We have had several days of thunderstorms in this area in the past couple of weeks including a tropical storm and during one of them lightning struck a pine tree that was close to a large fresh water line feeding the campground where I am hosting. Per the attached picture this water line lost. The park was without fresh water and the bathhouses were all closed for 2 days. I always fill my fresh tank when I arrive for cases like this so I was ok. Others in the park weren't so lucky and weren't happy.I don't know if it was related to this particular lighting strike or not, but we had one entire row of sites where the 50 amp service lost a leg. I'm not on this particular circuit, but close and I lost a leg at the same time. It turned out that my EMS PT50C was reading both legs voltage coming in from the pedestal, but it was not passing voltage on one leg to my rig. It seems it protected me from something and died in the process. So I pulled my spare PT50C out of it's box and put it in service (I absolutely will not plug in anywhere without a PT50C). All is well now with both legs being powered normally and the original PT50C is headed back to PI for warranty service. It had been in full time service since April 2012 so thank goodness for the product and also it's lifetime warranty. I had zero damage in my rig.Update 9-13-2016:I spoke with PI yesterday and my returned PT50C definitely took a hit on one leg and it was bad enough it couldn't be repaired. So they shipped me a brand new one scheduled to arrive 9-14-2016.I will put it in service for a week or so to make sure it is in fact working and then put it back in it's box as my new spare. Then my old spare which is working nicely right now will become my new every day unit. Yes I do have 2 PT50C's, one for every day use and one as a spare.As I have stated many times "I will never plug in anywhere without my PT50C".

Great testimonial. :BI experience power source anomalies several times each camping season and find my Progressive EMS-HW30C disconnecting anytime such an event occurs and as a result have never had any failures within the trailer itself since I began using it. Prior to that I did lose the microwave oven in our previous KZ Spree and did have to buy a new one. I also plug in full time here at the house but last year service suffered an excessive voltage drop on one incoming leg and excessive voltage increase on the other. The camper happened to be plugged into the low leg so my EMS disconnected immediately - no harm, no foul. Unfortunately the television in our living room was running on the high leg and as it wasn't protected by any form of surge protection it blew the power supply. Fortunately I found a replacement online and repaired it myself, avoiding having to replace the television itself. Unfortunately, my iMac downstairs wasn't so lucky - the little plug in surge protector was blown to smithereens and the duplex receptacle badly charred. I replaced both and managed to get the iMac going again but the video card, which is now out of production and no longer available, never did work correctly again and finally gave up the ghost, so I had to replace the iMac with the MacBook Pro I'm now using. Expensive lesson, and while an RV specific surge protector / EMS may not be a total guarantee against any and all occurrences it sure is a lot better than doing nothing at all to protect the electrical system in one's rig. I'm sold, and like you would never plug in anywhere without one.

We had a "Blink" this AM, thanks to my protection my A/C shut down for the required time needed to safely and softly re-start.. Some of my neighbors were nto so lucky, I heard theirs struggling to re-start... This really tears them up and replacements.... Well I had one fail for other reasons, the estimate is 1,000 dollars.

I have to wonder, why all the concern about the quality of electricity when camping, but throw caution to the wind about the sticks and bricks house?Granted, the quality of the pedestal at a RV park is a variable, but the source of the electricity is from an electric company, too. Seems to me if one feels the need to protect their RV, they should have the same need in their house where they probably have more electronics.

Not advocating or detracting. Mere info...A large grid which an RV park is...Has innumerable loads shared by X1 X2 X3 X0 single tranformer connection. Most homes utize dedicated transformer service drops. Don't care if the transformer is 20Kw or 200Kw once the power exits the transformer it's a commonly shared circuit. Like children in class in flu season.Lightning pathways are unpredictable. If a strike is close enough it will eat the best EMS for lunch. Unplugging is the sole protection.

The electrical problems found in RV parks are often caused by things after the electric company's service connection. Drooping voltage is most commonly caused by insufficient wiring between the pedestals, not by insufficient capacity from the power company (though that certainly is not impossible). Open neutrals and grounds are in the campground wiring.House wiring systems are less distributed and involve shorter wire runs and tend to be more reliable. There are situations where some sort of protection for a house is advisable--particularly surge/lightning protection. And it certainly is true that an open neutral in a house can be just as problematic as an open neutral in a campground.Incidentally, modern electronics are far more immune to moderate voltage variations than some people realize. Many, probably most, switching power supplies these days are rated to operate on anything from 100 to 240 volts. Things like light bulbs and motors and larger appliances are more likely to be affected by voltage variations. (A direct lightning strike is a different matter altogether, and results in much much more than a moderate voltage variation.)

Saved By PT50C - Proof | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Sep 14, 2016
Not advocating or detracting. Mere info...

A large grid which an RV park is...

Has innumerable loads shared by X1 X2 X3 X0 single tranformer connection. Most homes utize dedicated transformer service drops. Don't care if the transformer is 20Kw or 200Kw once the power exits the transformer it's a commonly shared circuit. Like children in class in flu season.

Lightning pathways are unpredictable. If a strike is close enough it will eat the best EMS for lunch. Unplugging is the sole protection.
DownTheAvenue
Explorer
Sep 14, 2016
I have to wonder, why all the concern about the quality of electricity when camping, but throw caution to the wind about the sticks and bricks house?
Granted, the quality of the pedestal at a RV park is a variable, but the source of the electricity is from an electric company, too. Seems to me if one feels the need to protect their RV, they should have the same need in their house where they probably have more electronics.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Sep 14, 2016
We had a "Blink" this AM, thanks to my protection my A/C shut down for the required time needed to safely and softly re-start.. Some of my neighbors were nto so lucky, I heard theirs struggling to re-start... This really tears them up and replacements.... Well I had one fail for other reasons, the estimate is 1,000 dollars.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Sep 14, 2016
Great testimonial. :B

I experience power source anomalies several times each camping season and find my Progressive EMS-HW30C disconnecting anytime such an event occurs and as a result have never had any failures within the trailer itself since I began using it. Prior to that I did lose the microwave oven in our previous KZ Spree and did have to buy a new one. I also plug in full time here at the house but last year service suffered an excessive voltage drop on one incoming leg and excessive voltage increase on the other. The camper happened to be plugged into the low leg so my EMS disconnected immediately - no harm, no foul. Unfortunately the television in our living room was running on the high leg and as it wasn't protected by any form of surge protection it blew the power supply. Fortunately I found a replacement online and repaired it myself, avoiding having to replace the television itself. Unfortunately, my iMac downstairs wasn't so lucky - the little plug in surge protector was blown to smithereens and the duplex receptacle badly charred. I replaced both and managed to get the iMac going again but the video card, which is now out of production and no longer available, never did work correctly again and finally gave up the ghost, so I had to replace the iMac with the MacBook Pro I'm now using. Expensive lesson, and while an RV specific surge protector / EMS may not be a total guarantee against any and all occurrences it sure is a lot better than doing nothing at all to protect the electrical system in one's rig. I'm sold, and like you would never plug in anywhere without one.

Forum Discussion

Saved By PT50C - Proof

14 Replies

About Technical Issues

Related Content

Mice Proofing

Water proofing slide toppers.

If you have proof...

Dust proofing

Fool Proof Prime Rib