Forum Discussion

jjj's avatar
jjj
Explorer
Aug 06, 2013

Franks voltage booster and surge protection.

I had a Franks voltage booster that got fried at a Thousand trails last year when a transformer blew up. I would like to know if I had a surge protector hooked up would it go on before the booster to protect it and would it work properly done that way. I thought I read somewhere on here that you put the surge protector after the booster but if so what protects the booster from what happened to mine. It is going to cost almost as much to repair it as it would to buy a new one, but I don't have an extra 450.00 right now to fix it.
  • Airstreamer67's avatar
    Airstreamer67
    Explorer
    Aug 06, 2013
    I put the surgeguard first to protect everything.

    If the voltage falls below the minimum value and the surgeguard shuts the power off, I evaluate the situation and if it seems to be just low voltage and no surge, I then put the autoformer first and take the chance a later surge can damage it.

    It is not as convenient to configure it like this, but it does have the advantage of providing some protection to the $400 autoformer.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Aug 06, 2013
    Hi,

    Surge suppressors are unlikely to prevent damage from a transformer blowing up and dropping up to 60,000 volts to your rv.

    If I had an automformer and surge device the connection path would be:

    shore power-->auto former-->surge device-->shore power cord.
  • hershey's avatar
    hershey
    Explorer
    Aug 06, 2013
    ploiselle wrote:
    I run the autoformer first, then the surge protector, since the surge protector is hardwired.

    If you put the surge protector first in a low voltage situation, it will kick out at 104 volts before the autoformer gets a chance to boost the voltage.

    Paul

    Good advice. Thats the way that mine is wired. 9 years and no problems.
  • ploiselle's avatar
    ploiselle
    Explorer
    Aug 06, 2013
    I run the autoformer first, then the surge protector, since the surge protector is hardwired.

    If you put the surge protector first in a low voltage situation, it will kick out at 104 volts before the autoformer gets a chance to boost the voltage.

    Paul
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Aug 06, 2013
    A common surge protector is meant to absorb (or dump really) a quick, momentary rise in voltage. I suspect that when a XFMR fails you may get lots of voltage over an extended period of time - maybe several seconds or more. A standard SP would just die during an episode like that.
    For protection of that nature you need a device that senses the high (or low) voltage and shuts down power to your RV.

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