Just for kicks and giggles I decided to open up my Surge Guard as I'll never use it as I don't trust it. Now after a couple of years of using there was always something rattling around in there and I was curious as to what is was.
This thing was not easy to get open at they use special screws to keep it closed. I ended up cutting around the screws.
The guts.
Mystery solved at what was rattling around inside.
Seems all the mounts for the main power connector all broke loose. The main unit is top heavy and weighs 2 lbs, secured to plastic with 4 tiny screws. There was some corrosion on the washers, which tells me this thing was not very weather sealed. Which is not surprising as the silicone did not go all the way around the connection point. It only covered about 50%
Seems all the protective sacrificial diodes were intact.
Which makes me concerned that the power surge that nearly burnt down our camper was not stopped by the surge guard, considering how expensive this thing is it should have stopped the surge.
You be the judge if you want to protect your investment by this product with it's one year warranty and their non responsive customer service. The quality control is really suspect.
Campground power is one of the worst and dangerous things we've encountered in our travels. Pedestals wired wrong. Open neutrals, burnt pedestals , high voltage, low voltage and one pedestal wired without breakers. The surge guard is not something I'd ever trust.
This thing was not easy to get open at they use special screws to keep it closed. I ended up cutting around the screws.
The guts.
Mystery solved at what was rattling around inside.
Seems all the mounts for the main power connector all broke loose. The main unit is top heavy and weighs 2 lbs, secured to plastic with 4 tiny screws. There was some corrosion on the washers, which tells me this thing was not very weather sealed. Which is not surprising as the silicone did not go all the way around the connection point. It only covered about 50%
Seems all the protective sacrificial diodes were intact.
Which makes me concerned that the power surge that nearly burnt down our camper was not stopped by the surge guard, considering how expensive this thing is it should have stopped the surge.
You be the judge if you want to protect your investment by this product with it's one year warranty and their non responsive customer service. The quality control is really suspect.
Campground power is one of the worst and dangerous things we've encountered in our travels. Pedestals wired wrong. Open neutrals, burnt pedestals , high voltage, low voltage and one pedestal wired without breakers. The surge guard is not something I'd ever trust.
Bigbird65 wrote:
I now have my 30 amp Surge Guard inside and out of the weather.
Same here, in my case sitting atop the wheel wheel under the sofa, of of sight, out of mind, but can be unplugged in an instant if need be. :B
Just in the last year my TRC Surge Guard has saved the day so many times I'm now going to add a TRC Voltage Regulator so when the incoming source voltage does drop below the Surge Guard's low voltage threshold it won't constantly cycle power on/off to the camper. I haven't received it yet so size will determine where I can put it but also under the sofa would be my first choice even though it too is intended by the manufacturer to be located at the power post.
I now have my 30 amp Surge Guard inside and out of the weather. No more trying to get it to hang in a sloppy worn out socket on a pedestal. No more having to lock it up so it won't get stolen. This unit has worked very well but if it should quit it will be very easy to unplug it and reconnect the power straight.
