Portable or Hardwired EMS?

MDKMDK wrote:

Powertour wrote:

MDKMDK wrote:

Depending on where your 30A/50A shore power cord is stored, you can plug a portable EMS like the PT-30X into your shore cable, keep the portable inside the (lockable?) electrical bay compartment, and buy a second 30A shore power extension cord, and use that between the electrical bay/EMS and the c/g power post. Cheaper to lose an extension cord than the EMS. It's how I do it.
If your portable ever fails for any reason, and you're under warranty, it's easier to send it back, than uninstalling the hard wired versions or trying to replace parts in it.

Brilliant!

Aw shucks, tweren't nuthin. :W

Here's how I did my previous TT. The compartment where the power cord shoves back into from the outside was accessible form inside the camper by removing a panel. I then hinged the panel. I then cut the power cord attached to the traile just long enough to attach a new male end. I then used a 30 amp (mine was 30 amp) cord extension and simply plugged the new protector into the now trailer (short pigtale) and the extension cord into the protector. The male end of the protector was simply shoved back into the outside hole, and had only a few inches of movement. It worked magnificent.

The original cord attached to the trailer. I put a new end on it after cutting it free from the junction box inside the camper.



The cabinet (bottom) where the outside cord is shoved into.



This is actually the male end of the surge protector coming through the hole.



Here's the inside of the cabinet:



Simple, easy, and worked very well.

When we sold the trailer, I just removed the portable unite, and plugged the original cord back in to it's original existing wire. I let the dealer I sold to know about this, if they wanted to keep it that way, or simply remove the short pig tale from the junction box and wire it back in directly, or just leave it that way so the next person could slap in a portable protector or EMS.

We indeed, did sell that trailer and I did keep the protector.

The new 5er did not have a convenient way to do this, so ended up getting a Progressive Industry EMS portable. It came with a ring around the wire with a hole in it. I keep a bicycle cable lock in that hole all the time and the key to the lock with my set of keys for the camper. Works OK.

FYI, more and more portable unites, for example, Hughes Autoformer has bluetooth technology that sends all the read-outs to your cell phone. My current 30 amp (which replaced the one in the photo above) does that. It's really sweet when we are at a site that has 30 amp only, and not 50. The Progressive 50 amp does not do it.

FYI, the Progressive unite has a 2 minute delay after plugging in, or after power is restored at the source. But the unit begins immediately to check the power and send out readings on the display or error codes on the display before activating power to the camper. If there is anything wrong with the incoming power, the Progressive portable EMS will display that right away, giving you a chance to unplug if you don't like what you see. Then, you still have the option to plug the power cord directly into the power source if you want, instead of being locked out because the EMS is hardwired in your camper. I've never plugged in directly when an error was thrown, but I have reported errors to the campground management and breaker boxes and plugs were promptly exchanged by campground maintenance (3 times now over this last Summer).