on the side of your house records watts, not amps. So even if they did work, you aren't going to see a difference in your electric bill.
I'm amazed it actually does the whole capacitor thing as if the concept actually does anything useful. I more expected the OBDII style product where it just flashes LEDs convincingly. One thing I am curious about though... Since the triac could potentially switch the capacitor on with quite a voltage difference on it compared to the mains, is there scope for blowing up the triac? How big of a capacitor could you use on this thing before the triac blows up?
The zero crossing input should read across the triac to avoid getting fooled by the cap's phase shift or by whatever zap was left behind when last the triac last saw a null in current.
That was hilarious. You did the finger test and I was just wondering to myself, 'what'll he do when he actually does get zapped?' and then you got zapped, lol
One thing I've thought... Maybe it's to convince people that "don't understand" it's not a real product that it's actually doing something, specifically those who have seen the tear-downs/exposure on the other fake ones (big caps, 2 LEDs and resistors - pretty easy to recognise). I saw somewhere else (I forget where) but it could have also been someone had to design this fake product and decided to design it the best they could or as an educational circuit (for themselves and us). :)
Every household should have one of these, why are the government buying these up and giving them to households in Britain to save them money on there bills, as energy saving seems the main topic at the moment, i am surprised no one has come up with a gadget you clamp to your gas main that reduces the flow and save on your gas bills…. I’m sure sellers making a killing on the rubbish right now! As always Clive great video thank you it made me chuckle, and that was a healthy “Crack” off of the capacitor 😊
Did they say 10,000 watts? That's about 50A at 200V. My friend and I once built a 10A power supply which had a 30A bridge rectifier in it. Unfortunately we neglected to mount the rectifier on a heat sink, so we started to smell the smell of baking components. I decided to feel everything to see what was getting warm. When I touched the rectifier, it was burning hot. Youch!!! And I still have the International Rectifier logo branded onto my finger tip 20 years later. (A very good lesson never forgotten :-) And that was only about 15 watts or so. Ohh.. Those naughty Chinese marketeers and their 10,000 watts :-)
Clive, that was a great video, thanks very much. Being honest much of it was beyond my understanding but I laughed loudly when you got a shock, and then again when you said ''Barstewards.'' 😀
Well, it does seem to be a power saver after all. You plug it in, it saves power. Then, when you open the case, it shocks you. Classic power saver behaviour. HAHA I am glad you din't get hurt.
I've got a real power saving device at home. It watches the current on one of the outlets and switches all the other ones off if there isn't enough draw to indicate that it's on. But, a single outlet product that saves power is pretty inexplicable. I cannot imagine how any such device could ever be something other than a scam.
My guess is you have the "Pro" version of the power saver plug: the cheaper "Basic" version doesn't have the "Intelligent" parts (including the triac), but only the 1µF/275VAC capacitor alongside the missing R8, R9, R10 resistors and active indicator LED 3.
Good one Clive , how you said (Bastards) when you used your screwdriver and one hell of a spared occurred. It made me bust out laughing.. the only thing is how does it get though (British safety standards). Very good videos that you produce.100% .
When you order elictronics from China, you basicaly become an importer, at that time there is no need for any compliance to any safety standard Only if you plan to resell that stuff on the local market, you are the one that has to declare it complies with the safety regulations
Here’s a thought. A capacitor would ordinarily be used for power factor correction on an inductive load. Normally this requires a matched capacitor. Could maybe the microcontroller be switching a fixed value capacitor in and out in order to make the measuring device measure an average PF of one? The real question is whether the triac is being turned on on every cycle, or just some cycles. If the later, I would be inclined to think it was some sort of PF cheat.
There seems so much work involved making these things it makes me wonder if there's some strange part of the world where they actually do something :-)
I would think the triac switch is simply for those who plug it into a power meter, so pressing the switch does show a change in the displayed power factor on the meter.
Perhaps the PCB positions for the components that are not fitted are used in an alternative cost-cutting version that has no micro or option for switching the capacitor in/out.
I guess they could be doing power factor correction if they detect a slightly inductive load by switching in a capacitor half-way through the cycle to compensate? I would expect most houses to have a mostly capacitive power factor with all those switch mode PSU's we have everywhere though!
"The old power correction scam is not enough", screamed the President, "we need more!". So the marketing team scurried into their shared office and devised the "2 pack" scheme.
I found this paper on ieee Power factor improvement by pulse width modulated switched single capacitor Reactive power is recognized as an essential factor in the design and good operation of power system. Real and reactive power on a transmission line in an integrated network is governed by the line impedance, voltage magnitudes, the angle of differences at the line ends, and the role the line plays in maintaining network stability under dynamic contingencies. Reactive power compensation or control is essential part in a power system to minimize power transmission loss, to maximize power transmission capability, and to maintain the system voltage within desired level. In this paper a new method is proposed which improves the power factor automatically of varying lagging loads to unity, using one single large shunt capacitor instead of using a bank of switching capacitors. Basically, this control scheme is a static power factor correction method by continuous voltage or current control of a capacitor. In this work the voltage across the capacitor is being changed by a bi-directional switch to control the magnitude of compensating capacitor current and thereby attaining unity power factor. This system incorporates high-speed insulated gate bipolar transistor switching technology. The gate signal of the switching devices is generated by using a compact and commercially available IC chip SG1524B. The scheme is simple in this sense that it uses only one static bi-directional switch controlled by an electronic control circuit that uses only analog ICs and some discrete digital components.
I think the unpopulated parts are for the economy model. Add parts on those locations and delete everything else for the "capacitor is always on" version.
In vocational training our teacher told us about the inductive load they used in the company he worked at. industrial consumers had/have to pay for the real and imaginary power used. so they shifted the phase whenever they were welding to improve the factor and save money.
Well, I see the logic of using that board. Quite well... a) power saving plug b) switchable ionizer c) UV-light ( well ,you know because) d) night light You can sell the case for all of these and only need to change a couple of components. for b): no big capacitor but simply put the ionizer-block in place of that C) / d) : uv-LIGHT or nightlight: simply put the resistors and LED into place All can be switched off or on with the LED-indicators, board and fits inside this casing Since the reason for c) is now over, just make power savers out of them or nightlights and you can sell all of your stock.
"Let's not touch that again." as he touches it, lmao. It happens to us all at some point. Thats why we can all laugh about it. Thanks for the video Clive
These people are so good at repurposing old parts. Not just useless scammy items but everyday objects as well. I have an old Supertron SM1421 MDA monitor from 1989 and another Taiwanese company used the exact same bezel and crammed a mono VGA circuit in it. It's a tight fit but it works, they must've cut lot of the costs that way. Competition between these Chinotaiwanese businesses must be huge.
Latest electrical safety test, get a TH-cam host to put his finger across it. Although the internal 'fleshy discharge' was more entertaining, essence of electroboom
On one hand maybe they were expecting big Clive to not continue after having some temper protection. But on the other hand after something like that it has to continue until it's fully dissected.
I just had to watch you zap yourself a few times 🙂You were holding on to the prongs with the left hand and grabbed the circuit board with the right hand right at the capacitor.
Which was a dangerous thing to do. Capacitors are usually very tame when neither side is connected to earth, but here Clive created a rather unfortunate current path right through his heart even.
I hate power saver scam products. But I’m actually happy to see that they actually made it somewhat “smart” It’s a much better attempt than those capacitors straight across the mains with an LED to trick you that it’s actually doing something. Maybe they’ve been watching your channel Clive lol
Could you explain the importance of X capacitors? I have plug in surge protectors that self-consume 29-43 mA, and I suspect it is the X capacitors leaking current! Was wondering what effect if I remove them?
@bigclive I’ve seen a video advert pop up today for an identical device.. on that video they very briefly had your workbench and a circuit diagram on a ring bound pad .. not the diagram in this video. It popped up a few times.. next time I’ll try and note the advertisers name
Someone at the factory checks a box: "[X] Shocked Big Clive"
Electrical manufacturing bingo
@@onemoreguyonline7878 ElectroBOOM is center free square
Yup. They were sneaky. No shock on the outside. So Clive thought he was safe.
It's safe to say most things shocks Big Clive with half of the Chinese garbage he pulls apart.
At their next staff meeting "Ladies and gentlemen we got him!"
Guys, I got the idea how these masterpieces actually saves power.
...
If you plug a dozen of this in your house it actually occupies a lot of sockets so you cannot plug anything else and it saves the power.
That suddenly hit me.
Genius 😊
You got it 👍
🙃
Sounds logical to me.
Shocking!
Imagine the guys in China saying: OK guys, let's make this one a challenge for Big Clive to reverse engineer and be perplexed!
Oh and put something in that'll shock him.
Good clean fun 😂
They probably did.
The silk screen for the unpopulated discharge resistor should have read "Gotcha, Clive"
@@sometimesleela5947 a high-pitched sound will do better🤪
Imagine all of Chinese electronic fakery working out another puzzle for Clive to reverse engineer.
They couldn't afford a 'death beam' (they don't like AC anyway), so fitted a 'tiny-wee' shock instead. In this case, the cost cutting managed to prevent a serious injury - first time for everything, I suppose.
I'm stunned they've actually implemented the ability to switch in and out the capacitor, would be very interesting to know what the designers were thinking at the time and if they were trying to justifying it to themselves it wasn't a scam. But the blinking red light before it turns blue 100% is just trying to convince the user it's doing something more advanced, no reason it couldn't just instantly switch on.
The more elaborate the rouse, the more likely the mark will buy in to it. Especially someone who might have seen BC's expose of the cheap and nasty version of these, and think these ones might be the real deal.
@@mikenco Yep, but lookily this ruster rows to the chalinj of expowsin the "ruse". 😜😂😂
Well, it _is_ doing something. It'd making the LED blink.
😡
@@samuelfellows6923 what are the chances of you being the same Samuel Fellows I know...
Love the way you take a good on camera zap in stride!
And no cuss words!
You should be proud😊
It's amazing how quickly things become very heavy and you have to let go, I did it the other day on the lathe.
The resistor over the triac could help switching it off when the current zero-crosses. The LED mainly causes a phase correct current while the capacitor shifts the current. This makes it difficult for a triac to turn off because the current is almost never below the holding current threshold. By placing a resistor over MT1 and MT2 you can bypass the ohmic amount of the current and make the triac switch off 90° later.
Being a doctor I'd have given it the finger poke. And serve me bloody right! 😆 That was a mighty enjoyable teardown, Clive. I think you've save us all. ❤
Always remember: There is a factory somewhere that produces something like this, and they are very proud of it!
Another useless product adding to our waste pile.
@@DiAngeloTheSecond another useless product producing more waste for our landfills to take
Garbage is both their number one import and export.
Are they? Or are they just doing a job so they don't starve?
@@SmallSpoonBrigade that's more likely, sad, but more likely
I can't remember the last time a cap bit Big Clive on a tear down. But be honest, seeing someone get a tingle on a tear down makes a review at least 20% more enjoyable right!? 😊💚
I've complained about a few bits of Chinese crap recently that were sold mis-leadingly. And, they always give the same patter and I always say that I'm not using my money to return something. It's not worth them paying for return postage, so then they offer a couple of discounts, then they offer a full refund IF you leave positive feedback, which I never do, as it just encourages them to keep scamming. ALWAYS pay with PayPal, as PayPal have no issue with simply taking back the money.
Gotta love the logic of selling a 2 pack and only delivering one :)
Why would you even need two though?
@@tncorgi92
To get double the savings :)
@@tncorgi92 One to use, one to take apart.
"One to use, one to take apart." Technology Connections: "Through the magic of buying two of them..."
I live in Germany and some commercial leaflets shows, lets say 2 bottles of Vodka and "the normal price" with a strike through and the discount price. However, "discount price" is still per bottle. Pretty annoying... b'cuz brain observes one price and two bottles. Both bottles have the same face forward, so it's not the backside either. Pretty deceptive... in the beginning.
Phenominal! Big Clive got a shock. Could have used that as click bait, but respect, you didn't.
Big ups for you clive.
You're the man dude! 👍🏻😀🇬🇧
Almost reminds me of the CAN bus "fuel savers". Some of those were ridiculously complex for just blinking two lights. I guess, though, when a micro is the same price as a 555 timer in the quantities they deal with, why not just use a micro?
The micro is actually cheaper, seeing as it is made in the millions, and is programmable, so the cost to use one is minimal, and you get to be able to do a little more than flash a LED. Much lower power use as well, saving on the cost of the power supply components as well, you only need a very low current supply to run it.
"Let's give it a fingertest - no, no charge. That's good" - Clive, the living example of work security while fiddling with electric gadgets. And I like it. #LLAP On topic: I like the fact that such manufacturers can make a living out of the idiocy of power saving esoterics
It's North American voltage. A baby could handle it.
What?! Did you think that it was only fraudster businessmen/politicians like Trump and Co that could endlessly milk the mentally incompetent? 😉😁
Remember that the old saying that "There's 1 born every minute!" is itself not true. That would mean that there should be around 40 million alive at any 1 time. When in reality there's billions of 'em! 😱
@@chitlitlah I tested North American voltage as a toddler 65 years ago in North America, with scissors (went bang) and with fingers (unpleasant). Tamper resistant outlets would have protected me from the first experiment, GFCI would not have protected me from the second as I substituted my finger for a light bulb. Dad's response was "You shouldn't do that. Don't tell Mom."
@@chitlitlah What's North American voltage? Certainly not with Big Clive, who gets 245V, which is definitely deadly.
@@davidg4288 A charged capacitor that isn't grounded on either side usually poses no immediate danger to life. It just hurts a lot.
Unless you purposefully create a current path through both arms, and subsequently through the heart. Like Clive did.
I'm going with they put the triac in just so it would pass the finger on the pins test, then bite you when you least expect it. It was very effective.
Just a bit of pedantry; the triac turns off automatically when the current passing through it crosses zero. That is, having a pure capacitive load, exactly the point of maximum voltage across the mains line. So, the "hard" continuous command current is the easiest way to maintain the triac conducting. Probably, the designer's initial idea was to detect the moment of the zero crossing and to "compute" the delay of the gate control pulse for every half-wave of the alternating supply voltage.
The measured 40 VA of purely capacitive reactive power is able to compensate for the same amount of inductive reactive power. If the utilities companies charge for the reactive energy, then something like this product, or simply a capacitor with a plug, may help save those 80£ per year (from BigClive's example).
How many people are disappointed that the silk screening on the thumbnail is not present on the actual item?
Switching a capacitor on at a clever point in the sine wave almost sounds as if you could fool a smart energy meter
Bro what if these actually work 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
dont be dumb
Maybe it could fool the meter to overread.
@@rovhalgrencparselstedt8343No. If you push the load towards inductive, it's the real power that does the work, not apparent power.
So you can't get away with trying to transfer real power to apparent power.
⚡ZZZAAAPPP!!!! ⚡ Brings new meaning to "Dropping Capacitor"
You Electroboom'd that just fine :)
Interesting circuit, I don't know if it's its weirdness or uselessness that baffles me more.
As many times as we've seen you touching stuff to see if it holds a charge and not getting zapped, this one made me jump.
Not as much as it made Clive jump.
I have to admit, I haven't seen Clive get a nip for years, so I confess to a little chuckle, and sympathy, because we've all been there.
yay a new clive video! i love these videos were you have these wierd items, ionziers, ozone generators, insect killers , and ofc power saver plugs and more, they are all so intressting how they are constructed, pretty much always some wierd suprise to find :P
2:16 "So here is the cir... AAAAH! Right. That does hold a charge!"
🤣Classic! 🤣
What a brilliant idea to use a triac to switch the capacitor from the mains instead of a discharge resistor. That way, whoever touched the capacitor inside would get a nice surprise even after being scammed into buying a 2 pack and getting half. And the power saver was actually a power waster. Not to mention, the triac had a power supply that wastes power instead.
I have followed the power factor scammers for years and this may be the most sophisticated attempt yet that I have seen. People cannot understand the difference between real and apparent power and those are technical terms. They are seduced by the numbers on the ammeter going down and are willing to spend big on something that makes that happen. Just understand that NO public utility charges for power factor in single phase service and the meter on the side of your house records watts, not amps. So even if they did work, you aren't going to see a difference in your electric bill.
Imagine Diode-gone-Wild watching, and the moment BC gets the shock: Niiiiice!
The Electrolytic capacitor is very annoyed at being described as a mere Cylinder Capacitor
I wonder if this was originally an ioniser design, and they just swapped the ioniser module with the yellow cap? That would make more sense
There is an ioniser that uses the same case and similar circuitry, but a low voltage DC ioniser module.
At least the finger zap proves that it's a real capacitor, and not just a box of sand.
I am waiting for one of these boards to have a little "hi Clive" printed on them.
If that shock was the 2 pin variant, can you imagine what the three might have done ?! 🤯
great work big Clive, as always very entertaining, but mostly truthfull about this junk. top man
The other led and resistor might have been for testing purposes, to know when it's working and to try and use a lower power component?
I'm amazed it actually does the whole capacitor thing as if the concept actually does anything useful. I more expected the OBDII style product where it just flashes LEDs convincingly.
One thing I am curious about though... Since the triac could potentially switch the capacitor on with quite a voltage difference on it compared to the mains, is there scope for blowing up the triac? How big of a capacitor could you use on this thing before the triac blows up?
I think that's why it detects the zero crossing point of the sinewave to minimise the current spike.
The zero crossing input should read across the triac to avoid getting fooled by the cap's phase shift or by whatever zap was left behind when last the triac last saw a null in current.
That was hilarious. You did the finger test and I was just wondering to myself, 'what'll he do when he actually does get zapped?' and then you got zapped, lol
One thing I've thought... Maybe it's to convince people that "don't understand" it's not a real product that it's actually doing something, specifically those who have seen the tear-downs/exposure on the other fake ones (big caps, 2 LEDs and resistors - pretty easy to recognise). I saw somewhere else (I forget where) but it could have also been someone had to design this fake product and decided to design it the best they could or as an educational circuit (for themselves and us). :)
Sorry, I couldn't help myself laughing when you got zapped 😅 Not to worry, I do know the feeling.
I didn't need to watch this video to know it was a useless device, but I do enjoy the process of proving it.
Every household should have one of these, why are the government buying these up and giving them to households in Britain to save them money on there bills, as energy saving seems the main topic at the moment, i am surprised no one has come up with a gadget you clamp to your gas main that reduces the flow and save on your gas bills…. I’m sure sellers making a killing on the rubbish right now!
As always Clive great video thank you it made me chuckle, and that was a healthy “Crack” off of the capacitor 😊
Anything that sounds too good to be true usually us, that wonderful old saying. Good video, Big Clive 👍
Did they say 10,000 watts? That's about 50A at 200V.
My friend and I once built a 10A power supply which had a 30A bridge rectifier in it.
Unfortunately we neglected to mount the rectifier on a heat sink, so we started to smell the smell of baking components.
I decided to feel everything to see what was getting warm.
When I touched the rectifier, it was burning hot. Youch!!!
And I still have the International Rectifier logo branded onto my finger tip 20 years later. (A very good lesson never forgotten :-)
And that was only about 15 watts or so.
Ohh.. Those naughty Chinese marketeers and their 10,000 watts :-)
Clive, that was a great video, thanks very much. Being honest much of it was beyond my understanding but I laughed loudly when you got a shock, and then again when you said ''Barstewards.'' 😀
I have an old power saver. It has cooling vanes and two capacitors. You plug it into the wall, and then plug your device into it. It seems to work.
Well, it does seem to be a power saver after all. You plug it in, it saves power. Then, when you open the case, it shocks you. Classic power saver behaviour. HAHA I am glad you din't get hurt.
I've got a real power saving device at home. It watches the current on one of the outlets and switches all the other ones off if there isn't enough draw to indicate that it's on. But, a single outlet product that saves power is pretty inexplicable. I cannot imagine how any such device could ever be something other than a scam.
I reported one of these to the ASA - and guess who's schematic popped up in the advert!
My guess is you have the "Pro" version of the power saver plug: the cheaper "Basic" version doesn't have the "Intelligent" parts (including the triac), but only the 1µF/275VAC capacitor alongside the missing R8, R9, R10 resistors and active indicator LED 3.
Tearing these down will never get old
Watching Clive manhandle the circuit board that has been plugged in seconds ago, thinking "That may not be a good ide..." ZAP!
Good one Clive , how you said (Bastards) when you used your screwdriver and one hell of a spared occurred. It made me bust out laughing.. the only thing is how does it get though (British safety standards). Very good videos that you produce.100% .
eBay bypasses the safety channel into the country.
When you order elictronics from China, you basicaly become an importer, at that time there is no need for any compliance to any safety standard
Only if you plan to resell that stuff on the local market, you are the one that has to declare it complies with the safety regulations
⚠️😡 ~ 🇬🇧
That finger poke was pretty brave!
Finally, I've been waiting for 237 videos to see Clive get zapped.
Here’s a thought. A capacitor would ordinarily be used for power factor correction on an inductive load. Normally this requires a matched capacitor. Could maybe the microcontroller be switching a fixed value capacitor in and out in order to make the measuring device measure an average PF of one? The real question is whether the triac is being turned on on every cycle, or just some cycles. If the later, I would be inclined to think it was some sort of PF cheat.
It would need to be able to measure the voltage and current waveforms of the whole installation. I scoped the gate drive and it was a flat line.
There seems so much work involved making these things it makes me wonder if there's some strange part of the world where they actually do something :-)
I have a bench power supply with a similar big fat juicy cap across the mains. I used to get a wallop off it every time I touched the pins.
I would think the triac switch is simply for those who plug it into a power meter, so pressing the switch does show a change in the displayed power factor on the meter.
Love your videos where you debunk and deconstruct products.
Perhaps the PCB positions for the components that are not fitted are used in an alternative cost-cutting version that has no micro or option for switching the capacitor in/out.
One day Clive will open one of these and it will be an non specific bright light like the suitcase in Pulp Fiction.
You know that a fake product has to be good when the English on the package is "mostly" readable.
I guess they could be doing power factor correction if they detect a slightly inductive load by switching in a capacitor half-way through the cycle to compensate?
I would expect most houses to have a mostly capacitive power factor with all those switch mode PSU's we have everywhere though!
"The old power correction scam is not enough", screamed the President, "we need more!". So the marketing team scurried into their shared office and devised the "2 pack" scheme.
Sorry Clive, I thoroughly enjoyed a positive “finger test” … I owe you a pint for that one!
you had the same reaction as me when i was taking apart a camera and the flash capacitor zapped me! LOL
Amazing how much effort has gone into designing and manufacturing a product that does nothing!
Thanks for this and all your videos.
Thanks. Much appreciated.
Every time you say, “Let’s open it up.” I imagine you reaching for a very big hammer. 😂
how do two 470k ohm resistors in series make a zero crossing detector?
It limits the leakage current into the digital input and its ESD diodes to well under 1mA.
Common trick with microcontrollers. Tiny current that causes an input bit to change polarity at each zero crossing point.
I found this paper on ieee
Power factor improvement by pulse width modulated switched single capacitor
Reactive power is recognized as an essential factor in the design and good operation of power system. Real and reactive power on a transmission line in an integrated network is governed by the line impedance, voltage magnitudes, the angle of differences at the line ends, and the role the line plays in maintaining network stability under dynamic contingencies. Reactive power compensation or control is essential part in a power system to minimize power transmission loss, to maximize power transmission capability, and to maintain the system voltage within desired level. In this paper a new method is proposed which improves the power factor automatically of varying lagging loads to unity, using one single large shunt capacitor instead of using a bank of switching capacitors. Basically, this control scheme is a static power factor correction method by continuous voltage or current control of a capacitor. In this work the voltage across the capacitor is being changed by a bi-directional switch to control the magnitude of compensating capacitor current and thereby attaining unity power factor. This system incorporates high-speed insulated gate bipolar transistor switching technology. The gate signal of the switching devices is generated by using a compact and commercially available IC chip SG1524B. The scheme is simple in this sense that it uses only one static bi-directional switch controlled by an electronic control circuit that uses only analog ICs and some discrete digital components.
I think the unpopulated parts are for the economy model. Add parts on those locations and delete everything else for the "capacitor is always on" version.
nice placement of the spicey cap put it at the other end away from the input, just to brighten up a techies day.
Due to the capacitive dropper, this wastes power instead of saving. Very silly of them to even waste more power switching the triac.
When the product doesn't do anything, or does it badly, the case can be used for many things!
They really tricked you into a false sense of security with that triac preventing you from getting the zing of the plug pins!
In vocational training our teacher told us about the inductive load they used in the company he worked at. industrial consumers had/have to pay for the real and imaginary power used. so they shifted the phase whenever they were welding to improve the factor and save money.
Factories often had switched capacitor banks for that reason.
Well, I see the logic of using that board. Quite well...
a) power saving plug
b) switchable ionizer
c) UV-light ( well ,you know because)
d) night light
You can sell the case for all of these and only need to change a couple of components.
for b): no big capacitor but simply put the ionizer-block in place of that
C) / d) : uv-LIGHT or nightlight: simply put the resistors and LED into place
All can be switched off or on with the LED-indicators, board and fits inside this casing
Since the reason for c) is now over, just make power savers out of them or nightlights and you can sell all of your stock.
"Let's not touch that again." as he touches it, lmao. It happens to us all at some point. Thats why we can all laugh about it. Thanks for the video Clive
You got me with the thumbnail! Big Bong Electronic Factory indeed. 🤣
These people are so good at repurposing old parts. Not just useless scammy items but everyday objects as well.
I have an old Supertron SM1421 MDA monitor from 1989 and another Taiwanese company used the exact same bezel and crammed a mono VGA circuit in it. It's a tight fit but it works, they must've cut lot of the costs that way.
Competition between these Chinotaiwanese businesses must be huge.
Those bastard zaps keeps a person alive. We'd all die if it wasn't for static electricity zaps, some are lucky to endure man-made zaps.
The good old Zap-O-Matic 2000. For the wee bit of extra-excitement.😂
I was just thinking, one of these days that finger test is going to bite you on the ass 😂🙈
Latest electrical safety test, get a TH-cam host to put his finger across it.
Although the internal 'fleshy discharge' was more entertaining, essence of electroboom
"Just plain weird, But fun." The BEST kind of fun!
Hi, I have a SOR/T Neutron and Nuke alarm I need help getting to work, can I send one for you to have a play with?
Wow this one isn't the king's version, it's the version for Gods.
I think you missed the point. The bleeder resistors were intentionally left off. How else is the Big Clive detector supposed to function?
On one hand maybe they were expecting big Clive to not continue after having some temper protection. But on the other hand after something like that it has to continue until it's fully dissected.
_"...it's just plain weird... but fun!"_
And those are two of our favourite things! ;-]
Damn, I corrected a typo and lost the Heart... lol
Have two.
I just had to watch you zap yourself a few times 🙂You were holding on to the prongs with the left hand and grabbed the circuit board with the right hand right at the capacitor.
Which was a dangerous thing to do. Capacitors are usually very tame when neither side is connected to earth, but here Clive created a rather unfortunate current path right through his heart even.
Alternative title: Clive makes a shocking discovery.
I hate power saver scam products. But I’m actually happy to see that they actually made it somewhat “smart”
It’s a much better attempt than those capacitors straight across the mains with an LED to trick you that it’s actually doing something. Maybe they’ve been watching your channel Clive lol
A scam is a scam, even if it does have a few blinking lights to manipulate you into thinking it isn't a scam
Could it be that they're adding a suprise in things for Clive? 🤔
Could you explain the importance of X capacitors? I have plug in surge protectors that self-consume 29-43 mA, and I suspect it is the X capacitors leaking current! Was wondering what effect if I remove them?
That current is apparent power. If you use a meter that displays actual power as usually measured by your electricity meter, it will show zero.
I'm absolutely loving the thumbnail Easter eggs 😂
Bugger, i've had one plugged in for a year and never pressed the on button 😢
It's a long time since we saw Clive getting a little zap.
This was a very charged topic that Clive covered today.
@bigclive
I’ve seen a video advert pop up today for an identical device.. on that video they very briefly had your workbench and a circuit diagram on a ring bound pad .. not the diagram in this video. It popped up a few times.. next time I’ll try and note the advertisers name
It happens a lot. Their current clip is the USB UVC sterilizer.
wow.. that was still a rather spicy spark even after it got you.