I added and EMS shortly after we bought our rig, as it seemed like a wise precaution.
We manually switch between shore and generator power, but I don't find that to be an inconvenience, as we're either plugged into shore power or the cord is stowed in the electrical bay and plugged into the generator outlet there. I don't see how an ATS would be beneficial.
I recently added an inverter with an ATS that switches between shore and battery power.
Have gone through three of the surge guards as pictured past five years. Just being plugged in at my home. Really don't believe was any kind of a spike. Stop allowing power through. Definitly do not reset. No more, way to expensive.
I use 30 amp units from Progressive Industries. They provide a lifetime warranty or replacement policy. If the unit stops functioning, that is probably because of a problem in the power line feed, a surge or spike, which is stopped by a sacrificial component inside the unit doing the job it is designed for. Over approximately ten years Progressive has replaced my unit twice with no hassle.
IMHO my rig is too expensive to not have this level of protection!
Our rig is a 2011 HitchHiker and it had been pre-wired for an onboard generator, which was not installed. After one year of ownership of this new fiver I inquired, at Kansas RV Center, about the cost of having an onboard generator installed and quickly decided not to do that. I carried, in the bed on my truck, a Honda 3000is generator and the service tech told me they could install a second male plug beside the opening for a generator and wire it up to the transfer switch.
I then made-up a patch cord (10-12 ft) for the 30 amp recepticle on the Honda. It works like a dam, and with a SoftStart I have no problem running the two A/C units. I still need to make myself a grounding adaptor to fool the Progressive Industry ground fault detector. I'm not sure if I used the correct names of devices that I have described. Rick
My 2008 Tiffin came with an ATS. We immediately spliced inline two additional outlets so I could add a portable 50A Surge Guard, but locked inside my power bay. Over the last 17 years, I’ve upgraded portable protectors three times, and now have the remote Bluetooth monitor inside as well.
No issues with theft; monitor from the comfort of the coach; and easy to replace if anything ever happens.
Hmm, that's interesting. I have an external Watchdog EMS and normally I drag my heavy 50A cable to the pedestal. No big deal, but for some reason the plug on the rig and receptacle on the Hughes is very difficult to mate-and remove. I also have a 50A extension cord, wonder if I could run the extension to the bay and connect to the Watchdog, which is connected to the rig's 50A cord. This would lock it inside, plus I wouldn't have to take it apart, which is hard to do. Of course, this would double the length of the 50A cords, and any voltage drop.
I have a 35’ cord on my reel, plus about 8’ between the reel and where the transfer switch and outlet is inside. When I put it in, I measured voltage at the post and at the new inside outlet. I don’t remember the drop but it was negligible. Sorry I can remember the actual number but it was far too long ago.
Yes, I have the progressive industries 50 amp EMS. Not only does it provide the designed protection it also has a display that tells me how much power (amps) I’m using on each phase, therefore I’m able to monitor usage of appliances before tripping a breaker. Really important when you only have a 30 amp service.
My "opinion". Yes, you can run gen while plugged into shore power - but not best practice. If you do it reduce loads such as Air Con before the ATS does the switchover.
Which has priority? Depends on the ATS and the way it is set up. MIne is setup for this priority scheme: gen, then shore, then invertor.
Out of curiosity, I’d like to know why you are taking this poll? Unless you are interested in specifically your readers’ statistics, you might consider including some kind of control or normalization factor. Because this is an electrical safety oriented audience, there is likely a bias toward using devices like EMS surge protectors and because you write about RV electrical systems, your readers may be more likely to have fancier electrical systems like generators because they understand them better than the average person. Further complicating things is that your readers have a variety of depths of knowledge. If you could somehow ask these same questions to a general audience or you knew the sales figures for each answer in your poll, I’d guess the results for your readers would reflect their level of knowledge and interest in things electrical.
I added and EMS shortly after we bought our rig, as it seemed like a wise precaution.
We manually switch between shore and generator power, but I don't find that to be an inconvenience, as we're either plugged into shore power or the cord is stowed in the electrical bay and plugged into the generator outlet there. I don't see how an ATS would be beneficial.
I recently added an inverter with an ATS that switches between shore and battery power.
Yes, but I installed both
Does it count if I ADDED my own EMS (Progressive Industries EMS-LCHW50)?
Our coach manufacture included / built in an ATS, for our QD10KW, but I added a hardwired EMS myself.
Have gone through three of the surge guards as pictured past five years. Just being plugged in at my home. Really don't believe was any kind of a spike. Stop allowing power through. Definitly do not reset. No more, way to expensive.
I use 30 amp units from Progressive Industries. They provide a lifetime warranty or replacement policy. If the unit stops functioning, that is probably because of a problem in the power line feed, a surge or spike, which is stopped by a sacrificial component inside the unit doing the job it is designed for. Over approximately ten years Progressive has replaced my unit twice with no hassle.
IMHO my rig is too expensive to not have this level of protection!
Our rig is a 2011 HitchHiker and it had been pre-wired for an onboard generator, which was not installed. After one year of ownership of this new fiver I inquired, at Kansas RV Center, about the cost of having an onboard generator installed and quickly decided not to do that. I carried, in the bed on my truck, a Honda 3000is generator and the service tech told me they could install a second male plug beside the opening for a generator and wire it up to the transfer switch.
I then made-up a patch cord (10-12 ft) for the 30 amp recepticle on the Honda. It works like a dam, and with a SoftStart I have no problem running the two A/C units. I still need to make myself a grounding adaptor to fool the Progressive Industry ground fault detector. I'm not sure if I used the correct names of devices that I have described. Rick
I had mine installed when I bought my TT.
My 2008 Tiffin came with an ATS. We immediately spliced inline two additional outlets so I could add a portable 50A Surge Guard, but locked inside my power bay. Over the last 17 years, I’ve upgraded portable protectors three times, and now have the remote Bluetooth monitor inside as well.
No issues with theft; monitor from the comfort of the coach; and easy to replace if anything ever happens.
Hmm, that's interesting. I have an external Watchdog EMS and normally I drag my heavy 50A cable to the pedestal. No big deal, but for some reason the plug on the rig and receptacle on the Hughes is very difficult to mate-and remove. I also have a 50A extension cord, wonder if I could run the extension to the bay and connect to the Watchdog, which is connected to the rig's 50A cord. This would lock it inside, plus I wouldn't have to take it apart, which is hard to do. Of course, this would double the length of the 50A cords, and any voltage drop.
I have a 35’ cord on my reel, plus about 8’ between the reel and where the transfer switch and outlet is inside. When I put it in, I measured voltage at the post and at the new inside outlet. I don’t remember the drop but it was negligible. Sorry I can remember the actual number but it was far too long ago.
Yes, I have the progressive industries 50 amp EMS. Not only does it provide the designed protection it also has a display that tells me how much power (amps) I’m using on each phase, therefore I’m able to monitor usage of appliances before tripping a breaker. Really important when you only have a 30 amp service.
I installed the Hughes Autoformer and the Hughes Power Watchdog that goes to the factory Generator ATS with EMS.
Reminder please. If have built in gen transfer switch, can I be plugged into shor power and run gen at same time? Which will take charge? Tx
My "opinion". Yes, you can run gen while plugged into shore power - but not best practice. If you do it reduce loads such as Air Con before the ATS does the switchover.
Which has priority? Depends on the ATS and the way it is set up. MIne is setup for this priority scheme: gen, then shore, then invertor.
Out of curiosity, I’d like to know why you are taking this poll? Unless you are interested in specifically your readers’ statistics, you might consider including some kind of control or normalization factor. Because this is an electrical safety oriented audience, there is likely a bias toward using devices like EMS surge protectors and because you write about RV electrical systems, your readers may be more likely to have fancier electrical systems like generators because they understand them better than the average person. Further complicating things is that your readers have a variety of depths of knowledge. If you could somehow ask these same questions to a general audience or you knew the sales figures for each answer in your poll, I’d guess the results for your readers would reflect their level of knowledge and interest in things electrical.
I plan to rerun the poll on a few general RV sites such as Stressless Camping… That should be interesting!