Progresive Surge Protector Question

[IT_Burnout]

I have a EMS-PT50X surge protector, and it seems like it has a problem. When I plug it into any source (15A, 30A or 50A) from a campground or from my home it takes a long time to gate power through the unit. I have tested the outlets first with a meter to make sure they are hot and they seem to test good. I have had a couple instances where I never did get it to output any power. It always gives a readout of L1 and L2 with 121 +/- volts at 60hrz with 0 amps. I never see any type of error code on the unit at all. When it does work correctly I plug it in and wait a minute or 2 then I hear what sounds like a couple relays click in on the unit and things power up and it works good. I have tried this with the RV plugged in and without a load just a digital meter for a load and it’s the same. I have also tried it on 2 different 5th wheels and it acts the same. I didn’t notice this going on when I first got the surge protector this spring. But I will admit I am not always as observant as I should be. I did send an email today to Progressive to see what they had to say about it. Anyone else ever experience this?

[SoundGuy]

wa8yxm wrote:
When you loose power it is important that you not re-start the air conditioners (IF that is they are running) for 3 mintues.. Most everything else in the RV (Except a compressor driven fridge) can re-start quickly but COMPRESSORS need 3 minutes of OFF time before they re-start.

I've seen many "Blinks" (Power failures lasting just a second or 3) and my Surge Guard holds off for 172 Seconds (Just shy of 3 minutes) so the A/C re-starts normally without damage.

If your EMS is truly a "Surge Guard" then it's a TRC product, not a Progressive Industries product as is the OP's, and your time delay is in fact an even shorter 128", not "just shy of 3 minutes". As I understand it the TRC Surge Guard also has a preset trip time of 8" - 10" before that 128" time delay is executed, the purpose of which I believe is to avoid nuisance power disconnects when there's a brief power disruption lasting less than 8" or when incoming source voltage is hovering right around the low voltage trip threshold of 102 vac. The Progressive EMS trips the instant it's low voltage threshold of 104 vac is detected.

[SoundGuy]

wa8yxm wrote:
I do not know the specific model you have but I do knwo the HW-50c And I suspect the programming is much the same.

The OP said in his original post that he has a portable EMS-PT50X. These Progressive EMS units have no "programming" as such but the hard wire version does have a physical jumper that can be removed to change the unit's time delay from a default setting of 15" to a much longer 136", the purpose of which is to prevent an A/C compressor from restarting after a short duration power failure. Delay for the portable unit is fixed at 136" and cannot be changed as the box is sealed and is not considered field serviceable as is the hard wire version. Most would probably be best served with the longer 136" delay anyway, I however most often run my own EMS-HW30C with a 15" delay as we don't often run A/C, only switching the EMS to the longer 136" delay those infrequent times we do use A/C.

[wa8yxm]

I do not know the specific model you have but I do knwo the HW-50c And I suspect the programming is much the same.

on the HW-50c you have two choices.. choice default power is held OFF for 15 seconds.. Good but not what I'd do

Choice optional (Also the only choice for the PT-50c) it is just shy of 3 minutes.. That is the choice I would make.

WHY?

When you loose power it is important that you not re-start the air conditioners (IF that is they are running) for 3 mintues.. Most everything else in the RV (Except a compressor driven fridge) can re-start quickly but COMPRESSORS need 3 minutes of OFF time before they re-start.

I've seen many "Blinks" (Power failures lasting just a second or 3) and my Surge Guard holds off for 172 Seconds (Just shy of 3 minutes) so the A/C re-starts normally without damage.

Another factor is during those minutes everybody in the campground.. their A/C is trying to kick in and with the same stalled/rotor situtation the current craw is excessive.. Voltage is on one wild rollar coaster ride.. By by the time I hear the CLUNK and my system starts... it's stabilized.

[SoundGuy]

Ava wrote:
As said above there is an option to remove the jumper inside to make the protector wait a little over 2 minutes ...

Hard wire units only - the OP's portable EMS-PT50X case is sealed and is not considered "field serviceable" so it's delay cannot be changed - it's fixed at 136". The hard wire EMS-HW50C is field serviceable and does have a time delay jumper that can be removed by the owner to increase delay from 15" to 136".



User selected time delay is one of several reasons I chose a hard wire EMS-HW30C instead of a portable EMS-PT30C.

[Ava]

As said above there is an option to remove the jumper inside to make the protector wait a little over 2 minutes to make sure the A/C unit has time to relieve the high pressure side in case of power interruption while A/C is operating

[SoundGuy]

IT_Burnout wrote:
I didn’t realize it had a built in delay feather.

SoundGuy wrote:
The 136" delay is designed to protect your A/C compressor.

IT_Burnout wrote:
If I understand correctly the delay is present on every plug in no matter what the load is (Ac is off) correct?

Of course, since your portable Progressive EMS is plugged in at the source with the rig's main service cable plugged into it. Regardless, the purpose of the delay is protect your A/C in a case where you've briefly lost power by preventing it from turning back on until compressor head pressure has dropped to a safe level. 2' 16" of delay does just that.

[time2roll]

Yes the issue presents when you have a fault condition that turns off power. The fault condition may only last five seconds but once off there is a delay before restoring power. This prevents the A/C from restarting under full operating pressure.

If you have not yet encountered a fault condition while camped... consider yourself lucky.

[IT_Burnout]

SoundGuy wrote:

IT_Burnout wrote:
I didn’t realize it had a built in delay feather.

The 136" delay is designed to protect your A/C compressor.

If I understand correctly the delay is present on every plug in no matter what the load is (Ac is off) correct?

I always make sure and power down as much as possible in the coach trying to get a controlled shutdown on things before we pull the power to move. Just so at the next power up we are pulling as little current as possible when we plug in. Then I power thing up slowly as needed after we are all setup. Just a habit I have got into.

[SoundGuy]

IT_Burnout wrote:
I didn’t realize it had a built in delay feather.

The 136" delay is designed to protect your A/C compressor.

[SoundGuy]

sgip2000 wrote:
The hardwired models have a delay that is adjustable. Maybe the portable models have it too.

Delay for portable models is fixed at 136", delay for the hard wire versions can be changed from 15" to 136" by removing an internal jumper. The OP's portable is doing exactly what it should.

[IT_Burnout]

I didn’t realize it had a built in delay feather. That’s probably about the amount of time its been taking when it does work correctly. I bet I have been rushing things. I can even see with this I might have unplugged and re-plugged it back in before the first time out finished. Which might have cause the delay to happen multiple times in the same instance.

Old-Biscuit thanks for the link to the manual I did read it. I am not sure what I did with mine when I got the unit. I going to print it out and put it in the camper electrical box for reference in the spring. I just told DW about what was said here and her comment was “god forbid you actually go read the manual”, hmm , guilty as charged I guess.

Thanks everyone for the feedback its appreciated.

[Old-Biscuit]

Owners Manual

Pg 2..features....2nd paragraph
Pg 4...operating instructions

Read up on ALL the features.

Good device....worth it!

[time2roll]

2 minutes 16 seconds delay is normal. How long is long?

[sgip2000]

The hardwired models have a delay that is adjustable. Maybe the portable models have it too.