surge protector

[Wayne M]

I opted for the portable PT-50C by Progressive Industries. Same functionality of the EMS-HW50C. Nice thing about it, since they are expensive, I can take it with me to my next coach/RV. I leave the shore power cord plugged into it at all times, so when I hook it up to the pedestal there is only one connection to be made. It has assisted me several times when the power at the pedestal was not what it was supposed to be. It is designed to shut off if the voltage falls below 104 volts, or about 132 volts. Plus the surge protection that it affords.

Nope, may not protect against a direct, or extremely close, lightning strike, but it still gives me peace of mind.

[RVhauler]

In my 75 years of which over 50 has been camping (started out at the request of the army in a pup tent on a couple of foreign continents) I have been a beliver for many years in the best surge protector you can afford (either hard wired or other). Over the years my RV has been saved at least twice by the surge protector. Once in VA when a freshly wired 50 amp circuit didn't deliver and smoked serveral AC compressors and once in IA when lighting struck a distribution transformer and wiped about half a dozen RV's in the Casino RV park.

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by bachler

I totaly Respect everyone Opion;; The Facts are not my opinion But facts. The voltage comming into the park May will be near 20000, volts maybe 10 amps, It goes into the coil transformer and gets stepped down, Because they are inverse when the voltage is stepped down the amperage goes up . it could be 120 volts and 2000 amps; the surge must occur Between the transformer and your coach, as a lighting strike. unless you accadently Feed the wrong voltage in, Bad wired fuse box inserting the wrong plug; I know there are a lot of readers that will not agree. thats fine, I respect everyone opion, Be it right or be it wrong.Oh if you feel you need a spike protector by all means have one installed; In our 70 years we have not had the use for one, And have had NO electrial problems, Oh many parks have low voltage which the air conditioner does not like. We have a winnebago ultimate 38' 330cat. basement air that likes a lot of voltage and amps;

Those are your opinions and they are loaded with assumptions, not facts. There will be many responding that can refute your claims from factual experience. I have one installed because I take care of television transmitters all over the country, and can tell you factually what happens with a lightening strike down the road before a transformer, after a transformer, at the local sub-station, tower strikes, you name it does at the site. I have seen the damage with and without line suppression and suppression CLEARLY wins.

I think you're also missing the point of what a coach system really does because, IMO surge suppression in these systems is there long enough to clamp the problem while the system shuts itself off. Then there is the lifted or partially floating grounds, phase reversals, hi & low voltage trips, etc. I think you'll find that there are very few who have needed these devices due to lightening strikes. Most will report it's activation from local failures described above.

You really need to look at the bigger picture of the benefits of these things. Sorry...

[bachler]

To all you RVERS that feel they need a Surge protector Let me know what you want for head room (joules) I would like to sell you one, Sounds like I would have a large group of sales Persons; OH When Playing Black jack I will sometimes Bet on the come; But it has just cost me money;; Life is good; Just like Some peoples Opions.

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by bachler

To all you RVERS that feel they need a Surge protector Let me know what you want for head room (joules) I would like to sell you one, Sounds like I would have a large group of sales Persons; OH When Playing Black jack I will sometimes Bet on the come; But it has just cost me money;; Life is good; Just like Some peoples Opions.

Pointless post. Where's all these facts you claim to have?

[bachler]

Originally Posted by SCVJeff

Pointless post. Where's all these facts you claim to have?

In my 70 + years of working And haveing 49 employees;; A certificate in machanical and electronic Engineering, But above all I have Common sence , And I do respect others opion And Do not show my stupidty Be Insulting Them.With NO POINT JUST words;;;

[UFO Pilot]

So surge protection doesn't work or screwed up electrical connections in RV Parks don't exist? My surge protector has failed to pass current 2 times, in both instances the Park pedestal was defective.

[Dr4Film]

Folks,

It is obvious that Bachler has never had any of the negative experiences, that so many others have had, with poorly wired RV park pedestals or power company service problems in all of his travels and during the many years of his RV experience. So don't waste your time trying to convince him otherwise since he has such a narrow view of the many power problems RV people will be faced with. People like that are a "penny wise and a pound foolish". One day, he will be at a RV park and it will happen and he will be saying, "duh, I guess I should have spent a pound or two to protect the very expensive electronics and 120 volt devices in my coach". There are some people who will never learn from others until one day when it happens to them by making the same mistakes.

By the way, would you purchase a Surge Guard protector from a person that doesn't think you need one in the first place, I don't think so!

My coach is well protected including a VC-50 PowerMaster Voltage Booster which I have needed to use a few times while traveling around the state of Alaska. If you ever come to Alaska, you can find a variety of power problems and pedestals problems in this state. Much less so in the lower 48 but trust me, they have those problems there too in places.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

[jimmccreary]

Dr4Film,
We will be going to Alaska next summer and I would appreciate if you could tell me how low the pedestal voltage was. I have the 50A hardwired TRC surge protector but it does not have the voltage booster. Mine shuts off at voltages lower than 102V. Would this turn out to be a problem in Alaska or Yukon?
thanks
jim & debbie, 2 dogs, 04 Journey 34H, suzuki toad

[jimmccreary]

Here's my wiring:

I had previously wired in a 50A breaker because at some private locations the breaker is remote and not easily accessible. Recently I hardwired my new surge protector between shore power and my breaker. I realize that the breaker is somewhat redundant now that I have the surge protector but left it in because it was already there. I use the TRC 50A surge protector.
Jim & debbie, 04 Journey 34H, suzuki AWD toad

[Jeff and Cheryl]

jimmccreary,
I went to Alaska this summer, via BC and The Yukon. I have a Progressive Indiustries portable 50 amp, surge protector. Twice during the trip the SP turned off power to the coach due to low voltage (less than 108 volts). There were three times when we were in parks that offered 15 amp service only. In these parks I was unable to use the SP as I do not have adapters for 15 to 50. I have them for 50 to 15 but...
On the issue of SP's in general, I think of it as insurance. Including the two times this summer, I've had it disconnect the coach 3 times for low voltage, twice for high voltage (over 132 volts) and one time saved me from plugging into a line with an open ground. I have a friend who, in the summer of 2009, was plugged into power at an RV park that had a power surge. It cost over $2000 to repair/replace the damaged electronics. I've read on iRV2 of a fellow RV'er who was using a SP and had a surge that was so powerful that his SP was destroyed but it did its job and protected the coach systems.

[bachler]

Since It seems overyone is right, Except Me MR /Bachler I think we still live in a free country We can express our experiances/along with our common sence. My friends you can state your feelings without down grading A fellow poster; If some one told me he outrun a state patrol At 185 MPH. WHO am I to Try to correct him. He is oveious speaking from experiance;; As I and several posters have stated in prior posts . If you think you need a surge protector, What the H is the big problem. Go get one installed. Or get one of the people that have one and are happie with it; Install one for you. As for me I think life insurance is a wast of money; Life is good;

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by bachler

In my 70 + years of working And haveing 49 employees;; A certificate in machanical and electronic Engineering, But above all I have Common sence , And I do respect others opion And Do not show my stupidty Be Insulting Them.With NO POINT JUST words;;;

This wasn't meant to be demeaning or insulting. If you are telling us that you have these degrees or certificates, I must assume that you have had some industrial exposure in all this time. If that's the case, there should be no debating what a surge is, where it comes from, how it travels, and the damage it can do. You seem to be stuck on lightening strikes, and that is not the entire point of these devices, and certainly not their only mission by far. You might again read through the posts of those who have had issues first hand that have cause these devices to trip. Obviously they are doing their intended job.

If you're comfortable with taking the chance of something plowing up the AC and not damaging your equipment, great, 20 years ago I'd be right there with ya. But switching supplies in the TV, DVD, PC's, chargers, and all the other stuff just don't tolerate shore power like they used to.

[Jeff and Cheryl]

bachler,
I agree with you about life insurance, for most folks it is a waste of money. This is why I've never had it. However, most of us have auto insurance, homeowners insurance or renters insurance, insurance on our RV, and so on.
I am not and have not offered an opinion about those who do or do not use SP's, just my experiences with power sources and those of others I know or have read about.

[jimmccreary]

Jeff,
Thanks for your input. I may go ahead and install the male and female plug to wire around the surge protector as others have done here, and keep the voltmeter handy.
Cant afford to pullup late at night in the rain and not be able to work around the surge protector.
jim & debbie, 04 Journey, suzuki toad

[Dr4Film]

Originally Posted by jimmccreary

Dr4Film,
We will be going to Alaska next summer and I would appreciate if you could tell me how low the pedestal voltage was. I have the 50A hardwired TRC surge protector but it does not have the voltage booster. Mine shuts off at voltages lower than 102V. Would this turn out to be a problem in Alaska or Yukon?
thanks
jim & debbie, 2 dogs, 04 Journey 34H, suzuki toad

Jim,

First, let me describe how I have wired my shore power input cord.

I was previously using my TRC Surge Guard 50 portable locked at the park pedestal for a year or two as I was a permanent resident for a number of years while working if the film industry in Hollywood, CA. Before leaving CA for Alaska, and not knowing the quality of power pedestals that I would be confronted with while traveling, I purchased a PowerMaster VC-50 which I installed directly after the shore power cord. This is followed with a TRC 50 Surge Guard. The PowerMaster will boost any very low voltage automatically to the proper level before it gets to the TRC urge Guard. The VC-50 also comes with 3580 Joules of clamping surge protection. Next in line is my TRC 50 amp Surge Guard unit which will check to make sure the power pedestal is wired correctly BEFORE passing power to the coach. It checks L1 and L2 for correct voltage levels, both low and high, checks for correct ground and neutral wires whether they have been wired correctly, crossed or if open, etc. The TRC also has 1750 Joules of surge protection. I wired each of these units semi-permanently into my engine compartment very close to where the shore power cord comes into the coach.

So because of the voltage booster, I personally cannot tell you how many pedestals in BC, Yukon & Alaska were supplying low voltage as that will not affect me while using that unit, however I was at a RV park in Tok, AK where the 50 amp pedestal was putting out very high 50 amp voltage and the TRC unit kept it from entering the coach by shutting down every time. I simply switched over to the 30 amp outlet for the night and it worked fine. While staying at an Anchorage school for two months as their Camper Host, the electrical hookup unfortunately was too far away from where I wanted to park such that I had to use my entire 30 foot of coach cable, another 30 foot of 50 amp extension cable followed by the 50/30 amp adapter and another 30 foot of 30 amp extension cable just to reach the 30 amp outlet. With that much cable, the PowerMaster voltage booster kept me supplied with the necessary voltage to keep it well within the safe level needed to power the coach.

If I was going to purchase another EMS unit, as stated earlier in a previous post to this thread, I would definitely look at the Progressive units as they have a lot more features for about the same price as the TRC Surge Guard. The reason I still have the TRC unit is that it was purchased well over a year ago before leaving for Alaska and the TRC was all that I needed at the time. I really didn't want to throw it away of let it sit in a compartment somewhere so it will get used until which time it is rendered useless, then I will purchase the Progressive unit.

In regards to your remark about working around the EMS system with bypassing it, that is NOT recommended unless the problem that it has detected has been corrected. If anyone were to do that, you might as well not spend the money for the unit in the first place. If you encounter a problem, then move to a different site, different pedestal or a different RV park. But NEVER bypass your EMS protection.

By the way, there is no unit available that would be able to clamp the voltage of a direct lightning strike. If that was to occur, I just hope I make it out alive.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

[jimmccreary]

Richard,
Thanks so much for your informative response and all the detail you have included. Also, I understand your wiring now. I was confused about the location of the Powermaster. You are right that to simply bypass the SP would be defeating its purpose and I would not want to do that. So I guess the only rational reason for bypassing the SP would be in the event of its failure, which is probably not likely.
thanks again, your comments were really useful.
jim & debbie, 04 Journey 34H, suzuki toad

[AFChap]

We had a 50a TRC SurgeGuard hardwired into our electrical bay in 2004 after an ac repair (burned wiring & capacitor) believed to be caused by low voltage. The SurgeGuard has disconnected power at least once or twice a year since then as we have traveled around the country. I always test the outlet with a multimeter when the SurgeGuard disconnects to see if I can see what the problem is. Most often it is low/sagging voltage that happens after the sites fill in the evenings. Sometimes it has been high voltage. Most of the time when I find high voltage it is on one leg of the 50a and I find low voltage on the other leg, indicating a loose neutral somewhere on the circuit. In one case I found 175v on one leg and around 80v on the other. That kind of voltage WILL damage your electronics. You may not know it until weeks or months down the road when you have no idea when/where it occured.

The only unusual electrical failure we have had since installing the SurgeGuard was due to a lightning strike that fried the SurgeGuard, transfer switch, inverter, and power cord with only minor damage inside.

IMHO ...plugging into RV park power w/o something to protect your rig from low/high voltage is like using a dirty needle in a crack house and then having unprotected sex with everybody hanging out at the crack house. But you ARE free to make your own choice, for your own reasons. Whatever your choice, enjoy the adventure!!

[RBK394]

My experience is not as long as many posters, but I have already experienced first hand the damage "dirty power" may cause. I just had to replace the stage 2 compressor in my AC at a considerable expense. While the technician could not say precisely what caused the failure, he stated that voltage (either low, high or both) was the most likely culprit. I suppose this could be questioned since the first stage still ran, but he is the technician. At any rate, this experience got my attention and now I am in the market for regulator/surge protector. I am looking at a portable device so that I can carry it with me if I change RVs, just as another poster wrote. I have some good ideas from reading all the posts in this thread.

Now, I have this nagging question that perhaps some can help. I have seen devices at campgrounds that are secured with this plastic cover that locks around the junction where the rv power cord is plugged into the SP. They don't look all that secure to me. For something that expensive, what are some ideas on how to really secure them. I don't intend this as an indictment on my fellow rv'ers, but a little physical security of the device would be a real compliment to the security the device is designed to provide.

[DAN L]

i have been using the progressive industries portable 50 amp surge protector for about 3 years. i have not experienced any problems.
for the cost of about $100, i cannot imagine not using this surge protector.