r/mildlyinfuriating • u/L0n3_C3nturi0n • 26d ago

Too mild for school My stepdad keeps putting these things all over the house

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He refuses to believe that they're a scam despite showing multiple videos of people testing them and ripping them open and showing that it's legit just an led light. It started with just 1 before I went on a small trip. I come back and there's 3 more around the house

30.8k Upvotes

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6.3k

u/GLG777 26d ago

Is he stupid or something?

3.6k

u/toomuchkern 26d ago

Yes

1.1k

u/cheapdrinks 26d ago

For anyone wondering what the internals look like, here's a teardown video showing just how ridiculous it actually is.

291

u/Rosti_LFC 25d ago

Of course it's Big Clive!

38

u/MeccIt 25d ago

I would trust nobody else.

6

u/WantedBeen 25d ago

he's the goat

4

u/tsmythe492 25d ago

Clive is the man!!!

3

u/falconeur 25d ago

that was as enjoyable as the AvE engineer dude who dissected a juicero. so entertaining i re-watch it every few months šŸ¤£

2

u/RikarisHobbies 25d ago

Only the best

185

u/SpacedKnives 25d ago

I GENUINELY clicked this link thinking ā€˜God here goes another Rick roll.ā€™ And to my glorious surprise. It was an actual video of what you described. Thank you so much.

22

u/Flashy-Island-3725 25d ago

Now I'm sure it's a rickroll

8

u/tapawha 25d ago

And the guy is strangely soothing to listen to. Ha. I was much more interested than I expected!

5

u/mrselfdestruct066 25d ago

Well now I definitely don't trust it

2

u/OddBallJohn 25d ago

I was more trusting than you and actually clicked once further by taking it to my own premium YouTube account to avoid any adverts also. Likewise pleasantly surprised.

2

u/Ok-Butterscotch-4840 21d ago

That is a perfect way to wingman a Rick roll. Nice try!

86

u/TheBrightSide_2011 25d ago

It doesnā€™t even matter whatā€™s inside. Thereā€™s no way a little box like this saves money unless it shuts off equipment that uses electricity. I see no outlets, therefore it cannot save money no matter what is inside.

62

u/redlaWw 25d ago

He does discuss in the video how it's supposed to work: large inductive loads on an AC circuit cause the voltage and current to come out-of-phase, which reduces the efficiency of the distribution system. Putting the right capacitor across the load corrects this phase difference and allows the load to draw less current for the same effective power, reducing power costs.

The problem is that you can't just plug anything in, it needs to be tuned to the load, and also domestic supplies rarely have this issue because the loads aren't large enough. A further problem is that that particular device was apparently originally designed for lower voltages and then incorrectly adjusted to work on UK power supplies, which meant that it was bypassing the supposedly functional part.

15

u/TheBrightSide_2011 25d ago edited 25d ago

I didnā€™t watch the video.

Iā€™ll just say industrial sites often have large inductive loads and sometimes do some power factor correction because utilities charge extra when you draw a lot of kVAR.

This is a non-issue for residential. Residential does not have large inductive loads and youā€™re billed based on kWh. Even if the device functions as claimed, correcting the power factor does nothing to reduce kWh. It could, theoretically, reduce kVARh, but youā€™re not charged for that.

Best case scenario, youā€™re doing the utility a favor and getting no compensation in return. In reality, youā€™re just wasting your money.

- an electrical engineer who took a lot of power courses back in the day. Even got a MSEE in power, but hasnā€™t used it much in the last 20 years.

4

u/Soggy-Bedroom-3673 25d ago

Yep, this is precisely what he said in the video. In fact, he noted that because it's not connected to any load, it would actually create the issue it's intended to solve and cost you more money (if residential customers were charged for this, and if it was actually built correctly, which it is not--the capacitor was just connected to nothing).

2

u/LongJohnSelenium 25d ago

Domestic loads do have this issue cumulatively, but most people have the same stuff in their homes so it all mostly evens out anyway.

Power Factor is very unintuitive and trying to explain to a layperson what it is and why its on the bill would be completely counterproductive so thats just included in the price.

1

u/Cerberus_Aus 22d ago

Also, modern power meters measure for reactive loads, not just resistive loads, which makes this pointless.

1

u/Orwells-own 25d ago

Power factor correction is a real thing you can do with the proper equipment. You donā€™t have to plug existing gear into the modules for it to work. They just live on the same circuit. Video shows this ainā€™t that.

2

u/TheBrightSide_2011 25d ago

See my other response. I didnā€™t watch the video. I didnā€™t consider power factor correction as a possibility because itā€™s irrelevant for residential.

1

u/Creative_Excuse_1940 25d ago

Someone convinced my mother to buy one of these ridiculous things. When I visited her and saw it, I immediately unplugged it and through it away. She was aghast. I asked how it was supposed to save her money but she couldn't explain it. Like it was absorbing loose electricity from the air via this little box and putting it back into the wall outlet? Our parents turn into toddlers sticking random stuff into electrical outlets. smdh

1

u/AnamraKarmana 22d ago

That's a great idea šŸ’”. Make our own version, but the outlet doesn't actually connect.. so anything plugged into it doesnt work... power saved!

10

u/Joped 25d ago

My favorite part is how it technically uses more power for the LED than not using it.

5

u/Morris_Alanisette 25d ago

"don't be too rude when plugging into the socket."

4

u/Easy_Nectarine_8960 25d ago

It's the Fanny Flambeaux guy! I didn't know he was still around!

4

u/generationgav 25d ago

I clicked on this hoping it was Big Clive!

9

u/UIUC_grad_dude1 25d ago

Classic Fox News buyers lol (in the associated LTTP video).

-2

u/Alarming-Shop2392 25d ago

YouTube recommendations are personalized.

1

u/Southern-Ant8592 25d ago

"Ohh deary me"

1

u/Careless-Ordinary126 25d ago

It actually does what it Is advertised for, you Are just not paying for it already.

1

u/matterhorn1 25d ago

Iā€™ve literally never heard of these things until now, but without even seeing the video I canā€™t understand how anything like this could possibly work. It just doesnā€™t make sense.

How do they advertise these without false advertising?

1

u/Nebelskind 25d ago

I knew someone that bought one and it just broke open on its own. Sure enough, just a little LED and an empty box lol

1

u/Daydream_Dystopia 25d ago

I don't generally enjoy a detail electrical engineering analysis, but damn was this easily enjoyable and cathartic.

1

u/yourlocalidiot143 25d ago

besides it's physically impossible for a little thing on the wall to somehow save electricity, I ain't an engineer but I'm pretty sure that's not how electricity works

1

u/Objective-Theme-1422 25d ago

lol both soldered to the same wire on the circuit board.

But yeah, I think this would look convincing enough to the dad, though.

1

u/Diomenas 25d ago

So it consumes 1.8kWh per year to tell you that your outlet is working....

1

u/After-Aardvark-4 25d ago

So you're actually using more electricity by plugging it in than not even if its just to run that stupid little LED. Wow.

1

u/fatefulPatriot 25d ago

Can cost OPā€™s Dad an additional $90 a year lol, dude isnā€™t saving any money.

1

u/water_fountain_ 25d ago

Too many ads. Not watching it. (I know thatā€™s not your fault).

0

u/prabla 25d ago

It's 2026, get an ad blocker.

57

u/breaducate 25d ago

At some point you kind of have to hand it to the scammers.

I couldn't come up with this even as a joke, but they appear to have a visceral understanding of what makes rube catnip.

Even the most rudimentary knowledge of electricity makes it hard to imagine how someone thinks this supposedly works, but that's thinking about it the wrong way.

5

u/LongJohnSelenium 25d ago

My stepdad fell for this but fortunately I'm an electrician and he trusted my assessment of it since I was the one who did his electrical.

The siren call of 'secret knowledge the man doesn't want you to know about' is strong.

1

u/jaredsfootlonghole 25d ago

'Apply Directly To Forehead' vibes going on with the scammer pulse. Head On!

To piggyback on what LongJohnSelenium said, the 'secret knowledge the man doesn't want you to know about' is hard for some to let go of.

Perhaps they feel the need to retain some sort of special insight to share. Maybe to them it's how they gauge self-worth, by how they can improve the lives of others in ways their addressees otherwise would not. Then there's the empowerment they feel once said addressees adopt their ways, which I'd wager also gets hard to let go of.

Nothing new said here, just putting some thoughts into words.

1

u/BurningPickle 25d ago

The only reason scams are successful is because people are dumb enough to fall for them.

-1

u/I_BAPTIZED_GOD 25d ago

Iā€™m sitting here wondering if these are LED floor lights that are meant to save energy by motion sensor triggered illumination of your walking paths at night so that you do not need to turn actual lights onā€¦. Is that not what they are? Because thatā€™s so stupid considering it had the LED already so a little directional light funneling could actually make it a product that did in fact do what it says it does šŸ˜‚

355

u/EvidenceElegant8379 26d ago

No, this thing actually works. You plug it into the wall and the green bar lights up. There is a button on the side you push so the light turns off, thus saving energy.

216

u/seeyoujim 26d ago

Not only that but while plugged in you canā€™t use the outlet for anything you useful

39

u/Elegant_Situation285 26d ago

child safety device. they should be charging double.

6

u/macaronysalad 25d ago

Thus saving energy. Now you're catching on. -ResultisĀ®

6

u/OZZMAN8 25d ago

So it does kinda work I guess...

3

u/Live_Lab3601 25d ago

You save power by not using that outlet

0

u/ObserverWardXXL 25d ago

I guess I'm dumb, because I thought that was the whole point of this item? Basically a low stake self lockout from outlets?

Are these advertised as a 'snake oil' solution? how is this even a product vendors will waste warehouse or screen space on?!?

8

u/Sexual_Congressman 25d ago

You must never have been on YouTube without an adblocker, it is absolutely infested with videos claiming "plug this device in and your electricity bill will be reduced by 87%!!!" I've never actually watched one of them but I've also seen actual television ads for these kinds of devices from the late 00s that claim they do some magic trick with electromagnetism that I don't remember the actual mechanism of because I'm unfortunately not stupid.

1

u/ObserverWardXXL 25d ago

I rarely use youtube, but I imagine my country blocks this type of advertisement because it would be highly illegal!

1

u/Zeero92 25d ago

87%? If that's what the ads actually say, then people aren't taught the "too good to be true" adage any longer.

4

u/seeyoujim 25d ago

Yes, snake oil - tech edition

1

u/HeyZeGaez 19d ago

They claim to save on your energy bill by balancing your power usage. Which if I recall is an actual thing but only in incredibly specific cases and never ever in domestic power billing.

So no its not affecting your bill at all.

7

u/this1weirdgirl 26d ago

If it's plugged in you can't plug anything else in, I guess that's...

3

u/BluezDBD 25d ago

People keep shitting on these things in the comments but they actually work.

I ripped out my PC from the plug and replaced it with one of these things and my power usage went down by 400W

2

u/Ziazan 25d ago

Also it stops you plugging something else into that socket

1

u/BendAccomplished5800 25d ago

It saves you energy by taking up an outlet that it would otherwise be used

1

u/who_am_i_to_say_so 25d ago

I really like that feature. I can turn it on whenever I want.Ā 

756

u/Lopsided_Flight_2986 26d ago

The resultis the best!

165

u/CarpetReady8739 26d ago edited 26d ago

HEY!! Be nice to those of us having to take ResultisĀ® (OTC) externally. It's all we got.

ResultisĀ® manufactured by BeBestā„¢ Brands.

102

u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

21

u/Intelligent-Cake1448 26d ago

There is no Dana. Only Zool!

7

u/Kok-jockey 26d ago

I remember I once fixed the freezer bulb after months of it being out and when my ex- opened the door for a popsicle I hit her with ā€œthere is no pop-ice, only Zuul.ā€

ā€¦I miss having someone to be funny forā€¦

7

u/Castun 25d ago

We all exist here just for your humor

13

u/Borkato 26d ago

What is this šŸ˜­

38

u/WeAreHumanBeing 26d ago

I believe that is the gatekeeper.

26

u/toxcrusadr 26d ago

Are you the Keymaster?

12

u/mr_humansoup 26d ago

No, I can't. It sounds like you've got at least two people in there already. Might be a little crowded.

1

u/toxcrusadr 25d ago

Dana's gonna take a little nap now.

10

u/No_Potential1 26d ago

It's most effectively taken as a suppository and really it is a big one but it barely even hurts a lot.

4

u/KC_Que 26d ago

This sub has the best resultis, I give it five stars!

3

u/MissWibb 26d ago

BeBestestā„¢ļø Brands. Division of BeBestā„¢ļø and BeBesterā„¢ļø.

3

u/Cool-Newspaper6789 26d ago

I've heard that the bad grammar is on purpose. They want customers who wouldn't notice because it means less hassleĀ 

2

u/mindsnare1 26d ago

Maximus Resultis

2

u/OkJunket1385 25d ago

It looks like a typo but it's probably intentional. It's the same reason many email scammers leave grammatical errors. The gullible are more likely to overlook mistakes.Ā 

47

u/ExpectedFuckingValue 26d ago

The lights are on but nobody's home

23

u/RebekkaKat1990 26d ago

Sure thereā€™s a full carton but all the eggs are cracked.

3

u/CompleteTell6795 26d ago

šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ‘

3

u/Working-Glass6136 26d ago

They ain't the sharpest kitchen in the knife!

2

u/RebekkaKat1990 25d ago

It ainā€™t rocket appliances

1

u/SheridanVsLennier 25d ago

Kangaroo loose in the top paddock.

4

u/Blissfull 26d ago

See, that's the problem right there! If they'd turn off the lights when everybody's out they'd save electricity!

3

u/DiligentMap4607 26d ago

Literally XD

3

u/dragnabbit 26d ago

That's why his electric bill is so high.

1

u/mid-random 26d ago

Their mind is not their own

1

u/lynnnysa1 26d ago

You discovered the problem!!!

132

u/Obant 26d ago

The lead has done its damage. Its getting worse as they age. Mine just got scammed for thousands of dollars while being told directly by my gf and I that he was getting scammed and the FBI doesnt call people to do work for them. He still went through with it... He was so smart and educated in the 90s...

64

u/account-suspenped 26d ago

hearing stories like this makes me scared for my parents.

8

u/HeyYouGuyyyyyyys 25d ago

It breaks my heart what has happened to mine. Three advanced degrees between them, and my dad has his Ph.D. He researched and wrote nine books (ten? I keep losing track) My mom taught, wrote articles, and kept a family alive on dad's tiny salary by learning to bake, sew, and forage for food in urban lots.

Now they swallow Fox News uncritically. Dad reassures me that ICE isn't chasing anyone any more. Mom is a climate change denier. After feeding a family by knowing USDA grow zones, soil acidity, and weather cycles, she's a climate change denier.

So. Yeah. I'm sorry that you have to be afraid. Like I said, it's fucking heartbreaking.

7

u/ReddiWhippp 25d ago

Yeah, it happened to my dad too. The far right has been pushing ordinary people to become hateful, ignorant, and nasty for over forty years. Propaganda pushers like Limbaugh, Gingrich, Fox tv 'opinionators,' Alex Jones, etc have been thoroughly brainwashing Americans, making them ripe for the picking by a con artist like trump. There's a great documentary, "The Brainwashing of My Dad" from 2016 that describes it very well.Ā (Available on Amazon Prime.)Ā 

12

u/Obant 26d ago

It happened today. I thought he was too smart. Never thought it'd be him, even though he's been getting stupider and stupider the more he keeps the tv on conservative media. I should have physically stopped him, but my gf woke me up crying telling me the story and I had no idea what tf was happening and he wouldn't talk to me.

19

u/abstr_xn 25d ago

if parent's didnt think they knew everything they would be open to discussing things like this before acting on them.

But there is no one else in the entire world smarter than them so there is no use asking anyone, whatever decision they make is the right one because they made it.

He didn't get scammed, something just went wrong, FBI probably just got something wrong, the next scammer that targets him because he's a marked victim will be so understanding and will surely get to the bottom of it, just after your dad helps him out again. And again, there won't be any need to run this past anyone because he's fell for that once, he knows what to look for, not again, this person is different, they specifically said they aren't going to scam him. He'll get his money back and more because he's such a well thought out man of action, even went to college once and us children are just stupid dumb dumbs who don't know anything and have everything handed to us. Except money because that's all gone to stupid shit.

6

u/kaki024 25d ago

I just watched an old ep of Intervention where an older man was addicted to the thrill of those email scams. He was also addicted to pills, but heā€™d spend his familyā€™s savings on send money to people who he was sure were going to send him more money in return. They even showed him talking to a man with a South Indian accent who called himself George Washingtonā€¦. It was brutal.

4

u/Obant 25d ago

He freely admits he got scammed and should have listened.

2

u/abstr_xn 25d ago

if only others could see him as a role model

3

u/Obant 25d ago

Eh, he will admit it, but will he actually listen next time or be stubborn like you said? I do not know.

5

u/New_Accident_4909 25d ago

Similar, my father is a smart educated guy but he is getting progressively more gullible as the time goes.

It awaits us all if we don't exercise our brain and critical thought (not too much to become paranoid tho hahhaha)

1

u/cshmn 25d ago

It's not paranoia if they really are all out to get you.

3

u/TransGirlIndy 25d ago

Makes me almost glad all the older people I care about have already passed. Because my aunt, rest her soul, would have fallen for shit like this. Mom, too, but mom at least had a couple strokes to justify it.

2

u/account-suspenped 25d ago

about 10+ years ago my grandma called me one morning asking if i was in a Mexican prison.... i was like .... WHAT? no... Apparently some scammers called her pretending to be federales saying if she didnt pay over 6 grand immediately I would be all kinds of fucked up... and they knew all this random personal info, she almost fell for it but decided to try and call me first- if I didnt answer the phone that morning she probably woulda got scammed. I am glad she never got scammed before passing but now my parents are getting way up there in age and AI is able to clone anyones voice including family which make it 10x worse.

2

u/So_ThereItIs 25d ago

yup, its all a bit much for them at some point

1

u/Creative_Excuse_1940 25d ago

Be very afraid. Also, be prepared to take their cell phone away so they can't call those 800 numbers and order the random trash items. My mother, Alzheimers, would call 911 for help when she couldn't figure out how to use her smart phone. Cops finally said take the phone away or we charge you money every time she calls. Took the phone away, then she couldn't figure out why she couldn't get a dial tone on the remote. Funny, yes. Sad, also yes.

7

u/decidedlyindecisive 25d ago

Mine believes he's "training the AI for everyone". He talks it in circles and it "admits it's wrong". We've tried explaining that it's not learning anything but it tells him that it is and he's helping everyone. It's frustrating and concerning, I wish he'd just stop talking to it.

4

u/Parsnipnose3000 25d ago

My mother is almost 80 and fell for the "whatsapp/child/money" scam where they tell someone it's their child using a different phone, and ask for money.

She was actually on the way to the bank to transfer money (she doesn't use online banking for fear of scams) when she called my partner to double check it was really me and ask if I'd really broken my phone.

Thankfully she then realised it was a scam, but I pointed out to her that the scammers now knew she had money in the bam as she'd told them she was going to the bank to get it.

She then turned it around on the scammers by pretending she still thought it was me, and apologising profusely to them because "the bank won't give me a loan".

I was quite impressed by her damage limitation ingenuity.

4

u/kenrichardson 25d ago

I just had to disown my father for the same thing. He's been catfished for over two years, convinced he's in long-distance relationship with multiple professional athletes a third of his age. He's sent them over six figures, though we cannot determine exact amounts. In my sister and my attempts to intervene and show him what's going on he turned on me, accused me of destroying our family, and got progressively nastier with me.

We have sent him multiple articles, had the local police fraud unit over to explain it to him, all to no avail. Be cause he's still paying bills and going to work, getting any kind of adult custody is a bar we cannot reach at this time. I ended up having to tell him if I'm the one destroying our family then he needn't worry about it anymore. He doesn't have a son so it can't be me.

3

u/EscapeSeventySeven 26d ago

Yeah the first thing that went through my mind was OPs stepdad is going to get financially scammed. This is the first step.Ā 

3

u/boblobong 25d ago

This is him being financially scammed

2

u/EscapeSeventySeven 25d ago

Oh we can do betterĀ 

3

u/SilverIndustry2701 26d ago

My dad is starting too, but my mom is still bright. I wonder if it made a different that he grew up in a region with heavy industry, while my mom grew up on a farm in a rural area.

1

u/Parsnipnose3000 25d ago

Wow, he can't be that old if he was educated in the 90s. I'd have thought he would be a bit more switched on than that.

1

u/memz_geo 25d ago

Oh, shit.

I was educated in the 90's!

21

u/RedPandaMediaGroup 26d ago

Um no it literally says intelligent right on the box. I swear, reading comprehension these days.

1

u/Washpa1 24d ago

Love how the damn scammers couldn't bother with the space in between "result" and "is".

Hey Frank, they jacked the printing up, should we do another run?

Hell no! The people who are buying these don't notice things like 'words'.

4

u/godsavethegene 26d ago

but it says intelligent. check your facts, buddy.

3

u/RememberThatDream 26d ago

Well itā€™s not something

2

u/12_leon_12 26d ago

If you open him up thereā€™s just a red light

2

u/Metrox_a 25d ago

I imagine he is a boomer/older. But also his personality is he is always right. My father is the same. He ordered various life altering pills from the internet.

1

u/Interesting_Sock9142 26d ago

You know the answer to that question

1

u/EdOfTheMountain 26d ago

A money and energy wasting device

1

u/SharpBullfrog1279 26d ago

Yes.

He is both stupid and something.

1

u/AppropriateRub4033 26d ago

Heavy on that

1

u/UltraAnders 26d ago

Vulnerable to being swayed by charlatans. Politicians love him.

1

u/lynivvinyl GREEN 26d ago

Obviously. And gullible. Which is a great combination. When you want to make money off of ignorance.

1

u/shanatard 25d ago

you wouldnt get it. these are intelligent energy savers. you know, only for the intelligent

1

u/midwestia 25d ago

The resultis yes

1

u/drunxor 25d ago

A large portion of the american populous cant read above a 6th grade level so yes

1

u/Fit_Story5730 25d ago

People really believe magnets help health. There are magnet bracelets that you can get. Plus copper bracelets..same thingĀ 

1

u/japanfrog 25d ago

And he votes!

-1

u/Cheap_Ambition 26d ago

"Did you ever read paint chips as a kid?"

" Hu ha, yeah why?"

3

u/[deleted] 26d ago

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

1

u/Cheap_Ambition 26d ago

I guess I did, grewb up in a hundred year house on New England

0

u/Professional_Land720 25d ago

No he is not. He is correctly on target.

-1

u/Mike0621 25d ago

no. While it is obvious to us, their parent having no real knowledge of how electricity works does not make them stupid. If you have no clue how electricity works, but you know some electrical appliances are more efficient than others you may think this helps deliver power more efficiently or something. and depending on the tone with which one responds you may not want to listen to someone telling you you're wrong

5

u/Few_Confusion_1871 25d ago

not doing basic research on things you buy is stupid