surge protector

[buc1980]

How many of you use the surge protectors .And how many time you wish to have one when the problem occur.

[KATOOM]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:

KATOOM wrote:
I guess if you have a portable surge protector for 50 amp and you find yourself at a 30 amp max park then.....you cant use it? If thats the case then this is reason alone for a hardwired one.

"KATOOM" I was impressed by your thoughts on a whole *house* inverter, but no so much by the above!..:R

.

Ya caught me in a moment of stupidity..... Not sure what the heck I was thinking when I posted that. :S

[ol_Bombero-JC]

KATOOM wrote:
I guess if you have a portable surge protector for 50 amp and you find yourself at a 30 amp max park then.....you cant use it? If thats the case then this is reason alone for a hardwired one.

"KATOOM" I was impressed by your thoughts on a whole *house* inverter, but no so much by the above!..:R

As other poster indicated - a 50amp PI EMS "protects downward" -
to lower amperage pedestal connections......but a 30amp won't help with a 50amp connection.

"Protection" is the same - whether it's hard wired or portable..;)

.

[CA_Traveler]

rhingst wrote:
Some of the posts are why I love my portable Progressive EMS that plugs into the electrical pedestal. I know what I have before I plug the trailer into it.

Ditto for the hardwired unit. It doesn't connect the rig and the remote displays a fault code.

[CA_Traveler]

KATOOM wrote:
I guess if you have a portable surge protector for 50 amp and you find yourself at a 30 amp max park then.....you cant use it? If thats the case then this is reason alone for a hardwired one.

Both the portable and hardwired 50A units work on 20A and 30A.

[KATOOM]

I guess if you have a portable surge protector for 50 amp and you find yourself at a 30 amp max park then.....you cant use it? If thats the case then this is reason alone for a hardwired one.

[rhingst]

Some of the posts are why I love my portable Progressive EMS that plugs into the electrical pedestal. I know what I have before I plug the trailer into it.

[pianotuna]

Hi CA,

Ty for the charging information. It is good to have "real life" figures. I'll rather rarely be using the unit as a charger.

In testing I did run the water heater, fridge and air conditioner. The remote showed a draw of 335 amps from the battery bank. When I plugged into 120 volt power it did charge at 89 amps for a while, but I did not note the line voltage. I know it was 122 under "no load" or "low load", and drops to 116 when the air and water heater are on.

The remote allows me to "tweak" the inverter so it will go to "sleep" until there is a draw of 5 watts (or what ever number I select--do not know the range yet).

As I have a decent solar system, overhead is not much of an issue for me.

My biggest reason for going to an expensive boost inverter was to allow me to limit shore input power to 15 amps. I often stay outside rural Churches and give them a discount on their tuning fees in exchange for use of their power. But I do not always have access to the shore power breaker box, so I've had to watch my watt meter carefully--and also the voltage.

I will continue to use my OEM shore power cord at RV parks.

[CA_Traveler]

Don, It will be interesting to see what you discover.

FYI My ME2012 will charge the maximum 100A when there is 120V on it's input terminals. At 116V it charges at 80A. When charging at 80A and above the remote meter indicates 100A. The amps reading is estimated based on the AC input. Both of these are Magnum cost tradeoffs and verified by them.

Your idle draw of 7W is about 13AH day, close to double the ME2012. And you have a 30W no load inverter draw.

[avvidclif1]

After reading thru all the sales literature (I didn't download the OM) I can find no mention of surge/over/under voltage protection. I did finally find a site that listed the price and choked, $2250.

[pianotuna]

Hi CA,

Yes the brand new MSH3012M 3000 watt model that does boost from the battery bank under heavy loads.

http://www.magnumenergy.com/products/MSH-Mseries.htm

I also purchased the remote to control it.

CA Traveler wrote:
Don, A hybird inverter makes sense for you RV usage and will help with limited AC power. It doesn't otherwise help with pedestal problems but your pre checks should eliminate most problems.

Do you have the MSH-M model?

[ddschuman]

Mile High wrote:

pianotuna wrote:


Folks who have the top of the line progressive actually get a useful piece of equipment. Folks who buy the bottom of the line have pretty much got "the emperor's new clothes" and are lulled into a sense of false complacency.

Because of the possibility of an open neutral, 50 amp rv's are more susceptible to over voltage on one leg. If the owner would check before they plugged in, that could be avoided, too.

Bottom line is always check before you plug in.

Checking before you plug in only means it was good at the moment you tested it (another naked emperor :)). I've had two incidents that occurred days after I had already been in use of the power. Two weeks ago, the breaker failed on one leg, and my progressive shut down all of it. The parks person repairing it said his camp host pedestal lost neutral months after he had been using it, killing most of his electrical and totaling the rig.

To have half a chance, you need continuous protection.

Hmm...although I agree about checking before you plug in is a great idea, it would not have saved us this weekend. We were in a state park over the weekend. The electric company came I to the park and was replacing ground wires at all campsites. They powered down, replaced wire and powered up in about 5 minutes. 30 minutes later we go into camper and notice lights dimming in and out along with other electrical issues. Electric company was still in the park so I found them and asked if what they were doing would be causing the issue. They said "no" and came back to look. Upon inspection, they realized that they had accidentally pulled the neutral when they pulled the cover off the first time which was causing voltage issues. It messed up converter, zapped the microwave, coffee pot and water pump. Possibly other damage but won't know until we can get it in for repairs. Wishing badly that we would have installed our Progressive Industries EMS already (purchased last year but never got around to installing). Stupid mistake on our part...won't go camping again until installed. Of course this will be after repairs (whatever they may be) are completed.

[mr__ed]

It's a good idea to do the (obvious) visual check of the pedestal socket first. There have been many occasions when visual inspection revealed a badly burned socket. This happens in higher end RV parks, too but not to the extent it does in older, poorly maintained parks. When that happens demand another site or leave the park. A socket with burnt pins will damage your RV's electrical plug over time and will offer resistance to the electrical current going to your RV..

[Mile_High]

KATOOM wrote:

I also think my analogy about having one on your home was very accurate even though you know where your home is plugged in every day. And its still "on topic too" as there's still potential power issues with whomever is supplying shore power, and this is especially a problem for high lighting storm areas.

Oh we get plenty of lightning at the stick house - it blows out the refrigerator, TVs, computers, and even the surge suppressors. It's all a balance about what you want to spend vs choosing your own risk. I don't have surge suppression on the house, nor do I have a generator, armed security gaurds, a lightning protection system, or a fire sprinkler system. 🙂

[CA_Traveler]

Don, A hybird inverter makes sense for you RV usage and will help with limited AC power. It doesn't otherwise help with pedestal problems but your pre checks should eliminate most problems.

Do you have the MSH-M model?