RV surge protection

bob213 wrote:
Now we have 50 year old campgrounds trying to maintain RV's drawing 50amps with two A/C's and countless electronics. The campground wiring is probably the same and can't keep up with todays demand.

Actually the situation is much worse ... all those large 5ths and MHs with dual A/C that are wired with 50 amp main service can each pull as much as 100 amps because that so-called "50 amp service" is really 50 amps across 2 legs. Fill an older campground during the hot summer months with a bunch of these rigs all loading down an electrical system built years ago that wasn't designed for this kind of load and you can bet there'll be plenty of voltage sag. :M I particularly remember a time when we were camping in the Schroon Lake area in the Adirondacks and when I checked my campsite source voltage before I was about to plug in it was already sitting at 104 vac. :E Under load it would have been even worse. :M

I've never run any sort of surge protection in any of our previous trailers and somehow seemed to survive but when an opportunity came up last year to buy one at a really good price I jumped at it. As far as I know it's not saved our trailer's electrical system while camping but it sure did here at the house where I keep the trailer during the season ... some sort of surge that blew out the television in the house and tripped the surge guard protecting the trailer. Lucky me, I'd say that surge guard paid for itself in that one event ... as for the television, I got lucky there too ... found a replacement power supply on the internet, put it in, and the television was back up and running, saving us from having to buy another TV. Now I've got a surge protector on the circuit feeding it too.

To the OP - invest in some sort of electrical protection for your trailer ... sooner or later you'll be really glad you did. :W

Why carry a spare or insurance or ....

Look at my signature! It only takes one time and your RV is just fried!

We were at a campground in Delaware and received a lightening strike about 20" from the RV.

I now have a surge protector. To me it's another form of insurance.

I started camping over 50 years ago with my parents in a Scotty trailer. A lot of the campgrounds were new and the trailers rarely had any electronics in them. Now we have 50 year old campgrounds trying to maintain RV's drawing 50amps with two A/C's and countless electronics. The campground wiring is probably the same and can't keep up with todays demand. Unless you are in a NEW campground(few and far between) I think you are going to see that power sag 2oldman refers to. A good EMS is cheap insurance for the money I have invested in my RV. If you think it's a problem that doesn't really exist, you haven't been to enough CG's especially in hot weather. I suggest you get one and protect your investment.

2oldman wrote:
Voltage sag is way more common.

I guess it's like insurance, rarely needed but a disaster if you don't. And its use would be directly proportional to the amount of time you spend in RV parks.

X2

The problem is that without surge, high/low voltage protection you will probably never be aware of the damage that is being done. When your AC runs on low voltage (as in late afternoon and everyone in the park cranks their AC up resulting in a serious drop in voltage throughout the park), you are shortening its life dramatically. The same holds true for most other AC appliances.

When your AC compressor needs replacement after just a few years you can assume it was subjected to substandard electricity that took its toll. A good (I like Progressive Industries), combination surge protection/EMS will prevent this damage.

:C

Muddydogs wrote:
I have seen a few posts about surge protectors and I understand why there needed but was wondering just how big a problem there is in trailer parks.

For 10 years I ran a fleet of 30 camp trailers that were parked in RV parks all over the west, some not so nice parks, and in all that time and 1000's of nights spent in trailers I have never had a problem from the parks electrical hook up.

I understand that just once is enough but these surge protectors kind of seem like a solution to a problem that doesn't exists, just something else for the RV industry to sell?

Good question my thoughts exactly.

Thanks to those who answered so far.

It only takes 1 incident.

Voltage sag is way more common.

I guess it's like insurance, rarely needed but a disaster if you don't. And its use would be directly proportional to the amount of time you spend in RV parks.

I spent four months on the road last summer and visited 35 RV parks. During our visits, we encountered one reversed polarity issue, two low voltage problems, one bad ground, and one dead line on a 50A supply. We were using a Progressive Industries EMS-PT50C electrical management system. Granted, there were no surges detected, but these other issues could have caused equipment damage or malfunctions, and I'd consider the bad ground a safety issue.

At the very least, I'd use a surge protector in areas where even a distant lightning strike could cause a sudden surge on the line. But an EMS may save you a lot of hard earned money if you have to start replacing air conditioners and other appliances.