Electronic Basics #38: True, Reactive, Apparent & Deformed Power

[@ShomiTheGreat]

I love the fact that this video touched the subject of mathematics within power electronics. Don't shy away from mathematics, it ain't boring. Most hardcore fans are either way engineers, students or technicians. You could make an entire series about practical application of mathematics, it'd attract attention.

[@iwantitpaintedblack]

This video came just in time, i am a first sem Electronics engineering student and out professor started this topic last week, if im not wrong the german words are "Scheinleistung, Wirkleistung, and Blindleistung" . this is one of the things i love about German language, some words are very self explanatory, Leistung means power Schein = Apparent Wirk = Working / Acting Blind = Blind Electronics engineering so so difficult but man it is fascinating, the difficult part is the flood of knowledge which is unleashed onto your brain every week. like it took 1 month from "What is a risistor" to "Phase shifted sinusoidal alternating current waveforms and fourier transformation"

[@rdavid5904]

Hello. I'm gonna be first year at electronic engineer. Do u study programming ?

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic! 😃 But now I'm lost. 😐

[@anastasiszaro]

1st time watching this: I can't understand ANYTHING!!!! 3rd time watching this: ..........OK! now I get it! It just really shows you that with mathematics (especially when dealing with complex numbers) you have to really study these things again and again and again! Dude! Keep up these videos you are incredible at making these formulas look 10.000.000 times more tolerable than my mathematics courses in UNI :)

[@DaNiKzz]

Great Scott! Make a video about "safety capacitors" and how "safe" they are

[@greatscottlab]

I can put it on my to do list

[@DaNiKzz]

@@greatscottlab thanks=)

[@asgkllngfxxhkkvxdhkkbhjllnvcg]

Literally great Scott😃 lol

[@alexreeve]

i have a lot of old RIFA capacitors they make great smokebombs ;)

[@asgkllngfxxhkkvxdhkkbhjllnvcg]

@@alexreeve lol

[@juhailmarisalminen]

That "true power" at 2:00 was so beautiful! Almost song like.

[@TheMrANONYMOOSE]

I'm a first year engineer and I absolutely can't wait to start learning this stuff, it's so cool to me

[@brandonwalker4805]

This is been the bane of my existence since I began as a power electronics technician. It requires more information input than any other pay off my job.

[@saxon215]

Pretty straight forward and intuitive for a basics video on something most people don't know about

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks :-)

[@foamyrocks665]

This is what power electronics is about. You really are a brilliant electronics engineer.

[@toto29620]

Those video should be shown to student in class for fast reminder before starting a new chapter or something, very short and on point. Great job !

[@Pena8666]

All these years with electronics and now you explained this so that even I got it. Wonderful, Thank you!

[@vikking390]

I know this video is kind of old, but it must be the best explanation of AC power I have ever seen online. 👏 Thank you 🙏

[@himanshugupta999]

Best ever explanation of reactive and active power I have seen in 4 years of my engineering. Thanks a lot man :-)

[@Rapunzel_thicc]

Hey Scott kann nicht so gut Englisch das es reicht für den Text: Mittlerweile verfolge ich deinen Kanal schon über 2 Jahre und deine Videos haben mir sehr bei meiner Gesellenprüfung geholfen bin zwar „Nur“ Energie und Gebäudetechniker aber wir müssen auch Spannungteiler und Brückenschaltungen berechnen. Diese Videos haben mir besser gezeigt wie man es ausrechnen kann vorallem an einem Praktischen Beispiel Danke und mach weiter so tolle Videos 👍

Er kann aber Deutsch.

[@Tore_Lund]

@ Figured out GreatScott ages ago, with all that German engineering attention to detail. He could also be Swizz or Austrian?

[@justin-3985]

@@Tore_Lund no, I am from Switzerland (Schwitz as we say in Swiss german) and he would have this typical dialect.

[@jkbrown5496]

It helped me when I realized the power factor correcting capacitor was the same as a decoupling capacitor on a IC. The capacitor provides the in-rush current needed by the inductor and absorbs the inductive spike when the voltage changes. This limits the pumping on the power line so the power company can provide more stable power and the power lines can be smaller since the in-rush is only drawn off the mains at startup.

[@chipheadnet]

Thank you. Informative as always!

[@Jpriatna]

Terimakasih untuk penjelasan nya, begitu jelas sekali penjelasan tentang saya reaktif

[@woodywiest]

This video is fantastically clear and instructive. During your most recent QA you were right to say that maybe you should change the name. Thanks!

[@jsquaredm]

WOW! We're learning complex power inside of my Intro to Circuits class right now. What a coincidence.

[@veyoncecreations7251]

The way your explaining is too good. Great Job

[@theknifesedge57]

I really appreciate these kinds of videos. Quick, concise, and informative. Reactive power is kind of a pain to understand, but I think you nailed explaining it. On a side note, I need to get that multimeter XD.

[@altuber99_athlete]

He made a small mistake. Reactive power is not power that oscillates. The (magnitude of) reactive power is the amplitude of that oscillations. That oscillating power is called instantaneous reactive power.

[@proyectosledar]

Thanks for this video!!!

[@greatscottlab]

You're welcome :-)

[@GuillermoAlfonsoMorales]

Gastón, tú también lo ves?, este chico es un monstruo para explicar.

[@DarmiGames]

Finally understood it after a long time always seeing it in school having no idea what it is

[@electromatic2014]

I am so happy you make this videos with such a high quality of info an video editting, by far the best channel of this topic, flawless explanation

[@rraygen]

You just taught me in one video a topic that the professors at my school couldn't teach me in weeks of lessons.

[@PowerScissor]

I get so lost duscussing AC. I literally am more confused now...but still enjoyed the video. Will definitely have to watch a few more times.

[@KASHYAPMASIWAL]

I will have to watch this video two three times just to get all the knowledge.. Very informative video.. Thanks

[@PerKroon]

This was really great video! However I must admit that I had to pause the video to think about it a few times but that is also great, it's a sign that you actually learning something new. Thanks for really great videos, good work!

[@electron-1979]

PF isn't that important for such low power devices. It is important in industrial scenarios; that's why they measure and charge for it! These videos remind me so much of Electrical and Electronic Engineering classes!

[@Mcgreogor]

This was one of the hardest courses i had to take at school (cos phi inmprovement for single phase and for 3 phase). A lot of writing and even more calculating.

[@rdxdt]

I just watched a video from Applied Science about Impedance, nice to see this one coming right out.

[@JuraganLED]

I am now excited about the PFC thing

[@philippeagbozo5259]

I learned that at school this year, I wonder why I didn't watch your video before but thank you anyway

[@creeek3]

Took me back to college... a long time ago!!! A massive subject, phase, impedance on their own. All good stuff :) Pronunciation is a bit weird, but understandable (I am from UK)

[@OldCurmudgeon3DP]

The confusing part is that phase angle in America typically follows the positive lag convention where the phasors rotate CCW. This puts inductive load vectors below the horizontal, but puts Q above it.

[@hermannpaschulke1583]

Thanks, this was the best explainantion of reactive power I have seen

[@taldmd]

Medim and high voltage customers are actually charged for consumed power and power factor. I'm eager to watch your PFC video!

[@tanmaytiwari6474]

Power factor!! Also represented as cos(μ) where μ os met phase angle!! i.e tan(μ)=(XL-ZC)/R Even if we have a series LCR circuit at resonance inductive and capacitive reactance are equal and therefore cancelling each other out!!

[@minkusmaz]

This is one of the many reasons why we should be using DC for power transmission both over long distances and in buildings. Reactive power can be filtered out at the source and not transmitted along power lines. This would end noise nightmares for audio/video studios.

[@shashikantsingh7554]

You are awsesome I love your videos Your videos taught me many concepts of electronics Love u sir Your fan From INDIA

[@greatscottlab]

Glad you like them :-)

[@taktsing4969]

Great. You explain better than my professor did.

[@MrJamesnight]

Transforma powa. Gold.

[@chandrashekarr9527]

That's what the great scott a full detail explanation more than knowledge

[@marijntopgear]

Bought a shirt, because I’d like to support you. But maily because I like the shirt.

[@paulokao]

The best video about it on the youtube! Very good job!

[@blackturbine]

DC for the win

[@Ramog1000]

kinda true, reactive power is the reason why some high voltage power lines use DC.

[@zvpunry1971]

@@Ramog1000 reactive power isn't the /only/ reason for HVDC. Reactive power can be compensated like shown in the video, this is normally done at substations with switched capacitors/inductors. The biggest advantages of HVDC are that there is no skin effect, that it doesn't need three conductors and it minimizes losses through capacitive coupling in underground/undersea lines. Edit: I added the word "only" in the first sentence. User DaUHardcoreCraft is correct with the statement that reactive power is one of the reasons for HVDC, but it isn't the only reason.

[@blackturbine]

But still keep the ac for brushless motors

[@greencoder1594]

*Correction of Translation Error* @ 07:47 What is called "Scheinleistung" _S_ in German is NOT the apparent power _S_ but its magnitude as apparent power actually is "Komplexe Scheinleistung" in German: German // English "Scheinleistung" _S_ == "apparent power" |S| "Komplexe Scheinleistung" _ ̲S̲ _== "complex power" S The complex power _S_ in _VA_ is the sum of the true power (active power) _P_ in _W_ and the complex number _j_ times the reactive power _Q_ in _var_ . *Therefore, the complex power is the resulting vector, the apparent power **_|S|_** is its (non-complex) magnitude.*

[@americanrebel413]

Great presentation, Thank you! One thing I got from this is If a Charging mechanism is plugged in and not being used it still consumes electricity, Correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks again.

[@greatscottlab]

Correct

[@americanrebel413]

@@greatscottlab Thank you very much!!

[@iwantitpaintedblack]

because the switching circuit is running , something like a cellphone charger would probably cost like 3 euros per year or something

[@brice9613]

You do a better job than my teacher.

[@hackercop]

This was a great video, You explained it to me really well, thanks

[@NeTSkaTe22]

Awesome video GreatScott!, this video is like a summary of all the topics I've seen in some of the subjects I did this year in my university. I study electronic engeeniering. It's very cool to see all the theory applied in some examples.

[@pierresintre2390]

It would be great if we could have more details on the computations you have done to find the correct capacitance value to cancel the phase shift between current and voltage ! I couldn't find it elsewhere on the internet...

[@CircuitsDIY]

Great Scott you great 👍👍👍

[@moiquiregardevideo]

The reason the power grid don't like those load that are not pure resistive is the wasted heat in the he transformer. Any higher frequency harmonic created by the laptop power supply or the dimmer is affecting those fine tuned transformers. They are normally so efficient that little heat is created. But any perturbation suddenly increase the heat and, given million of them everywhere, one with small defect will self destroy.

[@blackhunter2310]

Wow Scott this is really a great video on the subject. I can't wait to see more videos on these more advanced topics

[@jalal1118]

your videos used to be a lot of fun, now they are more educational with a little bit of fun. we demand a lot of fun and cool projects :)

[@animet8005]

One thing I get from the video is, that the inductor and source are playing catch-catch throwing electricity ⚡at each other. And the power loss or heat generated in a conductor due to this through and forth motion of the current is called Reactive Power. Correct ! me if I am wrong about this.🤔🤔

[@danielpiotrowski1681]

I really liked this one.

[@DJkillstyler]

Yo GreatScott, i have some ideas for projects you can try/create to make a new video :D 1. a mobile car heating for the driver area and windows 2. a present card, and if you open it will play your music 3. a little spy cam with memory for videos Hope this are good concept s for you ;p

[@Pokornz]

Hi Scott, love this series, I found especially the Deformed component interesting, because it was never mentioned in my college courses (only True and Reactive components). However, I don't understand from your video how the higher frequencies relate to the Deformed power. Google isn't very talkative about this specific topic, but I found a paper which defines Total Harmonic Distortion as a percentage of the frequencies that are not the fundamental frequency. Is that the ratio between the apparent power and the apparent power, which doesn't take the deformed component into account (in other words, is it equal to the cosine of the angle between the P-Q plane and the apparent power vector)?

[@markys441]

Hello Scott! I have a suggestion for a Electronics Basics video - Feedback system. I know, it might be simple, but in my opinion it would be great to see a EB video about it to understand it better :) , because i quite dont know, how to make a feedback system for my future project - modified squarewave inverter by your design :)

[@reedsebastiyan3808]

Thanks for the video, I m waiting for PFC video.

[@MedSou]

Very informative ,Thank you 👍👍👍👍

[@Luxcium]

That old intro is the best sorry for the next generation version which would be super nice too…

[@EforEngineering]

Very helpful for my next interview 😍 thanks @Greatscott!

[@josedourado3747]

I saw once a 3 phase 1 MW power correction facility. With water cooled giant thyristors. You cant imagine how noisy it was

[@josedourado3747]

I forgot to mention that was a 30KV 3 phase 1MW machine. Maintaining the power factor to 1

[@brendanberg9523]

The moment you realize that GreatScott in not about letting LEDs blink in fancy patterns anymore.

[@kevgermany]

Brilliant. And now for smart meters, and how your bills can rise.

[@venugopalatchyutanna]

Thanks for the video. Great and correct information presented in a good way. Easy for beginners . Waiting for the next video

[@AmerZavlan]

I am a bit confused on why exactly your transformer (1:42) didn't get warm, even though you said Itotal = Itrue + Ireactive (4:25). The way I understood is that, all 5.5 watts you calculated (1:34) are still flowing through the wires of the transformer, and 5.5 watts flowing through the wires should really heat them up.

[@ravirao1209]

Lucid explanation! 😍

[@chaitanyagoswami2393]

Hey greatscott i like your channel too much...😍😍😍😍 Can you please make a video on communication basics..

[@DJTrainR3k]

Great explanation! I can just barely grasp the mathematics thanks to my current algebra class.

[@kedarprabhudessai]

Very good video as always, lot of knowledge and most important is u made me understand it properly 😃 👌👌👌 thanks. Keep it up 👍

[@rubaiyatniaz]

Scott, when is PFC video coming?

[@javierperez_21]

As always, you made an awesome and very helpful video. Thanks!!!

[@jemand771]

reminds me of the chinese power saver video. thanks for the further explaination!

[@rooko12345]

That escalated quickly!

[@zrnjan]

Excellent video. I felt like I was present at the University classes. :) Nice work.

[@massimomoltoni5723]

Many compliments!

[@andymouse]

so this why Big Clive is concerned that power companies are going to charge us differently soon and ultimately our bills could go up?

[@any1alive]

it is already hap;penignin new zealand, and was switched on by default on most homes bwithout being told a few houses got charged 3000$ when on average tis 600 or less

[@webchimp]

any1aliveBet they had a lovely time trying to explain that away.

[@bartz0rt928]

Already happening here in the Netherlands as well. The new power meters sometimes completely misunderstand what all those switch mode loads are doing and can measure up to 6 times the power you're actually using.

[@tedvanmatje]

@@bartz0rt928 true that is, man. After a new meter was put in my house, the following bill was €600 over the norm. "5000 KW in a year?! For a family of three and power hungry appliances used at a minimum?!" I said to them. But, they know 'better' and presume we're all just brain dead knuckle-dragging idiots. Being too tired to explain and bored of them, I'll just send them an email with a link to this video here. Failing that; swearing at the company representative in dutch always works well (it does here in germany anyway) ;)

[@Tore_Lund]

@@any1alive My idle consumption in my house went up from 40W to 225W when I got my new smart meter on the 1'st of Febuary, which will cost me an additional 600$ / year. So I've been busy changing my inductive loads (wound transformers) in my home grid! Currently down to 55W idle consumption.

[@ChakshuSharma_CANNOT]

Thanks exactly what i was waiting for. Can't wait for the next video.

[@ctk5044]

I dig this! Could you place the Electronics Basics videos in a play list? I'd like to watch them all, but it's not in a set playlist

[@himrobotics7877]

Well explained.... I really like it.. It's more easy to understand with visual observations.. Thanks :) I looking for reactive power compensator project video using Arduino... I hope , I'll see this next time. Good luck.. ### Gut erklärt .... ich mag es wirklich .. Mit visuellen Beobachtungen ist es einfacher zu verstehen. Vielen Dank :) Ich bin auf der Suche nach einem Blindleistungskompensator-Projektvideo mit Arduino ... Ich hoffe, ich werde das nächste Mal sehen. Viel Glück..

[@krishnendusardar5945]

Please make a vedio on 'BPW34' as a solar irradiance sensor and please describe "How the solar irradiance value comes from the ADC value!".

[@SIKHGT650]

Hi Scott, can we make Arduino lithium battery charger discharger capacity tester upto 1to 5 cell ..

[@javierferrer4634]

Excellent video scott, thank you.

[@PhilipStubbs]

Feel like I have just been to school. BUT ITS THE WEEKEND!!!! ;-)

[@МартинГеоргиев-г3е]

Hi GreatScott, Are you going to make that PFC video? Best regards,

[@hummer076]

Can you do a video on characteristic impedance and propagation constant basics...and why are they so important in transmission lines

[@hummer076]

Like so that he can see this

[@hummer076]

Like so that he can see this

[@picklerick814]

Hi, Scott. What is up with measuring a signal on a coax tv line? Why doesn't a multimeter work, just to see if a signal is present? Why, if i short-circuit my socket, the others in my house still get a signal? Nothing makes sense to me and still there is a high mbit dataline perfectly working on this connection?

[@littlecomponent139]

just something to keep in mind Jeremy. next time make a more simple videos thumbnail which would look more attractive. I like all you videos and just want you to keep going on (can you make a video about how to make a lab bench power supply From SCRATCH)

[@inferno6012]

ok ok ok ok ok what what what where am i the numbers what do they mean need to watch over and over again (i am dumb) great video lots of work and explained very excellently. must be very hard to make it

[@tomilaukkanen3095]

Thank you Scott for another great vid and I really wait for your PFC video as I repair welding machines that usually contain a PFC circuitry or module which handles it. Just a small question though: if my memory serves me correct you don't want the power factor to be exactly 1 when we are speaking traditional electric motors or circuits that has good amount of capacitance as it creates oscillation circuit, can't remember anymore why it was so bad for the powerlines and circuitry, but I do remember that you try to prevent that from happening when compensating the inductance.

[@brainfornothing]

Good video and good self-gift ;) Thanks for sharing !

[@ventjemazzel8822]

Great video man; thanks a lot!

[@FaysalKhalashi]

Heroic basic 🤯

[@curtislowe4577]

Did you get around to doing a power factor correction video?

[@brendanberg9523]

The moment you realize that GreatScott in not about letting LEDs blink in fancy patterns anymore.

[@VoidHalo]

There's a lot more to electronics than blinkenlights, my friend. Take the time to learn about it. You'll be glad you did. allaboutcircuits.com and a circuit simulator on Paul Falstad's site that runs in your browser will get you off to a solid start.

[@MyShanghaiShuffle]

That circuit simulator is a revelation to me!