I think it is probably a quirk of your meter when measuring a phase controlled waveform . I’d hazard a guess that at full power , it shows 1.0 or pretty close to it and as you turn the power down , the meter is trying to measure a very chopped up distorted waveform and is tricked into thinking there is a phase shift between the Voltage and the Current . This of course doesn’t happen with an element .
PF would normally be less than 1.0 when running induction motors . Your element has negligible inductance .
So don’t worry about it .It’s just the meter thinking there is a phase shift that doesn’t really exist .
Vevor 9G Electric Kettle Chop and Mod
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- Yummyrum
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Re: Vevor 9G Electric Kettle Chop and Mod
I'm thinking the same, the power factor would be 1 with a resistive load.
The cheap meter isn't happy attempting to measure a sawtooth wave form.
The cheap meter isn't happy attempting to measure a sawtooth wave form.

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Re: Vevor 9G Electric Kettle Chop and Mod
Yummyrum wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 1:25 pm I think it is probably a quirk of your meter when measuring a phase controlled waveform . I’d hazard a guess that at full power , it shows 1.0 or pretty close to it and as you turn the power down , the meter is trying to measure a very chopped up distorted waveform and is tricked into thinking there is a phase shift between the Voltage and the Current . This of course doesn’t happen with an element .
PF would normally be less than 1.0 when running induction motors . Your element has negligible inductance .
So don’t worry about it .It’s just the meter thinking there is a phase shift that doesn’t really exist .
I'm sure you guys are right, my first thought when you pointed it out Yummy, was that cheap meter isn't working correctly. I'll hook my box up to a light tonight and see what it does, just out of curiosity. Believe it or not, it appears as though the $7 analog meter I put on top for the fun of it is really accurate using my handheld volt/ohm meter to verify it. I need to do some output calculations to see if the wattage and amp meter readings are accurate too.
Rusty
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- Yummyrum
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Re: Vevor 9G Electric Kettle Chop and Mod
Oh what a can of worms you are opening 

My recommended goto .
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory