Kuryente !

[kmc143]

I have a condo in Makati and all the outlets are in 220v. I wish to use some US sourced appliances and these use 110V power. Paano ba mako-convert ang 220V outlet to 110v?

[caps19s]

I have a condo in Makati and all the outlets are in 220v. I wish to use some US sourced appliances and these use 110V power. Paano ba mako-convert ang 220V outlet to 110v?

since na condo unit yan, may available yan na 110v.

tumawag ka ng electrician para gumawa nyan para sayo.

[omnipresent]

I am reprinting an article (with author's permission) that may be timely:

 

ENERGY SAVINGS DEVICES: TRUE OR FALSE?

Today, there are three words that could catch the attention of anyone from business executives to housewives: Energy Savings Device (ESD). In a world of rising fuel costs, ESDs makes sense. ESDs not only help reduce costs; they indirectly help the environment – less power consumption means less fossil fuel consumed by power plants.

 

Media has done a good job promoting ESDs, everyone has heard of a particular device that could help save energy costs. The brochures look good and the presentation of the product on TV looks credible – they even use those instruments real electricians use: testers and kilowatt-hour meters. Price? Their ads claim that their product will pay for itself after a short period of time. Too good to be true?

TRUE ESDs

 

The good news: there are such things as real ESDs. But to qualify as a legitimate ESD, the device must be able to create conditions for optimum transfer of energy to the loads. Simply put, maximize the efficiency of the load. Energy is saved when less power is needed to produce the same amount of work. The following devices are legitimate ESDs:

 

1. Adjustable-speed drives—These are ideally suited to reduce energy consumption of pumps, compressors, blowers, and fans by eliminating the throttling energy loss by means of adjusting the speed of the motor. These devices control motor speeds so that the motors need not run at a fixed speed all the time. The user can make the motors run at half speed when it suits his need. This means that by controlling the speed of the motor, its output can be matched to what the process actually needs.

2. Optimum voltage controllers— Such devices automatically adjust the input voltage to the best value that yields maximum motor efficiency for a given mechanical power.

3. Electronic ballast lamps—The efficacy (lumen/Watt) of electric discharge lamps is greatly increased when supplied at a higher frequency. Compact florescent lamps qualify as ESDs as they produce the same amount of brightness while using less power compared to standard incandescent lamps.

4. High efficiency motors use new ferromagnetic materials, such as amorphous steel for transformer cores, lower resistivity conductors, reduced airgap designs, permanent-magnet dc and synchronous motors, better bearings, and better insulators (higher dielectric strength and temperature) allow for designs of equipment with better efficiency.

5. Passive filters and power factor correction capacitors. These devices help improve the power factor, hence, reduce the power system’s energy losses. These devices are time-honored and proven methods. For end-users, there is the added incentive in the form of discounts that the utility gives for improved power factor.

FALSE ESDs

 

Manufacturers are cashing in on the current demand for energy efficient products. Some manufacturers do legitimate research to improve the efficiency of their products. Others rely on creative marketing strategies to make vague claims of the energy efficiency of their products. The products themselves are legitimate, but some advertisers add ‘energy savings’ virtues that the products are not designed for.

1. Surge Arresters offer excellent protection against voltage surges but they do not provide energy savings. The promoters of these false ESD’s asserted that high-frequency voltage transients cause supplementary losses, mainly in the cores of motors and transformers. The fact that the power loss caused by the surges is very small when compared with the load kilowatts is not mentioned by their advertisers. And the fact that the bulk of the surge energy was transferred from the core to the surge arrester. Savings will come from reduced maintenance costs, not from reduced energy consumption.

2. Harmonic current converters are said to convert harmonic currents to useful power. Field and laboratory tests by IEEE Field proved that even nonlinear loads with large total harmonic distortions of the current (THD) in excess of 100% have harmonic active power less than 1% of the input power.

WHAT ESDs CANNOT DO

 

Legitimate ESDs can save energy but not much else. There are claims that ESDs do other things beside save energy.

 

1. Voltage balancing - Balancing the voltage across an induction motor has its benefits. However, it is usually more cost effective to balance the voltage in the facility rather than put expensive devices across a particular motor. Unbalanced facility voltage could be caused by loose terminal connections – correcting this is certainly cheaper than installing a voltage balancing device.

2. Remove harmonics – ESDs control the input voltage using electronics, which means they introduce harmonics in a power system. Well-designed ESDs limit the harmonic currents they inject in the power system, but they certainly do not remove or control the harmonics produced by other loads.

These are just some of the products that some advertisers ‘abuse’ by giving them virtues (like energy savings capability) that the products are not designed for. Here are some tips for the consumer to weed out the false products from the legitimate ones.

 

1. In viewing product demonstrations, take note of the type of meters being used. The meters should be recently calibrated and provide true RMS readings.

2. Be aware that the company logos that accompany their brochures may have been given to a product or service not related to the product being offered. Some brochures have a fine print that says the company logos attached to the product means that product demonstrations have been conducted there, nothing more.

3. Request the manufacturers/importers and/or sellers of purported ESDs to substantiate their claims that the use of their devices will result in savings of electricity consumption. Look for manufacturer performance guarantees and/or warranties for the device. Better if the sellers can provide a certification from the Department of Energy or any of its duly accredited testing laboratories substantiating their claims of energy savings.

If you have any doubts about any energy savings device being offered by a vendor, you may contact the Department of Energy on their hotline (02) 840-2267 or (02) 840-1401 to 21. You can also visit their website at www.doe.gov.ph

 

 

Hi Sir,

 

We see a lot of ESD devices in the market. My friend got one thru a door-to-door salesman last year.

Saying it was a promo. My friend swears that it works, it cut their power bill by a few hundred pesos.

After a few weeks the salesman checked on them, and my friend got a few more units for some relatives.

The unit still works, but the salesman doesnt pass by our place anymore.

 

Do you have any list or recommendations for "legit" ESD devices?

Want to get and try one.

 

Many thanks.

[ilaw70]

May nakita ako kanina sa do it yourself store and I was thinking of buying it. Power saver max yung pangalan , does it really work

[mistere57]

dudes question lang po...

 

kasi am really quite confused sa taas ng electric bill namin... we dont use aircon and microwave... hiwalay ang kuntador namin para sa 1st floor at 2nd floor... what is running sa 1st floor is ref and 2 electric fans and 21" tv and computer.... yung tv, computer and electric fans usually open maximum ng 4 hours a day lang... sa 2nd floor 2 tv, 4 electric fans, computer... tv electric fans and computer open mga 6 to 8 hours a day...

 

ang pinagtataka ko, ang total electric bill namin is mga 5,400++... mga 2,800 sa baba tapos yung rest sa taas na... i asked mga friends ko who have almost the same set up, ang nakakagulat, some of them have lower electric bills, yung iba gumagamit pa ng aircon!!!

 

any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated... tnx

 

p.s. pina check na namin sa electrician kung may short or something,wala naman na detect... pinatay na din namin sa master switch at si naman umiikot ang kuntador...

[boomouse]

Guys, I am remodeling my house and I would like to solicit some advice from the experts on this board. Since I am almost going to pull everything down and rebuild, I would like to rewire my entire house. At the moment, I have it operating on two separate circuits off one electric meter. The reason for this is because there was the old house (using the old Eagle breakers and apparently solid copper wiring and the extension I had built five years ago using ABB microbreakers and stranded copper wiring with a 10 kva isolation transformer for my computer room/work den. In addition, I have a 5 kva Comfac AVR in my work den powering all the COs there and the entire house is also serviced by a 25kva Denyo diesel set with magnetic switchgear.

 

Here is my question:

 

1. I got my ABB microbreakers from the Kuryente shop in Shangri-la Edsa Mall but that store has disappeared. Does anyone know who sell these? I find them very good and practical in that their breaker boxes look nice enough to not be hidden from view. I have them exposed in my kitchen and they look like any appliance. This is important to me because being able to make a quick visual inspection sounds like a good safety practice to me. Can anyone recommend a similarly good product which also looks nice? I know Square D breakers are good too but their utility boxes are ugly.

 

2. I have used Ticino switches and outlets and have not been very happy with them because I had to replace a few after three years. There are a lot of nice looking ones today but I fear that the ones made in china like Omni would have quality issues and Eagles, while roven are butt ugly. Does anyone have any experience with Clipsal or Panasonics?

 

3. I am going to put in three-wire grounded COs as I heard Meralco will be requiring this downstream anyway. Unahan ko na. Would it make sense to use residual current circuit breakers too?

 

4. Unavoidably, I have a number of 110vac appliances/equipment. Right now, I power them off step down transformers/AVRs but I would like to have 110vac built-in. What would be the best solution to do this while providing stable clean power? Should I just get one big stepdown transformer like a 10kva and wire that in? How much electricity might that consume on standby?

 

5. For long term use, what would be the best conduit to use? Plastic flexible conduits like the orange/black ones in the hardware stores? or GI pipes? BX? I will be running several types of wires through the entire house and would like to know if they can all go through one pipe or separate ones. My electrical plan calls for 75 ohm coax to every room for cable Tv, cat 6 ethernet from my work den to every room, and telephone/PABX in addition to the basic electricals.

 

I know I am asking for a lot but would appreciate even partial answers/opinions before I commit myself for a build project to start in March 2008.

[CRaZzY]

dudes question lang po...

 

kasi am really quite confused sa taas ng electric bill namin... we dont use aircon and microwave... hiwalay ang kuntador namin para sa 1st floor at 2nd floor... what is running sa 1st floor is ref and 2 electric fans and 21" tv and computer.... yung tv, computer and electric fans usually open maximum ng 4 hours a day lang... sa 2nd floor 2 tv, 4 electric fans, computer... tv electric fans and computer open mga 6 to 8 hours a day...

 

ang pinagtataka ko, ang total electric bill namin is mga 5,400++... mga 2,800 sa baba tapos yung rest sa taas na... i asked mga friends ko who have almost the same set up, ang nakakagulat, some of them have lower electric bills, yung iba gumagamit pa ng aircon!!!

 

any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated... tnx

 

p.s. pina check na namin sa electrician kung may short or something,wala naman na detect... pinatay na din namin sa master switch at si naman umiikot ang kuntador...

 

baka me sira na yun Electric meter mo...( luma na?. ) try mo papalitan ito...... since sa list ng appliances mo. ref yun naka bukas 24/7? might also na malakas na konsumo ng ref mo... (old ref tend to use to much electricity..... correct me lng po if im wrong on this) residential category mo? baka naman commercial rate naka bill sa iyo..

[kulisha]

Recently nagkaroon ng mga nakawan ng mga electric meters and water meters dito sa area namin. Mabuti na lang naka hawla na ang mga meters namin. Sadly, iyong barkada ko nawalan ng electric meter. Pinalitan naman ng Meralco free of charge, digital pa. Ang kaso my friend swears na mas malakas daw or mas mabilis iyong bagong metrong ikinabit. Ganon din daw ang reklamo ng isang tagroon sa amin. Ang alam ko DOE ang responsible sa quality control ng meters (electric or water) dahil sila ang nag calibrate ng mga meters. Saan ba pwede magreklamo kung ganito ang kaso? What is your opinion on digital and non-digital meters? Pwede ba papalitan ng non-digital? Hindi ba pwede consumer ang bumili ng sariling metro sa hardware? Ang alam ko kasi sa water meter pwede ka bumili sa hardware at meron kasamang certificate from MWSS na calibrated na to their standards.

[apple44]

do these electricity saving devices actually work?

[triram]

Guys, I am remodeling my house and I would like to solicit some advice from the experts on this board. Since I am almost going to pull everything down and rebuild, I would like to rewire my entire house. At the moment, I have it operating on two separate circuits off one electric meter. The reason for this is because there was the old house (using the old Eagle breakers and apparently solid copper wiring and the extension I had built five years ago using ABB microbreakers and stranded copper wiring with a 10 kva isolation transformer for my computer room/work den. In addition, I have a 5 kva Comfac AVR in my work den powering all the COs there and the entire house is also serviced by a 25kva Denyo diesel set with magnetic switchgear.

 

Here is my question:

 

1. I got my ABB microbreakers from the Kuryente shop in Shangri-la Edsa Mall but that store has disappeared. Does anyone know who sell these? I find them very good and practical in that their breaker boxes look nice enough to not be hidden from view. I have them exposed in my kitchen and they look like any appliance. This is important to me because being able to make a quick visual inspection sounds like a good safety practice to me. Can anyone recommend a similarly good product which also looks nice? I know Square D breakers are good too but their utility boxes are ugly.

 

2. I have used Ticino switches and outlets and have not been very happy with them because I had to replace a few after three years. There are a lot of nice looking ones today but I fear that the ones made in china like Omni would have quality issues and Eagles, while roven are butt ugly. Does anyone have any experience with Clipsal or Panasonics?

 

3. I am going to put in three-wire grounded COs as I heard Meralco will be requiring this downstream anyway. Unahan ko na. Would it make sense to use residual current circuit breakers too?

 

4. Unavoidably, I have a number of 110vac appliances/equipment. Right now, I power them off step down transformers/AVRs but I would like to have 110vac built-in. What would be the best solution to do this while providing stable clean power? Should I just get one big stepdown transformer like a 10kva and wire that in? How much electricity might that consume on standby?

 

5. For long term use, what would be the best conduit to use? Plastic flexible conduits like the orange/black ones in the hardware stores? or GI pipes? BX? I will be running several types of wires through the entire house and would like to know if they can all go through one pipe or separate ones. My electrical plan calls for 75 ohm coax to every room for cable Tv, cat 6 ethernet from my work den to every room, and telephone/PABX in addition to the basic electricals.

 

I know I am asking for a lot but would appreciate even partial answers/opinions before I commit myself for a build project to start in March 2008.

 

Hi,

To answer some of your questions:

1. Yes, Square D's are good. For the housing or the Panel. Try RMR, it's a local outfit who manufactures these panels. Try the yellow pages under Electricals.

 

2.Clipsal and Panasonic, both are great products. Though Clipsals are basically on the high-end in terms of design and aesthetics.

 

3. Actually, matagal na yan three-wire connection. The problem is we SELDOM practice it. It's in the Philippine Electrical Code. Sa house nga dapat may nakabaon na bare copper cable around the house e. But due to the high price of such conductor, seldom na may maglagay nun. Kaya sa tubo ng tubig nakakabit ang grounding.

 

4. You will have to use two cicuits or set of CO's for that. If you want it, talk to to a registered Master Electrician for that.

 

5. Long term use? Hmmm. All of the products you mentioned are for long term use. You should probably ask which should I use for what APPLICATION?.Flexible are for unplanned and unscheduled installations. Orange tubes or pipes are best used for in-walls installation. BX or armored comes with 2-4 conductor configurations, meaning they already have wires inside, the problems with this is if one wire goes kaput, you have to replace them all. Communications and the like goes through a different route than POWER. So I guess nothing lasts forever. You still have to do maintenance works of your power circuits at least once in 5 years. Hope this helps.

Edited November 24, 2007 by triram

[Nash David]

Recently nagkaroon ng mga nakawan ng mga electric meters and water meters dito sa area namin. Mabuti na lang naka hawla na ang mga meters namin. Sadly, iyong barkada ko nawalan ng electric meter. Pinalitan naman ng Meralco free of charge, digital pa. Ang kaso my friend swears na mas malakas daw or mas mabilis iyong bagong metrong ikinabit. Ganon din daw ang reklamo ng isang tagroon sa amin. Ang alam ko DOE ang responsible sa quality control ng meters (electric or water) dahil sila ang nag calibrate ng mga meters. Saan ba pwede magreklamo kung ganito ang kaso? What is your opinion on digital and non-digital meters? Pwede ba papalitan ng non-digital? Hindi ba pwede consumer ang bumili ng sariling metro sa hardware? Ang alam ko kasi sa water meter pwede ka bumili sa hardware at meron kasamang certificate from MWSS na calibrated na to their standards.

 

 

Actually this is the very big misconception. Consumers usually feel that the digital meter installed is inaccurate since the meter reading they read is higher. The very old meter is usually around 95% or lower in accuracy as compared to new digital meter with 99% or higher accuracy rating. Hence you will feel a 4 - 5% increase in your electric bill but that is due to the MORE ACCURATE METER.

[boomouse]

Edited June 25, 2008 by boomouse

[artvader]

Does a 110V socket save more money than a 220V one (in terms of kW consumption/month)?

[QAZAR]

Nice thread. Thanks for the info.

[robbietan]

ako ang starter tapos ako nawala (kakahiya)

 

 

Does a 110V socket save more money than a 220V one (in terms of kW consumption/month)?

 

no, it does't. power is volts x amps. lower volts = higher amps.

 

kulisha - if you feel that the meters are running fast, as a consumer, you have the right to question its accuracy. just go to the meralco (I assume its meralco) nearest you and file a complaint. the guys there will bring it to a testing facility to have it calibrated. meters are supposed to be at least 98% accurate, digital or not. meralco is responsible for meter accuracy, with the erc acting as control.

 

 

apple44 - if you are reffering to them 'power saving devices' you see on TV and in the malls, most of the time, they are not. if you are a residential customer, these devices will not do anything for you except perhaps raise your voltage. that may be a good thing if you have low voltage in your area. however, cheaper devices can be bought which do the same thing.