What is power factor?
How is power measured ?
Power is measured in Watts (W) and Volt-Amp (VA) and is often used interchangeably and is even considered to be the same measurement by some.
This is however far from true in practically
Real Power (W) = Voltage * Current over time
Real power is measured in watts and represents the actual work done by an electric current or actual energy consumed by load.
Power Factor
Power factor by definition is the ratio of real power to apparent power.
What that really means -Power factor is a measure of how efficiently electrical power is consumed. The ideal power factor is what is called unity or the value of one.Anything less than one means extra power is required to achieve the task.