Just saw a commercial for the Powersave 1200, which will save you hundreds,
if not thousands, of dollars in energy bills.  It is targeted and designed
specifically for residential customers.

The commercial appeared on the Sci Fi channel, which is well known for
advertisements from reputable companies. yeah

So it hooks to your breaker box, reduces the power factor of all your
appliances (including, according to the commercial, TV's, heaters, ovens,
stoves, dishwashers, microwaves, water heaters, toasters, air conditioners,
and coffee makers (implies your coffee will taste better as well).  It also
filters and recycles the excess electricity in your power lines.

It also cools down TV's, because they, like your other appliances, are
receiving too much power.  This device only supplies the power your
appliances require, so there will be no heat in anything not designed to
actually heat something.  So throw away those fans on your computer!

Fascinating stuff.  It's UL tested and listed, and has been "recognized by
the Department of Energy".  They even have a report on their web site.  It
sure looks like it's from the DOE.  Oh, it was a "Program of the DOE", but
the actual report was written by the Motor Challenge Information
Clearinghouse, with a website www.motor.doe.gov that, while having an .gov
on the end, does not seem to exist.  Or the US government's computers are
all down. (they aren't)

Anyway, there's also a "university study" of this device.  Except that it's
two "PHD's" in the electrical engineering department of Santa Clara
University.  One is a part timer, the other is a study-for-hire type.  It's
a 10 page report, by two PHD's, from a university, but there's no notes,
biblio, or anything to show that it wasn't cobbled together in 20 minutes
off the cuff.  And it doesn't even mention this device by name.  But hey,
it's a study.

It's only $300.  Plus shipping and handling.

http://www.power-save.com/product.html

http://www.power-save1200.com/

Funny thing about the FAQ's.  They know how much the unit costs, they know
how long it'll take to pay for itself (6 to 12 months), but when asked how
much money folks can save every month, a long list follows "it depends on".

I'm not a huge math guy, but it can't be that tough.  Maybe they can tap one
of those PHD's to figure it out.

My question is this;

Is this bullshit, baloney, flim flam, or snake oil?

No doubt it must do something.  Heck, it might just do some of the stuff it
claims.  But while they commercial claims power plants "can" charge for low
power factors, they forget to mention that this applies almost exclusively
to the industrial and commercial sectors.  Residential customers rarely, if
ever, generate a low enough power factor to be noticed by power plants.

I expect a certain amount of dumbing down in commercials when dealing with
technical stuff, but this seems to be a collection of outright lies.

Anyway, I was wondering if this was just a grossly overpriced capacitor, and
if it can significantly alter a sine wave.

CS