Electrical Management System vs Surge protector

Or.....

One additional utterly impractical device. Hideously expensive, wastes energy, and heavy.

Of course I went bananas until I got one.

A SOLA ferroresonant Line Tamer. + 40% - 40% line correction. 72 volts in? Big deal. 162 volts in? Child's play. 120.00 volts out. Bank on it. Yeah I tweaked the finals to get the least significant digits on the money - shows neurosis.

Full isolation transformer filter. What goes is does not come out. I have seen incoming waveform that would saw a petrified log, beautiful sinusoidal output.

I picked three of these units up out of crate meaning they had dirt on the plastic wrapper. About the size of a standard roll around top tool chest.

140 lbs. Plugger-in, no load, 51 watts. Full load around 113 watts consumed. Good things are not cheap.

I provided this info as a measure of perspective. Yes it is possible to get something that is a true management device. Less than minimum or more than maximum voltage limit the tickler transformer field collapses and it's "Honey Where's The Flashlight" time.

At one time, long long ago I had dreams of installing one in Quicksilver. Then the mechanical realities set in with a thump. Strike that. With a heart numbing crash. Maybe in a toy trailer hauled by a diesel pusher. You know, the one with a ton of batteries, A Yanmar diesel generator, and totally plated with solar panels.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

I keep building circuit boards loaded with 20mm MOVs, 1,500 watt Transient Voltage Protectors and a few gas discharge tubes.

Because down here, in a typical Mexican RV Park, a progressive energy management system would equal Lights-Out 100% of the time.

Oh well, like I said, you can't have everything...

Similar scenario as Old Biscuit - spent the $$$ and got a Progressive Industries 30A portable unit. Figured good insurance, so to speak. That was in 2007. Still going strong - since then has shut us off several times for low voltage, once for HIGH voltage, a couple times for reversed polarity or open ground. VERY glad to have it - replacing things like A/C units or fridge boards is not cheap - figured it has paid for itself many times over! ST

Ok, I will discuss basically several products here

The Progressive Induristeries HW-XXc (Where xx is either 30 or 50 depenbding on if your RV is a 30 or 50 amp model) is the one I recommend.. Wired in so you don't forget it and also it is far less likely to "Walk off" while you are out sopping.,

Next is the PT-XXc same xx, this is the portable,, You have already read why I prfer the HW
"
PI calles these "Energy Management Systems" I call them ENergy Mnonitor Systems"
Many call them :Surge guards" and they are too genunine surge guards

The protect against Sustained HIGH or LOW voltage and a few other things

They also contain spike supression.. More on that later

PI also makes a basic spike supressor.. I do not recommend, either for or against (it won't hurt but does not protret against SUSTAINED high or low just spikes) many companies make produts like this I have sonme,

TRC (Technical Research Corporation) Makes a couple of units under the SURGE GUARD label. that are direct compition for the PI HW and PT-XXc units

All thest units have a LCD display that shows the voltage and current and occsionally what the trouble is...

THe reason I recommend Progressive Iustries over TRC is the warranty (Lifetienm v/s 1 year on the TRC)

Now: Spike suppressors: Both companies make these as well.. A Spike is a sudden and very fast rise in voltage typically lasting less than 1/10th of a second (Way less) and these devices use MOV's to "Clip" the spike.. But they can not survive sustained high voltage (Been there Sounded like a fireworks display as NOV's went off like firecrackers).. They may also have lights to indicate proper wiring of outlets but it's all up to you they do not have solenoids so they can not cut you off.

I understand PI now makes a slighly lower cost unit that works like the PT XXc but has no LCD, THis one is also goodm but I still recommend the better unit.

Another advantage... The Portable units do this by default, the Hard wired may need an adjustment (Clip a wire). Read the fine manual.

Imagine a power fail in the park,, Power company comes out and reassembles the fuse that came appart but it took a couple of hours.. So now everybody Air Conditioner is trying to start at once..

That's going to be one flying rollar coaster voltage wise as they all kick in and out and in again..

Well my Portable TRC is busin going 1,3,4,5,6,....170.... CLUNK
(I think it is 172 seconds without reading the fine manual)

BY then the rollar coaster ride has ended and I get good clean power.

The default on the PI HW-50C is 15 seonds with I think 160 as the option if you clip the wire, I suggest clipping the wire .


Finally you plug in at your buddy's garage, a nice 30 amp outlet,, OH it is fine, We've had others plug in there no problem... ... Right

240 volt outlet for the prior owner's wekder

Your HW-or PT-50C (or 30C) or TRC equivlent will tell you 240 volt, DO NOT OVERRIDE, and thus armed.. You do NOT let all the magic smoke out of your electronics.

THe cheaper spike suppressors.. Well they tell you as well, they blow up like firecrackers on July 4... LIke I said . Been there (only it truly was NOT my fault)

dougrainer wrote:
EMS--Energy-Electrical MANAGEMENT System.
This is NOT a voltage/surge protector It monitors Shore Power and Genset power supply and shuts down certain loads automatically ordoes NOT allow some loads to power up if the Supply system is not adequate.
These are built in to the unit and not added
A Surge protector is what you want. Depending on how much protection you want depends on how much you want to spend. Inexpensive protectors do not do the job. Doug

YES and NO

EMS in MHs are like you describe......load management devices

BUT in 'marketing parlance' there are EMS/Surge Protectors
They don't shed load but do monitor/shut down power

It's like the marketing of Jake Brake
Jacob Engine brake...also is an Exhaust Brake

EMS is becoming 'generic' term for Power protection/Management

Progressive markets their 'protectors' (portable and hardwired) as EMS
yet they do NOT 'manage' load per se. They test/monitor/trip...protection
So when folks talk about EMS it can be a Surge Protection vs Energy Management

EMS--Energy-Electrical MANAGEMENT System.
This is NOT a voltage/surge protector It monitors Shore Power and Genset power supply and shuts down certain loads automatically ordoes NOT allow some loads to power up if the Supply system is not adequate.
These are built in to the unit and not added
A Surge protector is what you want. Depending on how much protection you want depends on how much you want to spend. Inexpensive protectors do not do the job. Doug

I agree with Old Biscuit on the need and Progressve. Cheap insurance that also may save a trip.

And I agree with Mex....bacon!

NEVER used/even considered a 'surge protector'.....hey others have used that pedestal right!

Then we went FT traveling all across the USA...so I bought a Progressive Industries Surge Protection unit. ALL the bells/whistles.
HI/LO Voltage trips, Open Ground, Open Neutral, Reverse Polarity etc etc etc

Well..........
Over the course of 7 yrs traveling it has:
Shut down power due to LO Voltage issues SEVERAL times
Not allowed power to rig due to mis-wired pedestal on couple of occasions
Identified a 'reverse polarity' issue...which is OK unless you have an OPEN Ground also.

Worth the purchase price.............YES

I also had FTrs Insurance...full coverage just like S&B
Worth it...........YES

TenOC,

One surge protector per leg.

I do test for polarity and voltage under load before I plug in the RV.

I prefer an autoformer, so low voltage can be fixed rather than the power simply shutting off. I have safely run my roof air with shore power at 96 volts. Inside the RV it was 108 volts. The Sola Basic does both boost and buck.

There are reasons to use an EMC in a 50 amp rv. Get the top of the line unit from Progressive Industries.

The wiring path would be:

Pedestal, Autoformer, EMS, RV.

It appears that no one makes a stand alone EMS that doesn't include (rather useless) surge protection.