Power usage of controllers.

[biggeroots]

Hi. Does anyone know if the controllers for stills which have variable voltage, actually consume the same electrical power as if the still were directly plugged in the mains

[T-Pee]

Watts is watts, amigo. It matters not how they're used.

tp

[bellybuster]

The controller itself will have some losses but will be negligible, heat from the SSR is such a loss.

[Soggy Bottom Boy]

Technically, there is a small amount of energy loss that gets converted to heat in whatever components that are used to regulate the voltage, whether it be phase angle, modulated pulse, etc. That is why we use heat sinks (or should), to dissipate this small energy loss.

Practically, no, there is no appreciable loss.

If you are asking if your electric meter is spinning as fast while the controller is set on low, as it does when it is set on high, the answer is no. The electric company charges you for how much wattage is drawn through the meter at the service panel.

Say you have a 240v/5500w element, and your controller is delivering 240v to the element, it draws 5500 watts. Same element with the controller delivering 120v, the element will draw only 1375 watts through your electric meter. It's not a 1:1 ratio, look up Ohm's Law to figure out other values.

EDIT:
bellybuster, I started this answer, but got sidetracked for a good 50 minutes or so.