Hughes Auto Former

valhalla360 wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
Ok if you plug in like this

Park--Surge guard (See note)---Hughes---RV

Note: and the surge guard is one of the good ones that cut you off if the voltage is too low or high.. IT will cut you off when the uncorrected voltage goes too low (i think 109)

I think we are in agreement but.... it was technically correct but a little confusing they way you wrote it (first reading it looked like the above was a reasonable option).

To clarify a bit more:

If you put the surge guard upstream of the autofomrer (as shown in the example above)...it will likely cut power due to low voltage at the pedestal when the autoformer is well within it's capability to boost the voltage to acceptable levels.

So if the pedestal is at say 102v, the autoformer boosting at 10%, would take that up to around 112v which I would be fine with. But since the Surge guard sees 102v, it cuts power to protect your system and the autoformer never gets a chance to boost the power.

By putting the autoformer upstream, it takes the 102v power and boosts it to 112v and the surge guard sees 112v and is happy to pass the power thru to the RV.

Well.. I thought that was what I said :) Sometimes I can get confusing thanks for the re-write.

Sometime this evening the Autoformer apparently has quit working. Wife started to use the convection oven and noticed the voltage meter on the red lien at 110 volts.
The two leds that show when it is boosting lien 1 and line 2 were dark.
The other leds were glwoing light green just like when I first plugged in though.Unplugged it and waited a while and plugged it back in, No change. Triedto call Hughes but no one answered and left a message. Tried to sen and email on their form on their site and not sue it worked.
I hope I don't have to send it back.

ford truck guy wrote:
I was told by Hughes when I purchased my Autoformer to plug the Surge Protector in after the Autoformer like option #2 above.....

They told me the surge protector was no longer needed since the Hughes has one built in, but would use it if I already had it....

Two comments: 1: Thank you (that option 2 was my post)

2: The built in replacable surge protection is MOV (metal Oxcide Varisistors as best I can spell it out) and these are very good at clipping spikes (Short bursts of too much voltage)

This is ONE of the ways that my TRC Surge Guard or the PI HW-30/50 o PT-30/50 or the new PT-30/50 replacement protect you

Never hurts to have more MOV's (Up to a point and we are not even close yet)

But the Good Systems like the HW-30/50C or the portable (plug in) equivlent also protect you if you plug into a 240 volt outlet or if power goes out for like just one second (They hold off for between 2 and 3 minutes which is way easier on the A/C) and also. after a power fail. hold you off for 2-3 minutes when power comes back (It's kind of roller coaster ride during the first minute)

They also protect (By shuttng off) if power goes too low.

ANd check for bad connections as well.

IN short.. Like I said before. I use both.

wa8yxm wrote:
Ok if you plug in like this

Park--Surge guard (See note)---Hughes---RV

Note: and the surge guard is one of the good ones that cut you off if the voltage is too low or high.. IT will cut you off when the uncorrected voltage goes too low (i think 109)

I think we are in agreement but.... it was technically correct but a little confusing they way you wrote it (first reading it looked like the above was a reasonable option).

To clarify a bit more:

If you put the surge guard upstream of the autofomrer (as shown in the example above)...it will likely cut power due to low voltage at the pedestal when the autoformer is well within it's capability to boost the voltage to acceptable levels.

So if the pedestal is at say 102v, the autoformer boosting at 10%, would take that up to around 112v which I would be fine with. But since the Surge guard sees 102v, it cuts power to protect your system and the autoformer never gets a chance to boost the power.

By putting the autoformer upstream, it takes the 102v power and boosts it to 112v and the surge guard sees 112v and is happy to pass the power thru to the RV.

Park Power then AutoFormer then Surge protection in that order.

cavie wrote:

Autoformer has built in surge protection only but no EMS protection at all!

I'm not sure I agree with this statement as the autoformer steps up the voltage to avoid the lower than 108 Volt situation. Therefore it does provide low voltage protection.

ford truck guy wrote:
I was told by Hughes when I purchased my Autoformer to plug the Surge Protector in after the Autoformer like option #2 above.....

They told me the surge protector was no longer needed since the Hughes has one built in, but would use it if I already had it....

You must understand the term Surge Protector to determine where to plug it in. At true surge protector is just that and nothing more. It will protect from strong surge on the power lines. It will take only one hit and it is done. It makes no difference where you plug it in.

An EMS on the other hand must be plugin AFTER the Autoformer. If you plug the autoformer in after the EMS, The EMS will shut off the power at 108 and render the autoformer usless.

Shore Power, Autoformer. EMS.

Autoformer has built in surge protection only but no EMS protection at all!

surge protector and EMS are two different things.

I was told by Hughes when I purchased my Autoformer to plug the Surge Protector in after the Autoformer like option #2 above.....

They told me the surge protector was no longer needed since the Hughes has one built in, but would use it if I already had it....

Ok if you plug in like this

Park--Surge guard (See note)---Hughes---RV

Note: and the surge guard is one of the good ones that cut you off if the voltage is too low or high.. IT will cut you off when the uncorrected voltage goes too low (i think 109)

If you plug in like this (As I do)

Park---Hughes---Surge guard--RV
Then well if you plug into 220 volts by accident (using an adapter if needed) you will fry the hughes (or may fry it) but low voltaeg will be corrected BEFORE the surge guard cuts you off.

And that is why I do it that way .