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Can anyone tell me what this is and why this sand-like thing is used in an electrical circuit? I have never seen this kind of thing.

About the components: they are in an "electricity saving spike buster". When I saw it at my parents house I of course ripped it off and took it apart to see what is inside. This is what I found:

enter image description here

ocrdu
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wtknow
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  • Ferrite you mean? In the ferrite bead? – DKNguyen Mar 23 '23 at 19:11
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    Maybe it is really sand. Or this is what Snake Oil actually looks like? – tobalt Mar 23 '23 at 19:14
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    _”electricity saving spike buster”_ Scam product? Just an LED driver. I’m surprised they put a fuse in there. – winny Mar 23 '23 at 19:33
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    Adding some weight probably too... – Eugene Sh. Mar 23 '23 at 19:33
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    Related: [Does the "Spike Buster" reduce electricity consumption?](https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/5459) – gre_gor Mar 24 '23 at 07:21
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    @tobalt I reckon it's magic crystals. They're about as likely as this device actually doing something useful – Chris H Mar 24 '23 at 11:08
  • I wonder what they paid for this contraption. – Bart Mar 24 '23 at 14:29
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    https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5459/does-the-spike-buster-reduce-electricity-consumption – J D Mar 24 '23 at 15:01
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    I'm pretty sure, that the electrical current gets cleaned by drifting through the sand, leaving all the dirty spikes behind in the sand filter. The magic black and red device on the sophisticated printed circuit provide the necessary power to flush the sand once it becomes obstructed with electrical spikes. Just like in water filters. – Jens Mar 24 '23 at 18:01
  • In some scam devices this black box is a big capacitor. In this one they didn't even bother to pay for the capacitor. Although I wouldn't completely rule out that this is some kind of varistor or something. – user253751 Mar 25 '23 at 00:29
  • I believe very old resistors used to have a similar construction, some capacitors are made from sintered granules (not loose ones), and sand-filled fuses are also used; that's why I wouldn't rule out that it's some very unusual component, despite what the answers say. But it's *probably* just junk. – user253751 Mar 25 '23 at 01:31
  • After reading the advertising, it almost sounds like that material might be there so they can claim that the device is working and that that material is the carbon removed by the filter. – Nat Mar 26 '23 at 00:57
  • OP: What are those black wires connected to? They appear to be floating at the PCB end. – Mark Morgan Lloyd Mar 27 '23 at 06:59

2 Answers2

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Some fuses are filled with sand to help cool and quench the arc but from the look of that casing, that fact that the wires do not appear to be connected anything inside the case, and the high probability/almost certainty that an "electricity saving spike buster" is a gimmick that does nothing, my guess is the sand is there to make the device feel heavier and therefore more legitimate.

vir
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    Sand is also probably cheaper than epoxy for filling in the fake component. – Tom Carpenter Mar 23 '23 at 20:14
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    @wtknow Now that you know your parents bought a scam device, it might be wise to check that your parents aren't falling for other, more expensive and serious scams. In the U.S. alone, scammers cost the elderly billions of dollars every year. https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/ – Mark Leavitt Mar 23 '23 at 22:09
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    One of many links to reviews that expose this as a scam: https://billswiz.com/electricity-spikes-buster-review – PStechPaul Mar 23 '23 at 23:32
  • It's probably a dubious/scam device, but is is possible the sand component is there to absorb a lightning strike-sized arc? – kackle123 Mar 25 '23 at 16:05
  • @kackle123 That's used in high-voltage devices only (several kV). Nothing in this device could create such voltages here. – PMF Mar 27 '23 at 06:38
  • @PMF I meant an external voltage spike, as in actual lightning. – kackle123 Mar 27 '23 at 14:00
  • @kackle123 Well, there might be _no_ flash inside the sandbox, but only after everything else was destroyed by the lightning anyway (because those parts have their pins much closer together). An actual surge protection device for home electronics requires a zenerdiode or a gas discharge tube. – PMF Mar 27 '23 at 14:29
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It has nothing to do with electronics, many products use sand or a steel block to make them heavy enough so they don't slide around or to make them feel weightier. Some do this for deception, some do not, it looks to me like this is more of the deceptive device.

jsotola
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Voltage Spike
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    I've even seen lead in an old webcam base. And concrete in a desk fan base. But when sand is used for ergonomic ballast in legit devices it's normally bound with epoxy to keep it under control. – Chris H Mar 24 '23 at 21:20
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    @manassehkatz-Moving2Codidact that's what I mean by ballast in legit devices – Chris H Mar 26 '23 at 04:51
  • I've had a torch from China that replaced two batteries with what appeared to be a carefully-sawn chunk of basalt. However in this case note that the wires run through the epoxy into the sand, and unless there really was a now-lost fusible link in there that's a scam. – Mark Morgan Lloyd Mar 26 '23 at 06:53
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    @MarkMorganLloyd Also note that the wires from the "sand component" don't seem to connect to anywhere. Otherwise, we would need to see soldering points for these wires somewhere. – PMF Mar 27 '23 at 06:40
  • @PMF That's an interesting point. I presume OP cut the black leads so he could apply BFI to decapsulate the suspect component. – Mark Morgan Lloyd Mar 27 '23 at 06:54