EEK! #4 - What the heck is Power Factor?

Power factor is one of those things that sounds really complicated, but it's pretty simple when you boil it down. And every now and then, knowing a little something about power factor comes in handy.

In short, power factor is the ratio of the real power consumed by a gizmo to the apparent power needed to be generated and delivered by the power company.

The reason for this "extra power" from the power company is the inductance and capacitance in your gizmo that results in shifting the AC current sine wave away from being perfectly in sync with the voltage sine wave.

You don't really need to understand HOW all that works; just watch the vid to see why it matters!

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