What do you use for surge protection?

[synergy_58]

I am looking for a good surge protector, portable maybe, and have seen The Surge Guard and Progressive Industries. Which do you use and why?

[PatrickA51]

cgmartine wrote:
Hondo, excuse me for jumping in on the op's thread, but I need to ask you....in your first photograph, you show a picture of the shore power outlet, and state that it is used when not hooked up to shore power. I have a Tioga with an Onan generator with a power outlet that looks the same, but whenever I have the generator running, everything works inside, without plugging anything in the receptacle. I am just wondering, have you tried it without plugging in the cord?

Posted By: Its_Hondo on 04/28/14 08:15am
Without the shore power cord plugged into the receptacle the generator's output doesn't reach the coach electrical system.
I found out because I forgot to plug it in when I 1st got it and nothing worked. When I plugged it in everything worked normally.

Of course it would help if I typed my comment:
I have had the same thing happen. We had the RV in for service when we first bought it. Someone unplugged the power cord from the generator. Nothing inside the RV worked. Our RV is a 2005 Fleetwood 26Q

[PatrickA51]

Great looking installation.

Its_Hondo wrote:
This is my installation of the Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C Surge Protector.

Here's the shore power cord storage compartment-



The outlet on the left is where you plug the shore cord into when not hooked up to external power. This allows the coach to be powered by the generator. Next to that are connections for cable tv & telephone - installed by the previous owner.

Here's the EMS-HW30C mostly installed with it's cover off. In order to orient the unit with the output on the left & the input on the right (the shore cord) I mounted it upside down-



Then I plugged it in to household power and got 120 volt, 60 hz & no error messages-





I installed the cover right-side up (it will install either way) so that I could read the error codes . I installed the remote display above the surge suppressor as I thought it would be best to have the display in the compartment so I could read it when hooking up power. I also secured the main cable with a steel/rubber adel clamp-



In the last image you can see that I have the cord stowed & plugged into the receptacle. Now the surge suppressor reads & protects the generator output.

[Its_Hondo]

cgmartine wrote:
Hondo, excuse me for jumping in on the op's thread, but I need to ask you....in your first photograph, you show a picture of the shore power outlet, and state that it is used when not hooked up to shore power. I have a Tioga with an Onan generator with a power outlet that looks the same, but whenever I have the generator running, everything works inside, without plugging anything in the receptacle. I am just wondering, have you tried it without plugging in the cord?

Without the shore power cord plugged into the receptacle the generator's output doesn't reach the coach electrical system.

I found out because I forgot to plug it in when I 1st got it and nothing worked. When I plugged it in everything worked normally.

[CA_Traveler]

PI HW50C, better specs than Surge Guard, slightly less cost, field replaceable parts.

[synergy_58]

sljkansas wrote:
Synergy - The cheater box lets you use the 30amp and the 15amp outlet as leg 1 and 2 if you have a 50anp service on the RV. With it I can run both ac units at the same time, but do have to watch that I don't start the microwave or use the water heater with both ac running. The draw back is with the EMS 50 you cannot have a GFI outlet in the pedestal (you have to change the outlet to a 15 or 20amp, witch most campgrounds will not allow The EMS doesn't like it.

That all said, id you are not running a EMS, you can plug the cheater box into the pedestal and your 50amp cord into it. (BUT you won't be protected.)

Thanks for explaining this!

[sljkansas]

Synergy - The cheater box lets you use the 30amp and the 15amp outlet as leg 1 and 2 if you have a 50anp service on the RV. With it I can run both ac units at the same time, but do have to watch that I don't start the microwave or use the water heater with both ac running. The draw back is with the EMS 50 you cannot have a GFI outlet in the pedestal (you have to change the outlet to a 15 or 20amp, witch most campgrounds will not allow The EMS doesn't like it.

That all said, id you are not running a EMS, you can plug the cheater box into the pedestal and your 50amp cord into it. (BUT you won't be protected.)

[synergy_58]

gwol wrote:
Would something like this work: Plug a 30 AMP extension cord into the shore outlet, then run the other end of the extension cord into the basement locker. Plug the surge protector into the extension cord, then plug my MH into the surge protector. This will allow me to lock my basement and no one will be able to walk off with the surge protector.

Yes, I could have done that, but I'm going hard-wire instead. I don't want to have to worry about it, just plug and play!

[gwol]

Would something like this work: Plug a 30 AMP extension cord into the shore outlet, then run the other end of the extension cord into the basement locker. Plug the surge protector into the extension cord, then plug my MH into the surge protector. This will allow me to lock my basement and no one will be able to walk off with the surge protector.

[synergy_58]

In the last image you can see that I have the cord stowed & plugged into the receptacle. Now the surge suppressor reads & protects the generator output.

Oh man, thanks soooo much for posting pic's!
My Navion has a very similar set up except it also has another junction box next to the recepticle like you have; not sure what's in it. My space is a lot tighter than yours so I'm sure my install will be a pain to do.
I should get my unit in the mail in a few days and hope to have it installed before next weekend.

I will definately reflect on your pictures and comments. Thanks!

[cgmartine]

Hondo, excuse me for jumping in on the op's thread, but I need to ask you....in your first photograph, you show a picture of the shore power outlet, and state that it is used when not hooked up to shore power. I have a Tioga with an Onan generator with a power outlet that looks the same, but whenever I have the generator running, everything works inside, without plugging anything in the receptacle. I am just wondering, have you tried it without plugging in the cord?

[Its_Hondo]

This is my installation of the Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C Surge Protector.

Here's the shore power cord storage compartment-



The outlet on the left is where you plug the shore cord into when not hooked up to external power. This allows the coach to be powered by the generator. Next to that are connections for cable tv & telephone - installed by the previous owner.

Here's the EMS-HW30C mostly installed with it's cover off. In order to orient the unit with the output on the left & the input on the right (the shore cord) I mounted it upside down-



Then I plugged it in to household power and got 120 volt, 60 hz & no error messages-





I installed the cover right-side up (it will install either way) so that I could read the error codes . I installed the remote display above the surge suppressor as I thought it would be best to have the display in the compartment so I could read it when hooking up power. I also secured the main cable with a steel/rubber adel clamp-



In the last image you can see that I have the cord stowed & plugged into the receptacle. Now the surge suppressor reads & protects the generator output.

[Alto_Flyfisher]

I originally bought the PI 50 amp portable for our Carriage Cameo 5ver back in 2009. Recently purchased a 2014 Navion that requires 30 amp service. So I purchased a couple of pigtail plug adapters and the PI 50 amp portable works just fine off the 30 amp service.

[synergy_58]

My selections:

1. Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C 30 Amp Hardwired EMS with Remote Display,
Part NumberEMS-HW30C. 5 mode protection
This feature provides full surge protection L-N, L-N, L-G, L-L and N-G. Total Joule rating is 3,580, 88,000A surge current. Response time of <1 nano second.
Price $217.50

2. EMS-PT30C 30 Amp Portable EMS
Part NumberEMS-PT30C 3 mode protection
This feature provides full surge protection L-N, L-G, and N-G. Total Joule rating is 1790, 44,000A surge current. Response time of <1 nano second.
Price $227.50

Strange that the portable has half the protection but $10.00 more.

I'm gonna go with the hardwired and try my luck with the install.

[synergy_58]

smkettner wrote:

synergy_58 wrote:
Okay, so as I understand this whole thing, with my limited knowledge of electrical terminology and hands-on, instead of wiring the EMS unit (30A for me too) at the end of the main power cord, like i see most people are doing in the few illustrations on-line, I need to find the transfer switch (no idea where its at or what it looks like) and then hard wire the EMS between the switch and the generator. Will I be able to determine the current flow easily? between the switch and genny I mean?
and so doing it this way, I leave the transfer switch unprotected, meaning that this switch could become damaged. How vulnerable is this switch to things like low current, spikes in current, or the nuteral condition, things that the EMS protects against?

are there any illustrations that you know of which shows the installation process for this procedure, between the switch and genny, on-line? This would help me out a lot.

Thanks!

You do not want to install between the generator and switch. Protection goes just before the breaker panel.


Cord----> Transfer switch ----> Surge protector ----> Breaker panel
Generator----^

If your RV uses the cord to plug into the generator then you have no switch because you are the switch.

Easiest IMO is remove the main romex from the breaker panel (hot,neutral&ground). Connect this romex to the Surge protector input. Get a new piece of romex (proper size) and connect the output of the protector to the breaker panel where the oem wire was removed. This will allow you to remove the protector and restore the RV back to original configuration if you decide to sell and take the protector with you.

The transfer switch is more likely to create an issue than to be harmed by something else. Better to be protected from the switch than worry about protecting the switch.

Yes the remote display will show voltage and amperes flowing into the RV.

Ok, you're correct in saying that I have no switch. I have to plug the generator in and unplug it when I'm on shore power.

So then, I should install the protector right at the main breaker box, okay. I'll check all this out.
I can easily see why some (many) people go with portable protectors, but I don't want to worry about pluging in the protector everytime I connect to shore power.

Thanks for the input!