Digital Power Saver - Scam?

[derty]

Just a heads up. My wife has been hassled by callers trying to flog this product (Digital Power Saver) for a few days now. I spent a bit of time on the phone to one of their representatives (from Sydney apparently) this evening. Very thick Indian accent, hard to understand. They are apparently promoting a device that reduces your power use by 30-40% and hence your power bill. It sounded great - too good to be true really.

They start by promoting that they have a device that is Australian Govt approved and then inquire about your quarterly power bill. You then get the spiel that it saves 30-40% of your power bill. I was immediately sceptical and asked how it infact does this. I was informed that it removed power spikes and saves power. He then asked me if i would like to buy one, only $300. lol. I asked him for more info and he read some more crap about power spikes and fluctuations. I pressed him for a brand name and he finally gave me a website after consulting a supervisor. I told him I would need to do some research before committing to any purchase.

The website he gave me was: http://digitalpowersaver.com.au
The site is pretty slick, though some of the text is a bit chinglish in places. The crux is apparently you just have to plug one into any power point in the house for it to control the power supply to your entire house full of appliances.

Plug your Power Saver into any power point in your home/office. When plugged in, it becomes part of the wiring for your power points and automatically stabilizes all incoming power voltage.
Your appliances then receive only the amount of power they need to operate, preventing any wastage.

This doesn't sound right to me. My house has several different circuits and I can't see how plugging a device into a power point on once circuit can influence appliances on other circuits.

There is a gobblygook explanation of the units function from the Chief Engineer, Jims on the site:

Digital power Saver Chief Engineer, Jims brief technical explanation.

Dear Mark,
This is Jims , your manufacturing chief engineer.
The power saver saves electricity through reactive compensation, it reduces the power current (ampere) in the circuit and improves the power factor, so the power efficiency can be better. Power saver works on the customer's power loading. The SD-001 is effective only on inductive load, if the inductive load of the house is not big part, there will be less obvious current change.

The components, C1,D1,D2,D3,D4,C3,ZD1 provide 5.1V DC power.

R4,LD1,LD2 will work when the circuit works.

The capacitor,6.8u/275V will provide reactive power.

The current will be reduced.

Now apart from sounding dodgy they are asking $300 to buy a Digital Power Saver (the website has them discounted to $200 - note the targeting of pensioners in their testimonials - Murray Farquars!). http://digitalpowersaver.com.au/testimonials.aspx
After a bit of a google I found a couple of sites selling the same units in batches of 50 for as low as US$2.50 a piece: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/107020080/power_saver_device_electricity_saving_device.html

It is surely a scam. When I googled I didn't find many references, hopefully this page might start to show up in google searches if other people try and investigate.

edit: after a bit more of a thorough search there are a few site about that allude to the scam being pressed around the globe. http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/electrical/articles/81900.aspx

 

[Solly]

Just a heads up. My wife has been hassled by callers trying to flog this product (Digital Power Saver) for a few days now. I spent a bit of time on the phone to one of their representatives (from Sydney apparently) this evening. Very thick Indian accent, hard to understand. They are apparently promoting a device that reduces your power use by 30-40% and hence your power bill. It sounded great - too good to be true really.

They start by promoting that they have a device that is Australian Govt approved and then inquire about your quarterly power bill. You then get the spiel that it saves 30-40% of your power bill. I was immediately sceptical and asked how it infact does this. I was informed that it removed power spikes and saves power. He then asked me if i would like to buy one, only $300. lol. I asked him for more info and he read some more crap about power spikes and fluctuations. I pressed him for a brand name and he finally gave me a website after consulting a supervisor. I told him I would need to do some research before committing to any purchase.

The website he gave me was: http://digitalpowersaver.com.au
The site is pretty slick, though some of the text is a bit chinglish in places. The crux is apparently you just have to plug one into any power point in the house for it to control the power supply to your entire house full of appliances.

This doesn't sound right to me. My house has several different circuits and I can't see how plugging a device into a power point on once circuit can influence appliances on other circuits.

There is a gobblygook explanation of the units function from the Chief Engineer, Jims on the site:



Now apart from sounding dodgy they are asking $300 to buy a Digital Power Saver (the website has them discounted to $200 - note the targeting of pensioners in their testimonials - Murray Farquars!). http://digitalpowersaver.com.au/testimonials.aspx
After a bit of a google I found a couple of sites selling the same units in batches of 50 for as low as US$2.50 a piece: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/107020080/power_saver_device_electricity_saving_device.html

It is surely a scam. When I googled I didn't find many references, hopefully this page might start to show up in google searches if other people try and investigate.

edit: after a bit more of a thorough search there are a few site about that allude to the scam being pressed around the globe. http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/electrical/articles/81900.aspx

derty, I had a look at the site and skimmed their Tech Spec page.

http://digitalpowersaver.com.au/test_spec.aspx

It states,

"Australian communications authority (ACA) and New Zealand radio frequency management organizations (RSM) have by agreement C-Tick mark applied to products of EMC control."

The ACA doesn't exist any more it was merged with the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) in July 2005 to form the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

ACMA regulates broadcasting, radio communications and telecommunications.

Think I just worked out what the "C-Tick" stands for.

The Feds may be interesred in this site.

Might be worth a call to SCAMwatch (ACCC Infocentre)
on 1300 795 995.

 

[grants]

This has been around for quite some time. The bottom line is they do nothing of any value - if anything they will consume a small amount of power.

Does anyone think the governments would be subsidising solar energy, hot water, etc if all you needed to reduce the network load was $3 worth of electronic components?

Maybe Transgrid should install one or two in their power stations - would mean the network wouldn't need upgrading for years to come! What a joke.

 

[derty]

This has been around for quite some time. The bottom line is they do nothing of any value - if anything they will consume a small amount of power.

Does anyone think the governments would be subsidising solar energy, hot water, etc if all you needed to reduce the network load was $3 worth of electronic components?.

They might be relatively inert, but the part that cheeses me off is that they are flogging off $3 worth of components that doesn't do what they say it does for $300.

I might give that number a call Solly, thanks.

 

[Smurf1976]

I would assume this to be a power factor correction device.

Correcting power factor is legitimate in itself and will indeed reduce current flow in cables. This is commonly done in commecial applications with large numbers of fluoro lights, motors etc which consume electricity at a relatively poor power factor.

It is also done at sub-stations and can be done by power stations as well to as to apply it to the entire system.

But the bottom line is this. Your ordinary household electricity meter records W (Watts) not VA (Volt Amps) and as such there will be no financial benefit to you through power factor correction which reduces VA but not W.

Whilst industry etc is required to do it as a condition of their electricity supply, due to the large loads involved, there is in practice no requirement for you to do so at home. The power utility is effectively taking care of that for you already (one of the reasons small users pay higher rates for electricity is that aren't required to worry about technical details like this at the point of consumption).

Assuming this device is indeed for power factor correction, it is in practice a scam. Even if you did want to correct power factor in your home, you could do it with some simple capacitors costing far less than $300.

 

[tkarim]

Must be a scam considering how hard the DPS guys were trying to push the product on me - I had a terrible experience with them:

I recieved a call a month or two ago from these guys. They told me what their product was about and asked if I was interested. I somehow got the impression that it was a government organisation calling (stupid of me I know) so I did listen to what the guy had to say and I said, yes, I was interested. The guys got my address to send the product through the post. After that I was informed about the price but I just let it go - I was too busy and tired to think about it then and it sounded like a pretty good product and if it was backed by the government then I'll pay the money.

So it arrives in the post but I didn't want to pick it up until I did a bit of research (was it really backed by the gov't?). During this time the DPS guys is calling me asking when I'm going to pick it up. I said I was interested in the product but I wanted to do a bit of research on it before making the payment. He called constantly it seemed, each conversation the same.

I actually did intend to pick it up - thank god I didn't! My husband took the time out to do the research and found this website. So I didn't pick it up from the post and the post office sent back the item to DPS.

Yesterday the DPs guy calls. He starts pushing the product all over again 'we'll lower the price' - 'sorry, not interested' - 'i can send the product to you today' - 'sorry, your not listenting to me, I'm not interested anymore' - this goes on for a short while til I calmly but firmly state that I have changed my mind about purchasing the product and if he pushes this further I will take it up with a consumer commission. Then really softly and repeatly in a sing-song voice he says '**** you'! I ask him 'what are you saying' and he saying 'I said **** you. You are full of ****.' Then continues with the '**** you' song.

It was so rude and creepy!

I am going to take this further - not sure what to do excately but these guys need to be shut down.

 

[againsthegrain]

What is interesting that the contact details are exactly the same for each state, same nsw number, whats the chances its a redirect back to india call centre?

Also this is a .com.au website, so they must be a registered business to obtain this domain. Maybye something can be done so the registration of the business is looked into?

 

[matty77]

here are some details, probably fake though...

Domain Name: digitalpowersaver.com.au
Last Modified: 19-Jul-2010 08:20:40 UTC
Registrar ID: Domain Directors
Registrar Name: Domain Directors
Status: ok

Registrant: Muhammad Rashid
Registrant ID: ABN 58 649 792 001
Eligibility Type: Company

Registrant Contact ID: IN-8920460561
Registrant Contact Name: Muhammad Rashid
Registrant Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech Contact ID: IN-9527639645
Tech Contact Name: Muhammad Rashid
Tech Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server: ns1.winshosting.com
Name Server: ns2.winshosting.com

ABN: 58 649 792 001
View ABN history
Last modified: 10 Apr 2010
ABN status: Active from 26 Mar 2010
Entity name: RASHID, MUHAMMAD
Entity type: Individual/Sole Trader
GST registration status: Not currently registered for GST
Main business location
State: VIC
Postcode: 3021
Trading name(s)
Muhammad Rashid

Muhammad Rashid, on April 11th, 2010 at 5:39 pm Said:
Hi there,

I’m looking for any farm job that you have to offer. I worked on a farm bases for 2 months.

I find farm work very interesting and am able to start immediately. I can work up to 7 days from Monday to Saturday (full time preferred, if not then part time). I can do much physical work.

Please give me a ring on 0433420900 if you have any positions available.

Thank you for your consideration

Muhammad Rashid

Registrant Contact ID IN-8920460561
Registrant Contact Name Muhammad Rashid
Registrant Contact Email sbizcom@yahoo.com
Tech Contact ID IN-9527639645
Tech Contact Name Muhammad Rashid
Tech Contact Email sbizcom@yahoo.com

Referrals for Job opportunities in Melbourne, Sydney and other ...
... is working in any farm so plz reply me i'll wait for urs reply. Rgrds, Muhammad Rashid Melbourne sbizcom@yahoo.com 0433420900. fyrir um 4 mánuðum síðan ...

could be a fairly common name though..

 

[againsthegrain]

Yes it looks like its a common name. What does stand out is:

Entity type: Individual/Sole Trader
GST registration status: Not currently registered for GST

1. Sole trader ABN, most likely only registered for ABN so can obtain a domain, not a serious business.

2. Not registered for GST, once again not a serious business. I believe any business that is claiming 70k+ for income on tax needs/should be registered for GST, but don't quote me on that. Point is once again probably registered for the sake of ABN.

 

[Smurf1976]

"Australian communications authority (ACA) and New Zealand radio frequency management organizations (RSM) have by agreement C-Tick mark applied to products of EMC control."

The ACA doesn't exist any more it was merged with the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) in July 2005 to form the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

ACMA regulates broadcasting, radio communications and telecommunications.

Think I just worked out what the "C-Tick" stands for.

You will find the "C-Tick" on plenty of electrical appliances. In short, it has absolutely nothing to do with how much power they consume or claim to save.

If you do want to save on energy costs at home then I suggest:

1. Make sure everything is in good working order. For example, when is the last time you checked to make sure that the hot water relief valve isn't leaking excessively? That's a very common cause of excessive energy costs.

Likewise, have you checked to see that the air-conditioner outside unit is not obstructed by plants, weeds, debris etc? And have you cleaned the filter on the indoor unit?

If you have an oil or pellet heater with manual air adjustment, is it adjusted correctly? Your $ are literally going up in smoke if there's the wrong amount of air with these heaters.

2. Make sure you have cost efficient heating and hot water in terms of the energy source being used. Resistive electric heating on peak rates costs a relative fortune, as does LPG. Instead, use natural gas, off-peak electricty, solar, wood or an electric heat pump.

3. Insulate, use energy saving lights, switch off appliances not being used etc. In short, don't waste.

4. Consider solar power. It's not for everyone, but there are some very good deals around from reputable companies at the moment. It is particularly attractive financially in NSW. (Note - be careful in SA and Vic where the electricty companies can make solar very difficult).

5. Forget gimmicks like this one. The only devices worth plugging in, other than actual appliances, are portable RCD's and WireAlert. Both of these are safety devices, not a means of reducing power bills.

Note that an electrician can install an RCD at the switchboard to protect all power points in your home and a large number of homes already have these. You only need a portable one if you don't have one at the switchboard and wish to protect a specific appliance - for example it's a good idea when using power tools in case you accidentally saw through the extension cord etc.

WireAlert (known as CablePI in Tasmania) is a plug-in device that monitors your electricity supply and which can detect some types of potentially life threatening faults, at which point it sounds an alarm. Presently it is really only available in Tas where it was designed by the local power industry, but it seems likely to become more widely available in the rest of the country soon. It doesn't detect every possible dangerous electrical fault, but like having a fire alarm it can detect some dangerous situations that might otherwise not be noticed until it is too late. www.wirealert.com

6. In the event that you do need to correct power factor, contacting an electrician and getting them to do the required work would be a much better idea than buying some box that may well do nothing. You are only likely to need to worry about power factor in a commercial or industrial situation however - it's not something you need to worry about at home under normal circumstances.

 

[alarchdu]

This has been around for quite some time. The bottom line is they do nothing of any value - if anything they will consume a small amount of power.

Does anyone think the governments would be subsidising solar energy, hot water, etc if all you needed to reduce the network load was $3 worth of electronic components?

Maybe Transgrid should install one or two in their power stations - would mean the network wouldn't need upgrading for years to come! What a joke.

Why do governments do anything? To get votes.
Why are governments giving out rebates for grid-connected PV systems that are three times the real cost of those systems? Because in 2016 (in NSW at least), the power companies will receive about $10 billion in home-generated power for free, that it can sell back to consumers.
I feel outclassed, just being an electrical engineer. I was taught, and taught, that home power meters measured real power. I do not know how many decades ago that the newer meters (and now the Smart Meters) actually started to measure apparent power, and how the suppliers actually lowered the power factor of the supply to more easily meet lower loads during off-peak hours.
I thought all was as I was taught (and taught) until a technician proudly showed me that the calculations for power demand he made using readings from his voltmeter and ammeter (P=VI) matched the readings from his digital wattmeter exactly. When I mentioned "power factor" I was told it was irrelevant.
If a power company can do it to you, it will. Because it can get away with it.

 

[Smurf1976]

For official metering purposes, there are KVA (kilo volt amp)and KW (kilo watt) meters. In layman's terms, a KVA meter will record in a manner that is affected by power factor, whereas a KW meter is unaffected by power factor.

KVA meters are increasingly common in commercial situations, especially larger premises, whilst most supply authorities use KW meters only for residential situations.

When I get some time, I'll do an experiment using a rotating disc meter to see what happens. I expect it to be unaffected by power factor, at least that's what I was always taught.