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Old 12-12-2016, 07:51 PM   #1
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50 amp surge protectors

Do you all use power surge protectors on your units.... It seems like a great idea. Just curious if someone has got some ideas on this. Ted
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Old 12-13-2016, 12:14 AM   #2
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Quote:
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Do you all use power surge protectors on your units.... It seems like a great idea. Just curious if someone has got some ideas on this. Ted
Absolutely!

Now the fun is deciding if you want hard wired or portable....

BTW the best on the market are from Progressive Industries. Made in the USA and have an industry leading warranty that they stand behind.

Aaron
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Old 12-13-2016, 09:46 AM   #3
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I will be purchasing one of the 50 amp Progressive Industries before our spring trip. I have decided to get the EMS-PT50C (Progressive Industries RV Surge and Electrical Protection industry lea) but according to their website, they are discontinuing this unit (the site states they do still have some available).

According to their website: (copied from their home website)
We've gone back to the drawing board and made some pretty impressive new improvements to the design and function of our most popular Portable EMS-Surge Protector.



On our last outing we happened to be beside someone that had one and during our conversations, they stated that they had plugged into a faulty power post which fried their electrical system in their TT. After they got their trailer repaired, the dealership's repair shop recommended one of the PI EMS systems.
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Old 12-13-2016, 10:39 AM   #4
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Absolutely. I've seen two units in two different campgrounds short out on otherwise rock solid electrical service. I don't plug in anywhere, even my own house, without it.
Rusty
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Old 12-13-2016, 01:07 PM   #5
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Thanks for info...I was looking at the Camco

I just bought a new RV and have zero experience. I will look at the other unit. I saw where some were quite expensive and just didn't know where the happy medium was.
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Old 12-13-2016, 02:08 PM   #6
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You need more than surge protection. The Progressive Industries model will shut down for under or over voltage. When you plug it in, it doesn't immediately pass power through. It delays for 2 minutes. It cycles through line frequency, voltage on each leg, and once it starts providing power to the RV, tells you how many amps each leg is drawing. It also displays fault codes for any anomalies it has detected. Bottom line, when you first plug in, it's going to check everything before it puts power through to the RV, and then it's going to monitor and protect your RV's power feed. PI seems to also have a very good customer service reputation. Their units aren't the cheapest, but they seem to be top quality. I'm happy with the portable model we've had for several years, used in many different campgrounds for one night to extended stays, and while plugged in at home. I never plug our 5th wheel in without it.
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Old 12-13-2016, 06:42 PM   #7
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Quote:
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I just bought a new RV and have zero experience. I will look at the other unit. I saw where some were quite expensive and just didn't know where the happy medium was.
That is going to be a judgement call. I look at it as a form of insurance. Figure out how much it would cost to replace any and all electronic equipment in your unit if there was a voltage spike.

When I had my Coleman I bought a Surge Guard unit, still have it, still use it. However after doing additional research and follow up my next one will be a hard wired Progressive Industries. They are better built, built in the USA and have a lifetime warranty. I don't have a beef with most of the Camco stuff, but their electrical stuff seems to be hit or miss on the quality. I bought a 30 amp to 50 amp converter that was DOA, it would only feed one leg of the 50 amp circuit. I think they had a bad batch, took me a while to find one that worked like it was supposed to.

A good place to buy stuff like that is Best Converter. They are a small veteran owned business located in Utah. I have purchased quite a few products from them over the years. Their support before and after the sale is outstanding and well worth the few extra dollars you may spend over a bargain sales place.

Aaron
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Old 12-13-2016, 07:27 PM   #8
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Thanks for all the great info...
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Old 12-13-2016, 08:21 PM   #9
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Absolutlely Yes

Last year on a trip through New York we had a thunder storm come through that took out my PSC-50. Nothing in the trailer was harmed. It was our first night out and I was really nervous the rest of the trip. Progressive stood behind it and replaced it free of charge. They actually think water may have gotten inside an caused the problem. The tech I talke to said the new ones are suppose to have a cover with them to prevent water infiltration.
-Jeff
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Old 12-13-2016, 10:28 PM   #10
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First off... yes, definitely get one.

Then the question becomes, hard-wired or portable. The following is a copy & paste for a post I made in June of 2013... and I think it still applies. Take it for what it's worth:

....
I asked my service guy about installing one... and he STRONGLY advised me to NOT get a hard-wired unit. Said he'd seen lots of rigs in his time come through for electrical work with one installed, and even a few units that had caught fire and were badly damaged. And all of them had trouble trying to get reimbursed for the cost of repairs.

His take was that... if Dutchmen had installed one with the build, then that'd be great. It'd be located in a convenient place... and (more importantly) if anything ever went wrong, it'd be covered under warranty.

As for an aftermarket one... he said that while they are far more convenient, in that you don't have that big, heavy, box on the end of the plug... if anything should ever go wrong with it, the hassles of trying to diagnose the trouble and/or remove it from the system completely are much more complicated.

And 'good luck' trying to prove to either Dutchmen, the dealer who installed it, or the company that made the surge protector that the problem is their fault to pay for repairs. That each would blame the other. Dutchmen would say the surge protector was defective or installed incorrectly... the surge company would say the rig electronics were defective or installed incorrectly... and the service dept. who installed it would say it was either bad wiring on the rig or the surge protector that caused it.

(and "good luck" going against their lawyers if you installed it yourself!!)

Either way, the rig owner would have to pay any repair costs up front, and then try to get reimbursed from whoever they could get to claim fault. Expect a few years before your case would ever appear in court.

All of that is avoided with a portable plug & play portable unit. There's virtually nothing to screw up. You plug the unit on the shore-power pole, plug your cord into the unit, and you're in business. Everything is self-contained, with no user modifications required.

So that was his opinion on it....
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Old 12-13-2016, 11:49 PM   #11
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I hardwired a Surge Guard 50A from Camping World. The installation was straight forward and very easy; four wires in and four wires out.
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Old 12-14-2016, 12:32 AM   #12
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Hard wired have the advantage of being inside out of the weather, and theft resistant (have to steal the whole RV). They can be a PITA to get to for servicing depending on where and who installed them.

Portable are easy to use, no installation necessary, exposed to weather, and easy to steal if someone is so inclined. However there are a variety of measures that can be taken to minimize the weather and theft issues.

Buy and use what works for you...

I have used a portable one for the past several years and haven't had any problems with it. I do plan to put a hardwired one in eventually, along with an auto transfer switch for the generator. This is primarily to simplify the current system and cut down on portable components and places to store them.

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Old 12-14-2016, 01:55 AM   #13
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Thanks for all the great info....
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Old 12-14-2016, 04:14 PM   #14
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Here's a picture of my installation in the driver-side storage bay. Not sure why the photo loaded sideways.
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Old 12-15-2016, 12:58 AM   #15
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As others have said... absolutely! These things have too much stuff on them to have to replace if you have to start replacing electric "stuff".

I was torn between hard wired vs not hard wired until I ended up at a campground with a buddy that was having electrical fits at a campground once. We took his portable from pedestal to pedestal to find a good working site.

I went with the Progressive Industries 50 amp surge protector. It has been replaced twice (they have a lifetime garauntee). Once, they had it waiting at my destination...just had to send mine back.

SOP for us, while we are getting situated (backing in), we plug in to test the pedestal. We have found a couple with swapped grounds (jury rigged 50 amp pedestals) and some with REALLY high voltage. At that point, we ask for another spot.

These things are worth their weight in gold.

Cale
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Old 12-15-2016, 12:46 PM   #16
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Never thought about the advantage of using it to test the pedestals prior to backing in to find one that works. I guess we have been lucky so far. I have only had one campground that had issues, and it wasn't really a campground. It was festival parking at a Highland Games and it has always had issues. Supposedly they have purchased additional acreage and will be putting in a proper campground electrical system.

Aaron
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