How not to cheat successfully (actually)

Saving electricity is great and getting more and more great as electricity prices rise. There are a number of tools. LED lamps instead of incandescent bulbs. Electricity meters that help identify constant consumers. All that sort of thing.

After the German text went viral here, I was happy to translate it into an international version. The German text can be found here.

Now I’ve discovered something new. It’s called VoltBox (and I’m not linking it because it’s nothing but brazen fraud).

VoltBox is a gizmo that resembles a WLAN repeater, and it’s supposed to work in the wall socket to make you use less electricity.

Wow.

Ralph Knacke is the name of the author of the German-language text (ok, his proflpicture is called author_freeman.jpg and the author also seems to work as a model for stock photos) and he describes a supposedly great product.

Update 10/8/2021: The article, unchanged in content, now bears the date of today and Ralph Knacke is now called Meinhard Brauer. The photo, however, is the same.

That sounds tempting. Just, how is that going to work!!!

It’s called a Voltbox, and its technology was originally developed by none other than legendary Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist Nikola Tesla.

Ah. Tesla. The electric wizard. Sure, it must be something good.

Voltbox is a small, compact, affordable and easy-to-use plug-in device that prevents unnecessary current from entering electrical lines and overloading the network.

Equipment always draws more current than it needs to operate due to inefficiencies and noise on the sine wave.

Voltbox reduces this noise, thereby reducing the amount of wasted electricity. The device does not change what the meter reads, nor does it extract additional power, it just uses the power more efficiently so that less of it is needed.

Ok, I’ve never heard of that, it not only contradicts itself but everything I’ve learned about electricity in half a century, but I’m happy to learn.

But if you look at who’s behind VoltBox, a lot of things become clear:

The founders are multi-talented, because…

…they are also insurance professionals (TinEye finds a total of 60 websites when searching for other uses of this photo)

Back to the wonder device.

The VoltBox should be plugged into the outlet closest to the meter.

If you have a large house or a large apartment, even more so in the most distant outlet and preferably in all in between apparently too. For this also quantity discounts for the boxes are ageboten.

„Sure“, I thought spontaneously, „if I plug into each socket such a thing is yes none more for consumers free. Smart thing to do!“

Which I don’t need to point out: This is all total nonsense.

Update 10/8/2021: Interesting also the photo of the VoltBox user who seems to show her electricity bill. That one, in fact, is Anne Roberts, a British woman whose mobile phone provider debited her monthly subscription every 10 minutes and who contacted the newspaper about the £27,000 debt incurred. I wonder if the Daily Mail would sue over copyright here if they knew?

It’s also nice to see satisfied customers reporting the benefits of the VoltBox. For example, there is Ben from Berlin:

Why Ben has a Type B outlet in Berlin, like those used in the U.S., remains a mystery.

Also one of the big questions is why Ben’s outlet can also be found at Maximilian’s from Munich.

And he holds the VoltBox just like Ben did.

Update 10/8/2021: Ben’s from Munich is now Max from Zurich and the first photo is gone, Maximilian from Munich is now Erik from Winterthur.

I sometimes really wonder if I shouldn’t switch. There’s a silly one getting up every morning, and clearly there are plenty of them.