monotonic]
Many good points on the inductance that was added after I wrote this post below. My main issue is that we don't know where exactly are the frequencies coming from. Are they induced by radio waves as mentioned below as a possibility (and bad grounding allows them to travel far into the house) said:
Yes, this is my understanding as well. I think the filter is meant to function as a simple low-pass filter.
<SNIP>
Is there a connection between the power factor correction and EMI suppression? Is it only a coincidence that capacitors added to a circuit seem to help with both of these things? I know, this does sound like a stupid question -- I did study electrical engineering but I just could not grasp the concepts very well.
I don't have a degree, I'm a dropout :( But I am a nerd so I have to find out why/how things work LOL! I kind of stumbled onto this by experimenting with motors/diodes capacitors. I'm a technician/electrician working with large high voltage motors and a lot of control systems. Despite being the young guy at work, I'm better at the old stuff, relays etc. The newer scada/plc systems are understandable but they don't give us access because they are still under contract.
Power factor doesn't mean EMI. You can have a purely inductive motor with a perfectly smooth lag. Just think of the sine wave for voltage with the sine wave for current a bit delayed. It can be a perfect clean sine wave and have low power factor.
more info on pf: If you want to know why watts is not volts X amps with power factor less than 1 (example 0.5 pf), think of calculus. Add up the volts X amps integral when they don't match. Let's say at 120 v, the amps is at 5 amps, but at 60 volts, 10 amps. and so on.
Instead of 120v X 10A= 1200 W, you have actually less, 120 X 10 X 0.5= 600 watt, which you can see at that wave example instantaneous power of 120 x 5 = 600w and later on 60 x 10= 600 watt with the current wave lagging.
Here is a diagram of .707 power factor to see what I mean where current doesnt match peak volts... Just think integral. Now if I could get past calculus 2 I would be able to do the fancy stuff you engineers do :)
Sure, with a meter you might find noise reduction at THIS outlet, but overall, could someone try this experiment:
1)Measure noise pre filter install at that outlet, circuit. Measure noise also at some other outlet in a different circuit.
2)Install filter, measure noise at that outlet, circuit. Measure noise at the same other outlet you used in step 1.
Sure, I can try doing this once I get my measuring equipment from Greenwave and build a prototype filter. My filter is going to be pretty simple as a first try -- even simpler than that in the schematic. It'll be an X2 capacitor and resistor in parallel to the line-neutral, with a fuse. I would appreciate your suggestions for improvement if you have any. :)
Cool, I look forward to the results. A resistor isn't what helps, you need an inductor. Some resistors act as inductors, but only under load. Thats why inductors have an Impedance measured in ohms, but it's based on frequency. The inductance ohms- due to ohms law, is only active when is passing current. Not sure how you would tune that either, because I have no clue what frequency this noise is focused in!
An easier way to do inductance:
I know for some PC and power supply equipment they use chokes- those metal round doughnuts that you wrap the wire around a few times (every wrap multiplies the induced current by 1- so ex: 3 wraps is 3x the current, meaning it can filter more). Look at your PC wire, you might see a bump in the wire a few inches from the plug, thats a choke.
Maybe you can test with a choke in line too.
My feeling is that since the spikes are relatively tiny to the normal wave. Since they are so small, the filtering is localized, like we see at work with VFD capacitor banks. They can clean noise at the VFD but at the main we can have harmonics that seem to "reflect" back. I don't know enough about the way these waves reflect, but I think the problem is that like an antenna, they are dependent on the length of each wire and attached loads. Our house wiring may be static, but the appliances on the wiring change the inductance/capacitance all over.
I don't see how these filters do much more than give good localized tests.
Yes, the effect of the filters would be localised, from what I have read. However, the benefits to human health from the suppression of EMI in a circuit, in a bedroom for example, could be significant enough to warrant using them. The book "Dirty Electricity" by Samuel Milham outlines his studies and observations at schools in the US. In one of those schools (La Quinta), EMI readings were taken in individual classrooms, then the cancer incidence among teachers was correlated by classroom.
However, the observations Dr. Milham made in Vista del Monte were even more shocking, I'll leave you with the following:
Dirty Electricity said:
Cancer in Vista del Monte Elementary School in Palm Springs with a Cell Tower on Campus
In February 2010, I received an E-mail from Kim McClinton, a science teacher at Vista del Monte elementary school in Palm Springs, California. She had heard about the La Quinta study and thought her school had the same problem. The school had a reputation for being a “cancer school” in the school district. Since 2005, there has been a cell phone tower located within a few feet of a classroom wing in the school courtyard.
During a visit to the school, I showed Kim how to use the G/ S meter, and she produced a color-coded analysis of G/ S readings by classroom. The entire school had very high dirty electricity readings. Their dirty electricity levels were higher than those at the La Quinta school. The Vista del Monte G/ S readings averaged 1,300 compared to 750 at La Quinta. The cancers (twelve cancers, including six female breast cancers among seventy-five personnel employed at the school since 1990) were over-represented in the wing of the school closest to the cell tower, and the G/ S readings were highest in the classrooms closest to the cell tower base. At the same stage of the investigation, La Quinta school had eleven cancers in 137 teachers. A fourth grade teacher complained that her students were hyperactive and un-teachable. The outlets in her room measured over 5,000 Graham/ Stetzer units. On a Friday afternoon after school, I reduced the measured dirty electricity in the wiring from over 5,000 to less than 50 Graham/ Stetzer units with five plug-in filters. With no change in either the cell tower radiation or the lighting, the teacher reported an immediate dramatic improvement in student behavior in the following week. They were calmer, paid more attention and were teachable all week except for Wednesday when they spent part of the day in the library. Later, the teacher told me that she could change the behavior of the children by removing and reinserting the filters. The change took between 30 and 45 minutes. This young teacher also became the thirteenth cancer case in this small teachers’ cohort. On January 25, 2011, I presented my findings to the Palm Springs Unified School District Board of Education. I sent the Powerpoint of my presentation in advance. I was surprised to learn at the last minute that the board had hired Leeka Kheifets to contest my findings and had provided her with a copy of my presentation. Of course, I had not been given a copy of her presentation. I offered to filter the school at no cost to the district, guaranteeing an improvement in student test scores and attendance. My offer was refused.
One teacher with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, in spite of insulin injections and oral hypoglycemic medication, had repeated foot infections and a below-the-knee amputation. He retired in 2009, and his blood glucose readings have been normal since then. Magda Havas has shown that dirty electricity raises blood glucose levels and changes insulin requirement in diabetics. The blood glucose connection could be how dirty electricity increases cardiovascular disease incidence. The major mortality and morbidity in diabetics is due to acceleration of cardiovascular diseases. Magda Havas has also shown that radiation from DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) phones can cause an instant change in heart rate and rhythm in some exposed individuals. Cell tower transmitters, like most modern electrical equipment, operate on direct current. The electrical current brought to the tower is alternating current which needs to be changed to direct current. This is done by a switching power supply or an inverter. These devices interrupt the AC current and are the likely source of the dirty electricity in the wing of the school closest to the tower. That little device you plug into the wall to charge your cell phone is one of these. They are present in all computers, copy machines, and television sets. This is another serious but unrecognized hazard of cellular telephone technology. People who are concerned about health issues regarding cell towers focus on the RF emissions, but dirty electricity is another unrecognized important exposure. To illustrate just how far dirty electricity effects can extend, after Dave Stetzer filtered a Midwestern school, a dairy farmer a quarter of a mile away noticed that his cows each gave an average of ten pounds more milk per day beginning the day the school was filtered. The cows were responding to dirty electricity being removed from the ground currents.
Milham MD MPH, Samuel (2012-12-06). Dirty Electricity: Electrification and the Diseases of Civilization (pp. 81-82). iUniverse. Kindle Edition.
Interesting that a cell phone tower induced this. I wonder if it was the electrical equipment dirtying the grid or the actual radio power being induced onto the wiring??? They also have isolation transformers for special equipment, such as in hospitals etc. It's a 1:1 transformer that filters noise by making electricity go through a conversion to magnetic, back to electric force. There are also inverters that do the same, basically a VFD uses a rectifier to convert to DC, which the VFD converts into 3 phase AC.
However, with all the excitement I overworked myself on the day, dismantling some old things from my old house and associated physical labor and today I feel really down and tired. But the Q-link pendant does still help.. I like moving it around my chest area and I can feel release of pent up energy as it is passed over. There's a pressure in around my facial nerves or an urge to yawn when this release happens. These are not new sensations but I have associated it with movement of energy. They are HARD to explain!
