surge protector

There are surge protectors and Surge Protectors.

There is one that Camping world sells for about a hundred bucks, it has some LED's on it no digital displays, IT is a "surge supressor" really a spike suppressor it is 100% useless if you get a genuine surge (Sustained high voltage) and in fact if that happens it may remind you of a firecracker,,, I know several surge strips I had did that when I got hit with a real surge. (I should know, I was there, sounded a bit like Independence day).

A Good Energery Monitoring System, like the more expensive ones CW sells or the Progressive jobs.. This has a digital display which shows one or more of the following, Voltage, current and frequency. It may also show error codes.

These monitor the voltage, and selected other things, and will shut you off if the important things go out of range.

Voltage too high (SURGE) shut down
Voltage too low (Brownout) SHut down

Frequency too high or low (Very unlikely but) Shut down

My inverter monitors all of these and in addition the waveform, too noise (IE: MSW feed) and it switches to inverter mode. I know of no surge guard that does this though.

In addition it will check for inverse polarity, open grounds (or neutrals) and such and either shut you down or report the error, depending on how bad it is.

Personally I really like the PI hard wired version as it's not visible, no plugging it in and the remote or two remotes if you like. All parameters are visible including 10 error codes on the remote.

Actually the PI units have better protection, field replaceable parts, lower price, good support and lifetime warranty. Not suggesting the TRC is a bad unit, just second best.

The unit you are looking at is an EMS (energy management System)and is better than a surge protector. The only thing I don't like is the 1 year warranty.

Progressive Industries has a life time warranty. I have the PI EMS 50 amp portable unit and it has saved us several time when voltage dropped from 120 to 104 they to 76 volts for about 3 hours. We were lucky, voltage droped just as we shut the lights off to goto bed. Proper power was restrored by power company 3 hour later.

Second here we had the PI unit it died, called PI, they sail send it in. unit was repaired at no charge. they said it had water damage due to a bad seal. Mow over five years and not a problem with it. Sure glad I had the lifetime warranty.

Since I plugged into a brand new 50AMP pedestal that was wired wrong from the manufacturer Mothers day weekend I ordered and am installing this Surge Protector.

TRC Model#34560 50AMP Hard wired

Automatically shuts off power when the following is present:
Open neutral; Low (102V) and High (132V)Voltage.
Multi-mode surge protection
Caution lite for: Mis-wired pedestal, Reverse polarity and Elevated ground voltage.
128 second reset delay protects AC Compressor.
3850 Joules of power surge protection.

Don't want to go thru this power problem again.

C.B.

Interesting monitor that I hadn't seen before and it might be the right device for you. I doesn't display both legs of 50A power.

I camped for 20 years with no device and then bought a newer rig with a lot more electronics so I added the PI HW50C unit. One night we had 160V on a 30A plug, so glad I had the unit.

I came across this and might save some money for some.It doesnt shut anything down automatically but it will alert you to do it manually.It seems to be alot of bang for the buck.http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/digital-line-monitor/24900

Nomadac wrote:
My Surge Protector has shut off the power from the pedestal, several times when the voltage was low, protecting the AC unit.

What do you have?

Then no. A surge protector will not indicate voltage nor will it protect you from high or low voltage as in out of spec 120V +- 10%. It will be destroyed and protect against high voltage transients ie a surge.

Likewise a voltmeter will not protect you against low or high voltage unless you are watching it and can disconnect the power fast enough or essentially no protection.

A full function power protection device will detect a surge and self destruct protecting you. It will also detect high/low voltage and disconnect. Some like my Progressive Industries HW50C will display current voltage and amps and will display a error code for a prior fault like low voltage.

To protect your AC you can:
1. Watch a voltmeter all day
2. Use a full function power protector
3. Use a autoformer
4. Turn the AC off

My Surge Protector has shut off the power from the pedestal, several times when the voltage was low, protecting the AC unit.