electricity management/optimizing equipments

max_demon

max_demon

@maxdemon
Adept
Hello friends, I don't have much idea what else I could refer these devices with... but I am looking for some equipments which could help me monitor the consumption (of individual appliance) or something similar. or equipments like servo stabilizers , power factor correction equipments etc.

basically which lets us conserve power would like to know the options available.o_O
 
I'm not being patronizing though this may sound like it: The best way to regulate electricity consumption is a switch. Keeping unused equipment off at all times, and switching stuff on only when needed is probably the best way to conserve power.

In terms of equipment, you will not actually save any power with stabilisers and PF correction equipment. The former help the load more than the line and though the latter have some role in the line, we don't have EU legislation that mandates a minimum power factor for domestic consumers.

It would be helpful to know the reasons behind your query - is this a personal issue or a business issue, for example (the two are handled a little differently). How much power are you looking to save, what is the current footprint, how much real money are you looking at saving.
 
If you want to monitor power consumption you need a power consumption meter like kill a watt meter.
Cheap ones can be had for around 750 shipped from chinese stores.A good TRMS meter from MECO india can be had for around 1900.

But if you want to conserve you have to switch OFF the appliance or electronic devices.

Putting a stabilizer be a servo or a IGBT base won't save you one bit in power consumption infact they themself consume power .

Not sure how much a power factor correction device helps but it will be negligible.
 
Yeah actually I assumed that PFC devices would have same effect as in computers with good SMPS with active PFC. comparison to low end SMPS which consume more power than required.
all this is mostly for personal purpose as I plan later to go off the grid one day...
and actually I'm not even concerned for saving money much in fact we can even invest in non-conventional energy sources too which could be very expensive. the reason behind this is peace of mind, I and my brother are very anal-retentive and we never feel comfortable with anything which is limited. like for example gold and stone in AOE2
 
Switching off is the way to go rather than trying to dissect the reasons. We have a microwave and used to keep it On full day (not actually On) where it keeps showing the time. Until few days back we decided this serves no purpose and decided to keep the microwave off full day and only start when actually needed. We got a small clock instead, was already at home.
 
PFC has got nothing to do with power consumption. The 'thing' with PFC PSUs is that these are inherently 'dirty' devices and PFC helps them stay legal in certain territories. They don't consume less power because of PFC, the two are totally unrelated.

If you're planning on an off-grid situation you need to start working on your consumption first. The less you consume the less you will need to generate. Make an audit of your consumption (your meter is a good enough device as it measures down to 0.1kWH). See the impact of moving and rearranging your stuff. Look at switch-offs and running on backup power when you have long days without cuts (it's good for the backup to occasionally discharge anyway).

Start switching stuff over to solar as much as possible and when possible. It'll open the doors to a fully solar home and you can keep the grid for emergencies and monsoon/winters. It's a bit expensive still (~6L for a 2kWH setup a year ago) but doable.

Good Luck.
 
our total consumption under normal usage is 0.6 kWH at daytime while 0.8 kWH at night with television and refrigerator included most of the appliances are already off when not in use but only concern is that the start current is high in most appliances and some consume a lot of power like induction cooker and air conditioner. use of such appliances always holds us back to go complete off the grid.
 
Thats why you have batteries in solar its serves two purposes one to give back up during night and other to substitute for high start up current of certain appliances and devices.
To go completely off the grid you will need a really high capacity inverter and large amount of batteries.

In india theses solar companies just loot us,the panels costs 100% more then international prices .Made or assembled in india panels are even more expensive then imported ones.So the only reason to go off grid is if you want to go green or you have excessive power cuts.
 
Back
Top