Do I need an external surge protector? Other essentials?

[lfrese]

Just purchased a 2008 motorhome. Ive heard conflicting things on things that I might need.

1) Surge protector that goes between plug ins and the MH when im at a campground - The MH has a circuit breaker though. Do I need this surge protector for something else?

2) Water pressure regulator - When im on "city" water Im using their water pressure - is it possible for their water pressure to get so high it can damage my things?

3) filter between the hose and the RV when putting water in - I saw a screen over the inlet to the RV, do I need an additional filter to prevent particles from getting in and damaging my things (water pump?)



Any other advice on essentials?

[TyroneandGladys]

Had a campground owner the reason that low voltage is becoming more of a problem than in the past is that campgrounds that are over 10 years old were designed with usage based on one AC per RV. Now there are more and more two and even three AC's per RV and the parks system just is not designed for that load and the result is low voltage.

[Old-Biscuit]

lfrese wrote:
How do I tell if I need 50 or 30 electrical management system? The specs say my battery converter amps is 55 but I was told its a 30 amp power cord...

30A power cord.
That is what you plug into the power pedestal supply for 120V AC Power
Surge Protector is for the 120V AC System


Converter with 55A.
Converter has 120V AC INPUT....converts it....12V DC OUTPUT
Supplies the 12V DC System (when on 120V AC power source) AND has a built in charger to maintain/charge the battery in your RV.
55A is the DC Output converter is capable of supplying

AC Power System and DC Power System....2 separate electrical systems in your RV

Take the time to read/understand the '12V Side of Life' part 1&2
Here is LINK

[Dragonfly]

As for a water filter / system. It can't hurt. But, even if you sanitize and maintain your water system, you never know about the source of water you pick up. We use bottled water for drinking and usually for cooking. The water we load from who knows where in the on board system we use for showers, toilet, dishwashing etc. A clean water tank is great but you never know what you pick up on the road unless you are VERY careful.

[photobug]

people talk about the "taste" of their water. I'm not sure I've ever actually taken a drink from the system, always use bottled water for drinking. probably since I don't sanitize the system as well or as often as I should. Filtering the **** out of the "city" water supply is probabbly a good idea. I've had plumbing totally blocked by some type of gunk. fixing plumbing is a pain. Over pressure issues depend on how good a shape your plumbing is. if it's old and brittle you might has some cracking from over pressure, otherwise you can always turn the faucet down a little bit. I have one, but it came with the unit and it's bent slightly so it doesn't put as much pressure on the side fitting. Surge protectors are a good idea in areas that have poor power. I've seen some campgrounds wiring that would make an electrician go into fits of seizure. I've got one on my electronics and one for my laptop. As mentioned above cheep ones are worse than nothing at all. As always we take more junk than we really need just in case.

[time2roll]

lfrese wrote:
How do I tell if I need 50 or 30 electrical management system? The specs say my battery converter amps is 55 but I was told its a 30 amp power cord...

You are protecting the cord so go with 30 amp rated.

[jolooote]

Been RVing since 1971. We're on our 7th RV and never have needed a Surge suppress. and never damaged anything. We do Test pole polarity with the cheap 3 light tester and the pole voltage under load with our $25 Kill-o-Watt meter. The most important thing is never run the Air conditioner Compressor if the line voltage is under 107 VAC. The lower the voltage the more current the compressor uses and it gets hot and fails over time.

[rr2254545]

lfrese wrote:
How do I tell if I need 50 or 30 electrical management system? The specs say my battery converter amps is 55 but I was told its a 30 amp power cord...

30 amp has 3 prongs
50 amp has 4 prongs

[lfrese]

How do I tell if I need 50 or 30 electrical management system? The specs say my battery converter amps is 55 but I was told its a 30 amp power cord...

[CharlesinGA]

lfrese wrote:
This one protects against low and high - whats different about the $300 one? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JFWKM2K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Indeed it does the same things, its just that it is cheap Camco ****. When it blows, what are you going to do......... trash it, thats what.

The Progressive industries unit, in particular, is US made, and has a lifetime warranty. If the surge supression blows, you can open it up and they will send you a new surge protection board to install, or you can send the whole unit and they will fix it for free.

I have a hardwired unit (some people have a variety of reasons why they don't like hardwired, but I'll avoid that discussion for now). It has a remote readout that constantly reports voltage, freqs, amps, and reports error codes. The remote inside is nice, I can see the draw of the A/C, water heater, microwave, etc, and what needs to be turned off before I turn on something else.

The cord units also have a digital readout of this info.

Camco doesn't show you voltage, just says it will protect you from over/under voltage by disconnecting. Camco gives you very little info about their unit. Does not state that it disconnects or will not connect upon detection of reverse polarity, or hot ground, just that it "detects" it, it might, I do not know. No mention of a time delay to protect your A/C. If you are gone, and the A/C is running, and power drops or goes hi/lo, or whatever, the Progressive unit disconnects, and STAYS DISCONNECTED for 136 seconds, to give your A/C pressures time to settle out, before restarting the power. If your A/C has an internal time delay (my '07 does not) then you can opt to have it only delay 15 seconds, then power on if all is well.

Everything is better built about the Progressive, the power plugs, the cover over the female receptacle, the digital readout, I'll bet it has a much better quality relay in it.

Some things you cannot protect for, nearby lightning strikes pretty much cannot be stopped by anything portable, possible nothing will stop them, but your worst worry is brown outs, and mis wired/loose wiring in campground pedestals and wiring.

Progressive 30 amp in the new style is $256 on Amazon, and the older one is still listed for $233. Not a lot of functional difference between the two. The Technology Research Surge Guard 30 amp is $242, and it functionally similar to the Progressive but not as good a warranty.

You get what you pay for...............

Charles

[lfrese]

This one protects against low and high - whats different about the $300 one? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JFWKM2K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

[Dick_B]

You've already read that some RVers do without some or all of these for their entire RV lives but that can be said for just about anything in any activity. I'm on the opposite side and have almost every gadget that can possibly make our camping experience more enjoyable.
If you have time you could search this Forum for each of the items in question for more information.

[rr2254545]

No use getting a surge protector if you get a cheap one - Amazon had the Progressive 50 amp one on sale this week for $340 - The Progressive one has a life time warranty -

Progressive Industries EMS-PT50X 50A Digital Surge Protector with Weather Shield

One essential for me is a Water softener - they use actual table salt to regenerate and for the 2 of us it lasts about 2 weeks. Not only does it make the water taste better It makes for easier cleaning of the sinks,showers and exterior of the motor home

http://flowpur.com/html/rv-pro10000.html

Manufacture direct $173 no tax no freight

[Dusty_R]

We have been camping/living in a mh sense 1988. Of the 3 things you ask about we only use an inexpensive pressure regulator. I find that it reduces the amount of water used, which is important if you have to hold your gray water.

Dusty

[Tvov]

lfrese wrote:
Just purchased a 2008 motorhome. Ive heard conflicting things on things that I might need.

1) Surge protector that goes between plug ins and the MH when im at a campground - The MH has a circuit breaker though. Do I need this surge protector for something else?

2) Water pressure regulator - When im on "city" water Im using their water pressure - is it possible for their water pressure to get so high it can damage my things?

3) filter between the hose and the RV when putting water in - I saw a screen over the inlet to the RV, do I need an additional filter to prevent particles from getting in and damaging my things (water pump?)



Any other advice on essentials?

You don't "need" any of those... but they are good to have!

I don't have surge protector / EMS, but we have had brown outs and popped breakers at campgrounds. But, with our simple trailer, compared to a motor home, I am not terribly worried about blowing a breaker, as my way home (our truck) is not plugged in.

We have a simple inline water pressure reducer from Walmart - I think it was $9?. I think I water pressure regulator is much better, and if I ever remember I will pick one up. When you look at how lightweight the plastic plumbing is in a camper, you will want some sort of water pressure control.

YES to a water filter! Many times, after unhooking from a weekend camping trip, I've seen the simple hose washer screens covered in sand / mud / debris from the "potable" water faucet at the campground. The basic camper water filter available at most Walmarts (just connects to the water hose) will work fine - but a fancier setup is really nice to have. If nothing else, DEFINITELY have the simple hose washers with the screens in your hoses.

This is your first time with an RV? Definitely plan a trip to "Camp Driveway" - just camp in your driveway! Cook dinner and breakfast in the camper while you are 20 feet from your house. You will learn quickly what you need.

Second trip, if possible, would be at a nearby campground - under 30 minutes away from home, and preferably near a Walmart / shopping center. Bring a second vehicle with you, so you can run out and pick up things.

After a few trips, you will quickly fill your camper to overflowing with stuff. Then you will spend the next 10 years pulling it all out. You'll see, lol!

See you on the road!