"It is almost like the rig is getting a drop in voltage"
WHY I have a surge guard (well one of several reasons)
Advantage. Both the TRC/Southwire Surge gards (Which is what I have due to a fantastic sale price) and the Progressive Industries EMS units the remote (Optional on the TRD) for the hard wired or the display for the plug in shows both Volts and amps on both lines of a 50 amp (just one on a 30).
Now.... Mine has protectd me against (So far)
High voltage (There is a weak neutral on the sight I'm on now)
Short term failure (Like one or two seconds)
Open Ground (Park had to fix that one)
Just to name 3 conditions the unit protects. Low voltage is also covered one and open neutral.
Plus.. No matter what folks tell you there is a 240volt outlet that looks a whole lot like a TT-30.. and in fact a TT-30 will plug into it.. That's covered too.. I've never done that (yet) but I have seen one such outlet.... (I had to look for it someone told me it existed but I already knew it was 240 volt)
(He called it 60 amp, in the breaker box were two sets of 60 amp breakers, both ganged, so I knew the 60 amp outlets were 240 volt).