Last night I endured two hours of the most boring video I've ever witnessed. My curiosity was piqued when I came across a website claiming that they had had a "team of scientists and engineers" simplify the Hendershot device so that the average guy could build one and free themselves from reliance on utility providers, maybe even earning money selling power back to them!
Well, I wasn't silly enough to pay the $47.00 so I downloaded it off YouTube. It shows some young guy assembling the device, piece by tedious piece.
The thing that got me is that despite all this expertise they had invested, there were many major errors and omissions.
- The parts list doesn't specify voltage rating for the capacitors
- The circuit doesn't show start and finish of the windings
- There are two circuit variants known, they used the one that connects the caps to the output on one of the coils
- No allowance was made for either 50Hz or 240V operation. The transformer was specificed as 5:1 in both cases
- No-one could build it if they couldn't read a circuit diagram, even with the video. And because of the above omissions, even I - with 40 years in electronics - couldn't have built it to their specifications
- There was no mention of how to connect to the grid in the video. Thankfully!
The most telling thing for me was when they finally lit up the 28 light bulbs. Assuming a 25W globe, that's 700 watts of power coming from transformers capable of much less without total meltdown. I also detected visual sync errors between the guy moving the slider and the lights coming on.
Scam, pure and simple.
This doesn't disprove Hendershot's device, but it does prove that there are unscrupulous people out there who will do anything for money.
Well, I wasn't silly enough to pay the $47.00 so I downloaded it off YouTube. It shows some young guy assembling the device, piece by tedious piece.
The thing that got me is that despite all this expertise they had invested, there were many major errors and omissions.
- The parts list doesn't specify voltage rating for the capacitors
- The circuit doesn't show start and finish of the windings
- There are two circuit variants known, they used the one that connects the caps to the output on one of the coils
- No allowance was made for either 50Hz or 240V operation. The transformer was specificed as 5:1 in both cases
- No-one could build it if they couldn't read a circuit diagram, even with the video. And because of the above omissions, even I - with 40 years in electronics - couldn't have built it to their specifications
- There was no mention of how to connect to the grid in the video. Thankfully!
The most telling thing for me was when they finally lit up the 28 light bulbs. Assuming a 25W globe, that's 700 watts of power coming from transformers capable of much less without total meltdown. I also detected visual sync errors between the guy moving the slider and the lights coming on.
Scam, pure and simple.
This doesn't disprove Hendershot's device, but it does prove that there are unscrupulous people out there who will do anything for money.