is a surge protector necessary for a basic travel trailer?

[trailernovice]

A couple of questions re. surge protectors:

I read in another 'surge protector' thread that they are most necessary in units with finely tuned electronics...

Our trailer (in signature) is quite basic...no slides, no electronic control panels, no internal computers--we have 'electrics', but the only things I'd categorize as 'electronics' would be the thermostat, the microwave and maybe the 'how full are the tanks' monitor panel...

is surge protector actually necessary (understanding having one in place wouldn't hurt)? Also, we normally are on shore power but occasionally run off a portable inverter generator to keep it 'exercised'....if necessary, is that only when on shore power, only when on generator, or both?

[Lantley]

Lynnmor wrote:
Your basic trailer has just one thing that is worth more than $300 and that is the air conditioner. Air conditioners can be damaged by low voltage, so an inexpensive volt meter can tell you when it needs to be turned off. With an expensive EMS everything will be turned off if the voltage drops too low. One thing for sure is that there is a 100% chance that there will be $300 less in your wallet if you buy one and there is a very small chance that it will ever save you more than that.

Have you ever priced an RV refrigerator? How about TV's and other electronics.
Electrical surges and the damage is real. Having protection can be beneficial.
A surge is like insurance no one needs it until they do
l

[MNRon]

You pay your price, and you takes your chances.

You don't *have to have* a surge protector, but if you travel to many campgrounds you'll soon see that electrical management at campgrounds is very inconsistent and sometimes very poor. With poor wiring, and dozens of campers plugging in and out, voltage management isn't the solid 120V you see in your sticks-n-bricks.

In 20+yrs of RVing I've always had at least the cheap $50 surge supressor, can't say if it's ever saved me or not. In the last ~7yrs I've had the more expensive ones that deal with undervoltage conditions (toughest on some appliances like AC), I can say that these have warned and/or locked us out of *several* problems.

For ~$100 you can get ones that warn you when you plug in, for ~$300 you get ones that monitor and lock out if voltage goes too low. We travel 4-6months per year, prefering state parks/municipal parks/national parks/COEs, and probably experience low voltage or floating neutral conditions at about 10% of hookups. Not regularly, but not unusually either.

[edatlanta]

Mike134 wrote:
They are a great marketing toy. Have an RV surge protector on your incoming house wires? me either.

I full time, 10+ years now, and spend several months a year on my home base site. It is a residential neighborhood where a house used to be. Power is from a major utility company and other s&b's are all around me. Have I ever had power issues here? You bet. The utility company transformer than feeds my neighborhood had a problem and sent 132 volts plus to my rig. I don't know how far over 132 it actually got since my EMS shut me off with no damage to my "stuff". Several of my neighbors complained about having to replace many of their incandescent light bulbs. Another time I was seeing a temporary voltage spike early in the morning, again 132v plus. The power company didn't know it was happening until I just wouldn't back off until then put a recording voltmeter on my line and found the problem. My EMS, and I have two of them, has shut my rig down many many times in campgrounds due to low voltage also.

No protector on your incoming house wires? Maybe you should.

[curt12914]

Lynnmor wrote:
Your basic trailer has just one thing that is worth more than $300 and that is the air conditioner. Air conditioners can be damaged by low voltage, so an inexpensive volt meter can tell you when it needs to be turned off. With an expensive EMS everything will be turned off if the voltage drops too low. One thing for sure is that there is a 100% chance that there will be $300 less in your wallet if you buy one and there is a very small chance that it will ever save you more than that.

I guess mine is not a "basic trailer". I have two AC units, a refrigerator, three TVs, satellite receivers and a microwave that are all quite costly to replace.

Most people have laptops, I pads, tablets or smart phones that they recharge, at some point in their trailer.

With that said, I have had some sort of RV for nearly 40 years and have never had a problem. I guess I am on borrowed time and I should think about getting a system to protect the electrical circuits.

What system are you recommending for a 50 amp RV?

[Lynnmor]

Your basic trailer has just one thing that is worth more than $300 and that is the air conditioner. Air conditioners can be damaged by low voltage, so an inexpensive volt meter can tell you when it needs to be turned off. With an expensive EMS everything will be turned off if the voltage drops too low. One thing for sure is that there is a 100% chance that there will be $300 less in your wallet if you buy one and there is a very small chance that it will ever save you more than that.

[philh]

gbopp wrote:
It's not necessary until lightning hits a tree about 15' from your camper.
Then you will give serious thought to installing one. Trust me.

Dang, that will make your hair stand on end... literally

Funny story, I had built my own subwoofer with 500amp hooked to 15" driver.

When I first set it up, watching a movie, and there was an on screen explosion, at the exact same time lightening hitting my next door neighbor's tree. I said holy cow, that sub really puts it out. Well it did, but not like that 🙂

[Mike134]

JKJavelin wrote:
Got a refrigerator? (the heating element is on shore power, controls are on the 12V side)
Got a furnace? (runs on 12V even with shore power)
Got an air conditioner? Has your house AC been fried in a lighting storm?
Yup, you need one.
But.... what you really need is an EMS for true protection.
JK

As someone above said your real worry in a campground is a brownout. Much more likely to happen.

[Mike134]

HappyKayakers wrote:
Your house is NOT subjected to power provided by all sorts of different campgrounds that may or may not have been wired by qualified people.

Mike134 wrote:
They are a great marketing toy. Have an RV surge protector on your incoming house wires? me either.

It all starts at a generating plant some goes to your house some to the campground. BTW my qualifications are a retired Master Electrician to post about surge protection and yours?

[Lantley]

HappyKayakers wrote:
Your house is NOT subjected to power provided by all sorts of different campgrounds that may or may not have been wired by qualified people.

Mike134 wrote:
They are a great marketing toy. Have an RV surge protector on your incoming house wires? me either.

A surge is not a foolproof device. But it does provide protection against surges.
Much like insurance you do not need it until disaster happens.
Do you have insurance on your house? Enough said

[glkids2]

Look at a progressive EMS. I have had mine since 2014. It has saved issues on 3 separate times. 2 low power and 1 miss wired plug that I know of. The 2 low times the ems cut power before damage occurred and the missed wired plug was setup for 220 and once again would not pass power and nothing burned up including the trailer

[HappyKayakers]

Your house is NOT subjected to power provided by all sorts of different campgrounds that may or may not have been wired by qualified people.

Mike134 wrote:
They are a great marketing toy. Have an RV surge protector on your incoming house wires? me either.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

In thunderstorm country the lights may cut out for several seconds. A "recloser" has protected the line. But if the strike is between the transformer and your service there is no protection. I made my own protector. Two plates of copper separated with .005" mica spacers on the corners. The house is disconnected via a high current knife switch. One day I returned from a mini vacation and found no power. Lightning had hit somewhere on the 250' service drop. The grounded copper plates were gone. The 10 gauge wire from the plate to a ground rod was gone. The above ground part of the copper plated steel rod was mangled. The 3 wire service drop was melted and mangled. I had to buy lengths of 6 AWG copper wire, and a new "mufa" with meter base for the service drop. It was expensive.

I also dissected a power management RV service box that had been hit by lightning. The inside was charred and smelled horrible.

[Lwiddis]

Surge protection is unnecessary unless you are plugged in and have a surge. Then it is tooooo late.

[Gdetrailer]

gbopp wrote:
It's not necessary until lightning hits a tree about 15' from your camper.
Then you will give serious thought to installing one. Trust me.

If lightning "hits a tree 15' from your camper" chances are pretty slim that ANY "surge protector" is going to save your electrical system or even your trailer. Heck,you may not even survive a strike that close, not sure why you think a silly "surge protector" is gonna save your bacon..

How about a security camera video that captured a lightning strike on a tree..

HERE

Vaporizing the tree in the process..

I would recommend you take a look at THIS video of a direct lightning strike of a power substation..

HERE is a slowmotion video of a lightning direct strike..

Substations ARE equipped with surge arrestors and lots of other switching equipment that are not robust enough to deal with a direct or near direct hit.

As far as OPs question, NO, in reality your odds of something damaged via a "surge" are the exact same as if you are at home and I would be willing to bet that very few or if any homeowners have a "RV surge protector" connected to their service entrance of their home.

Folks have been scared into thinking that a $300 device will save the day..

The ONLY possible nice thing that several "RV surge protectors" may offer is a under or overvoltage disconnect, but those are not "surges" per say.

[2oldman]

valhalla360 wrote:
low voltage likely kills more RV appliances, so get a $10 voltage meter that plugs into an outlet.

x2

I've seen much more low voltage issues and burned up pedestals than surges. If there's lightning nearby, I unplug.

And for a decent inverter generator? Well, nothing is either 0% or 100%, but the chance you'd need a SP on a generator are near zero. It's not clear to me that an SP would even pass gen power as it's not the same as shore power and most circuit analyzers will say there's something wrong with it.