Surge protectors etc

tepetapan wrote:
Just a note to those who would like to do some research. Mexico's standard voltage is 127 volts. Not 120 like Canada or the US.
Everyone who has low voltage problems in Mexico has a real problem since it is regulated 7 volts higher than the US from the source.
I sit at about 133 volts with no or a dozen RV's running AC's.Well within range of a + or - of 5% and pretty standard in the industry.

Your laptop power supply is able to run from 100 to 200 volts, plus or minus. Look at the label. The circuit boards runs on anywhere, depending on the design, from 3 volts to 9 volts and most in the mid range. It has always seemed to me that the problem is the RV industry ( and vendor to them) is the problem. They won't build a power supply like your laptop has, the size of a half a pack of cigarettes, that handles any voltage. They would rather sell new circuit boards at 100 dollars a pop and make money.

With these comments I'm hoping that you are not suggesting to the readers here to take a lax attitude and go without electrical protection while in Mexico. In the 4 years we spent down there I had 3 incidents related to RV park installations. The first year I plugged the RV in and shortly thereafter got a tingle when I grabbed the RV and put a foot on the ground (the pedestal had reversed polarity), after that I checked each plug with an electrical tester.
The second issue was at a park where the the voltage was above 133 with no draw but went down into the 120's with any draw from the RV. The third issue was that the park voltage went to 62 volts overnight caused by the loss of a main fuse on one leg on the pole at the RV park. The final one was a loss of voltage caused by one leg being down (CFE's problem), while looking at the RV park's main panel with the owner the charitable description of the look of the panel could be described as "spaghetti".

I've always thought that the higher voltage standard in Mexico is there partially to overcome undersized wiring, you can move more power with a higher voltage.

These comments aren't saying that the problems above can't happen in the US or Canada as well (we've hit some of these), it's wise to make sure you are protected as finding RV spares in Mexico isn't easy!