🚀 go-pugleaf

>	This is getting silly.  I think we're arguing orthagonal arguments,
>i.e. both Richard and Bob have answered a different question than the one
>that was asked.  Given both (correct) interpretations of ELI the ICE man
>above, tell me, does an inductive load have a leading or lagging power
>factor?  At this point, I'm not so much interested in the right answer, but

Lagging. But you're right - the extra piece of information you need to carry
around with you when considering power factors is that they are referred to
as "leading" or "lagging" depending on whether the CURRENT is leading or
lagging the VOLTAGE, rather than the other way around.  Don't give up on
Eli so fast, though, because that mnemonic has 'em in the right place; the
current (I) is first in the C word (ICE), and last in the L word (ELI).
If you are faced with a power factor that someone has called "inductive",
you know from ELI that it must has the current lagging the voltage.  Similarly,
you can correctly match up "L" or "C" with the sign of the phase of the 
current.  (NOT the sign of the power factor; PFs are always a positive number,
distinguished ONLY by "leading" or "lagging".)  If you like, just keep in 
mind that the reference for phase is always the voltage.  Shouldn't be hard,
as most folks are biased toward thinking in voltage terms rather than 
currents anyway.


Bob Myers  KC0EW   HP Graphics Tech. Div.|  Opinions expressed here are not
                   Ft. Collins, Colorado |  those of my employer or any other
myers%hpfcla@hplabs.hp.com               |  sentient life-form on this planet.