Power surge - which one really protects?

An autoformer before the EMS will usually keep you from ever getting as low as 104 volts. I feel pretty safe using both.

pianotuna - I am inclined to agree with you in regard to the 104 volts.

But what's a person to do? 110/120 volt devices are supposed to function as happy as clams at plus or minus 5%. So anything between 104.5 and 126 volts is supposed to be just dandy. But my gut tells me that my refrigerator motor/compressor would be happier operating at the high end of that range.

Now if I had a device that trips my service at anything less than, for example, 110 volts, and I am only seeing 106 volts, a trip would occur and I might come home to a lot of defrosted food. And since I was the one that set the parameter at 110 volts instead of the normal 104, it's my bad.

So while I might not be thrilled with the situation, there wouldn't seem to be a practical solution.

Hi,

I am not comfortable with the low voltage cut out of 104, so from my point of view none of the current crop of surge devices meets my needs.

If you have a 30 amp RV the chances of bad shore power are much lower. I always check before I plug in. If you have 50 amp then by all means get something that will protect you from a bad neutral.

JRS & B wrote:
If lightning strikes the nearby distribution transformer you are toast no matter what unit you buy.

If wind brings a high voltage line down and it lands on a local distribution wire, it will energize the local distribution circuit at the higher voltage, and again you will probably be toast anyway.

Those are the only two ways I know of to get a true "surge" in the line, even though the term is loosely used to describe any and all abnormal situations.

The phenomena most people experience is over/under voltage and various irregularities in the campground's wiring. For those much more common real world problems, see what Old Bisquit and others have said.

My PI EMS generally shuts down due to low voltage. However this past year it did shut down due to high voltage. This was at an overnight stop.

If lightning strikes the nearby distribution transformer you are toast no matter what unit you buy.

If wind brings a high voltage line down and it lands on a local distribution wire, it will energize the local distribution circuit at the higher voltage, and again you will probably be toast anyway.

Those are the only two ways I know of to get a true "surge" in the line, even though the term is loosely used to describe any and all abnormal situations.

The phenomena most people experience is over/under voltage and various irregularities in the campground's wiring. For those much more common real world problems, see what Old Bisquit and others have said.

THIS has served me well and is in your price range.

Both the SurgeGuard brand and the Progressive Industries brand will work. Most here seem to prefer the Progressive Industries model due to its lifetime warranty.

Bruce

should get a multi-function surge protector. $250 and up.
bumpy

Well you are on the right track..Progressive Industries.

Your SSP30 is a 'surge protector' and does check for 'reversed polarity', 'open neutral' and 'open ground' BUT does not monitor line voltage.

The EMS-HW30C provides much more protection and is roughly $300......LINK
A portable unit with same protection is EMS-PT30C

Both have A/C Unit delay if an event occurs
And your RV A/C unit most likely has a delay start circuit on control board