Surge power protector- hard wire or portable?

The 2 min 16 sec delay is to protect A/C from restarting before pressure has had time to bleed off. We use a pedestal mount as I felt keeping a lightening strike outside was safer. However, a hard wired will protect from your own generator from causing problems with the electronics whereas a portable will not. Both ways have pro’s and cons.

Most important thing is to have one. Ours has saved us several times. In our case either mounting solution would have worked for all our saves. Your choice.

cougar28 wrote:
I have room behind a panel to put the hard wire version. But what if for some reason it goes south? Now your going to have to wire around to restore power.Make it plug and play by putting plugs on each side? If I do that why not just use a portable unit and install behind the panel?
Or just use the portable unit plugging into the power pedestal? Taking the chance of someone walking off with it-water intrusion and just having to deal with every time you set up and leave. What's you thoughts? I'm sure there's more + and - to each one.

Certainly you can solve the potential theft issue by mounting a portable unit inside your rig behind a panel but then you wouldn't see what the display is telling you. Second disadvantage to a portable unit is it's delay is fixed, which in the case of a Progressive unit is 136", while their hard wire unit can be set at 136" or just 15". You could solve the potential theft issue by using a portable unit outside your rig by hanging it under a slide or within a wheel well and use an extension cable to reach the power post. I chose a hard wire version which I located under the sofa and mounted the remote display for it on the wall above the sofa where I could check it at will. For convenience of removal I did add connectors but that does increase the overall cost.

We have a portable for the very reason described above. It has saved us a couple of times with low power situations

i chose hard wired for the convenience of having the remote monitor panel and to keep it from growing legs and walking away.

Look up the hughes autoformer.. now look at the Hughes INSTALL Kit.. (you can home brew one of these for less.. I did)

Now if you think just a bit you will figure out how I'd install the HW-50C

Shore line---Outlet/Plug---Hughes authformer-Outlet/plug---HW-50C__outlet/plug-----Automatic Transfer Switch----RV

WNYBob wrote:
If you are a DIYer check out the warranty requirements for the hard wired version I believe there state you need to have it installed by a tech.

I don’t think this is the case anymore. Their website states improper installation would void the warrantee, and they strongly recommend having it professionally, but it is not a requirement.

I don’t have an EMS....yet. It is on my list, and like the op, I’m trying to decide between the hardwired and portable unit. The portable is a tad more expensive and there is always the potential for theft, even if locked.

The hardwired needs a place for it to be installed, requires a bit of work to do so (not afraid of a little work), and from what I hear - can’t confirm - they can be a little noisy. On the other hand, I’ll never forget to use it, and theft would be a non-issue.

If you are a DIYer check out the warranty requirements for the hard wired version I believe there state you need to have it installed by a tech.

P.S. I have a portable one that I chain to the power post, wouldn't be without it!

I have the portable version and have had no problems with it. I dont keep it chained down or anything, it has been in bad weather without an issue. No issue for me plugging it in as I need to hook up the cord either to the pedestal or the protector and literally takes 5 extra seconds to do.