I just finished a New Power Factor Correction Saving Calculator

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aelectricalman

aelectricalman

Senior Member
Location
KY
I want to share it with everyone so you can all take it on a test run but I cannot upload an excel file. Anyone know a way to do that?
 
aelectricalman said:
I want to share it with everyone so you can all take it on a test run but I cannot upload an excel file. Anyone know a way to do that?
Click to expand...
Place the file on some host site and put a link to it in your post. Could be your own website if you have one or anyplace you can dream of placing it.
 
Have you tried just giving the file a .PDF extension?
Otherwise you can host it on a file sharing service and just include a link to it.
 
Smart $ said:
On that note, I have to wonder whether the forum server checks for valid file type when uploading...?

What I have done in the past is embed the Excel file in Word file.
Click to expand...
Excel and word files can very very easily host a virus and/or worm, I never download them off of websites.

PF savings calculator? Why?

1) Call your PoCo and get your tariff structure
2) See if it includes a penalty for PF. If no, you are done. Zero savings.
3) If yes, what is the PF penalty point? If, like here in California where it is .75, then there is a 99% change you are fine, meaning no savings because you are not getting penalized. Same as #2.
4) If your penalty threshold is .95 or under, find your largest inductive loads and correct their PF with caps, keep doing it until PF goes better than .95. Penalty avoided is savings.
 
aelectricalman said:
Its an excel spreadsheet so it has to be able to perform calculations.
Click to expand...
I did not say to embed it in a PDF, I said to rename it with a .pdf extension.
Then anybody who downloaded it could just rename it, virus check it, and run it.
Embedding it in a Word file would limit your audience to those using IE and/or having a copy of Office. (Not actually quite that bad, but more difficult to sort out.)
 
Jraef said:
Excel and word files can very very easily host a virus and/or worm, I never download them off of websites.

PF savings calculator? Why?

1) Call your PoCo and get your tariff structure
2) See if it includes a penalty for PF. If no, you are done. Zero savings.
3) If yes, what is the PF penalty point? If, like here in California where it is .75, then there is a 99% change you are fine, meaning no savings because you are not getting penalized. Same as #2.
4) If your penalty threshold is .95 or under, find your largest inductive loads and correct their PF with caps, keep doing it until PF goes better than .95. Penalty avoided is savings.
Click to expand...

Well aren't you a Debbie downer sir!

1.) Its for private industry to use. My intention for this calculator is so I can go into a facility arms and loaded. have you ever worked with a Utility? If you have, you would understand that nothing gets done in a hurry and nothing gets done without going through the customer first. If Im trying to sell my product, I want my potential customer to have some information at hand to decide if they want to continue to talk to me.
2.) Its not that easy my friend. There are so many factors that play into PF penalties. Those include time of day, ratchets, some have KVA savings, some have KVAr savings, some have kW savings with 90% PF penalty.
3.) Here in KY, I had a customer with a 91% PF penalty. I took them up to 99% and saved them $134,000 the first year ( and every year after). You Californians are losing out, it sounds.
4.) I understand that sir. This is why I need a calculator. With a calculator you can justify the savings. There is a lot more to power factor correction than installing equipment.
 
GoldDigger said:
I did not say to embed it in a PDF, I said to rename it with a .pdf extension.
Then anybody who downloaded it could just rename it, virus check it, and run it.
Embedding it in a Word file would limit your audience to those using IE and/or having a copy of Office. (Not actually quite that bad, but more difficult to sort out.)
Click to expand...

Interesting... I did not know that could be done! thanks.
 
Jraef said:
Excel and word files can very very easily host a virus and/or worm, I never download them off of websites.

PF savings calculator? Why?

1) Call your PoCo and get your tariff structure
2) See if it includes a penalty for PF. If no, you are done. Zero savings.
3) If yes, what is the PF penalty point? If, like here in California where it is .75, then there is a 99% change you are fine, meaning no savings because you are not getting penalized. Same as #2.
4) If your penalty threshold is .95 or under, find your largest inductive loads and correct their PF with caps, keep doing it until PF goes better than .95. Penalty avoided is savings.
Click to expand...

And as long as the file is not Macro enabled, you will be ok! Mine has no Macros.
 
aelectricalman said:
Interesting... I did not know that could be done! thanks.
Click to expand...
As alluded to, it will not work if the forum ( or other website) software does a deep dive into the file to detect its real application type. I do not think this forum does that.
On the other hand, if the user just double clicks it to try to open it in their browser it will not work. It has to be explicitly downloaded and saved first so that it can be renamed.
 
aelectricalman said:
Well aren't you a Debbie downer sir!

1.) Its for private industry to use. My intention for this calculator is so I can go into a facility arms and loaded. have you ever worked with a Utility? If you have, you would understand that nothing gets done in a hurry and nothing gets done without going through the customer first. If Im trying to sell my product, I want my potential customer to have some information at hand to decide if they want to continue to talk to me.
2.) Its not that easy my friend. There are so many factors that play into PF penalties. Those include time of day, ratchets, some have KVA savings, some have KVAr savings, some have kW savings with 90% PF penalty.
3.) Here in KY, I had a customer with a 91% PF penalty. I took them up to 99% and saved them $134,000 the first year ( and every year after). You Californians are losing out, it sounds.
4.) I understand that sir. This is why I need a calculator. With a calculator you can justify the savings. There is a lot more to power factor correction than installing equipment.
Click to expand...
Have you ever read many of that members posts? Won't say he has never been wrong, but he is hard to stump. But keep picking his brain - this could be good entertainment;)

My response to item 2 above: if there is no penalty for power factor how is it you still claim there is penalties which one can save on?
If there is no penalty, about all you can save on is reduced line losses because of installed correction. Smaller load facilities likely don't have enough losses to have a decent return on investment or correction equipment, larger load facilities likely have PF penalties in the first place but if not they may have some chance of enough savings to be worth the investment.
 
Pretend I'm a "customer".

Q1: Why should I use your pf calculator instead of Eaton's online calculator?
Q2: Why is yours better than the other calculator's on the market?
Q3: How do I know I can trust the results; since you're obviously trying to sell me something?
Q4: Are you going to guarantee me the savings that your calculator says I should get?

Just as a side point - IMO, the facilities that have a potential to really save anything are probably big enough that they have an on going relationship with an engineering firm that they trust. To get them to buy-in you would need to build a relationship with that manager, and then sell them on why your offering is better.
 
aelectricalman said:
Well aren't you a Debbie downer sir!

1.) Its for private industry to use. My intention for this calculator is so I can go into a facility arms and loaded. have you ever worked with a Utility? If you have, you would understand that nothing gets done in a hurry and nothing gets done without going through the customer first. If Im trying to sell my product, I want my potential customer to have some information at hand to decide if they want to continue to talk to me.
2.) Its not that easy my friend. There are so many factors that play into PF penalties. Those include time of day, ratchets, some have KVA savings, some have KVAr savings, some have kW savings with 90% PF penalty.
3.) Here in KY, I had a customer with a 91% PF penalty. I took them up to 99% and saved them $134,000 the first year ( and every year after). You Californians are losing out, it sounds.
4.) I understand that sir. This is why I need a calculator. With a calculator you can justify the savings. There is a lot more to power factor correction than installing equipment.
Click to expand...
Lol... :D

Ok, I'm going to confess to the crime of whacko-baiting! :angel:
I was trying to see if you were going to turn out to be one of the PLETHORA of scam artists that we get in here from time to time trying to foist the concept of "energy savings" based on correcting power factor. Hasn't happened for a while now, but your original post had that familiar look and feel to the M.O. of the scammers; start with a small kernel of truth, then start slipping in the scam.

So it appears, from your response to my baiting, that you are not in that group, and I cry your pardon. You know that the savings come from avoiding PENALTIES imposed by the utilities, not some voodoo misinterpretation of the basic laws of physics. The fact that you can make a living at it is, quite frankly, impressive (assuming you are making a living at it and not living in a van down by the river). My comment about the situation here in California was not meant in any other way than to point out that the penalty situation is not guaranteed, it is situationally dependent. If you were here in California, I could probably find you in that van down by the river, starving. I know, I used to be a rep for Sprague (prior to their being bought by Eaton). When PG&E dropped their PF penalty point to .75, the PFC cap business dried up and went away. I recently had to by some DC bus caps for a large VFD and discovered that NONE of the large capacitor mfrs have any representation in Northern California any longer, save one, and he is only selling small caps in Silicon Valley, has no knowledge of how to apply PFC caps in fact.

As to the other comment on why not just use the Eaton / Sprague calculator? I think i get that one right away. You are competing with them!

So good luck and have at it. I'm all for finding a need and filling it, sounds like you have! When you can, run an example of your calculator and print to results as a PDF file or image, then post it. I'd like to see it and, if you'll see fit to forgive me, offer any suggestions on improvement, if necessary.
 
kingpb said:
Pretend I'm a "customer".

Q1: Why should I use your pf calculator instead of Eaton's online calculator?
Q2: Why is yours better than the other calculator's on the market?
Q3: How do I know I can trust the results; since you're obviously trying to sell me something?
Q4: Are you going to guarantee me the savings that your calculator says I should get?

Just as a side point - IMO, the facilities that have a potential to really save anything are probably big enough that they have an on going relationship with an engineering firm that they trust. To get them to buy-in you would need to build a relationship with that manager, and then sell them on why your offering is better.
Click to expand...

A1: Because Eaton sells their own power factor correction equipment. They also do turn key jobs. Secondly, their calculator is not as precise and doesn't take into consideration TOU.
A2: Send me your email and I will shoot you over a cover to take for a test drive.
A3: Because we stand behind the results for 2 years! Plus we offer a 60 day (two billing cycle money back guarantee). If the savings don't add up, we refund the difference. Plus we are insured by Lloyds of London!
A4: Refer to A3.

Bonus.....And for dessert, try peaches in light syrup!
 
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