complaints when using a hughes autoformer
I am looking at a used hughes autoformer. I know some parks rules say they are not allowed. Some parks we have been in, I have seen voltage at @ 102 to 104 with my a/c on. I would be using a PI 3o...
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Dutch_12078 wrote:valhalla360 wrote:Dutch_12078 wrote:
I don't use an autoformer, nor have I run across a park to date where I needed one, but in those that prohibit them in their rules, I've found the predominate reasons are that they believe the devices somehow "steal" power, although I've never found a park manager or owner that could logically explain how that happens. The other reason has been possible liability insurance issues because the NEC prohibits the use of auto(trans)formers in RV's, which it does. I have inquired of the NFPA what the reasoning is behind the prohibition a couple of times, but I've never gotten a response.
First question: How do you know you haven't needed one? Unless you have a voltage meter that you monitor, you may well have had 104v power and were slowly cooking the air/con compressor but it may not fail until months later at another park with good power.
We didn't pick up an autoformer until we had low voltage kill and air/con unit. Then we started monitoring and found it surprisingly common to have low voltage on hot days.
My Surge Guard has never tripped off for low voltage.
Does your surge guard have a low voltage feature? They are not all created equal!
My Progressive EMSalets me to something 2 or 3 times a year. I am not a full timer.
There are electrical problems out there. I imagine most of us with autoformers eventually purchased them after experiencing low voltage sites first hand.
In time you realize these low voltage sites are lurking and in many cases the CG's are reluctant to address the issue.
Autoformers allow individual campers to protect their own equipment from low voltage damage.
