Why you need an EMS Surge Protector!
Campground wiring can go out of control at any time…
I found this important post on the RV Tips group last night.
If you don't have an EMS Surge Protector, get one!
When I bought this RV 4 years ago I bought a Progressive hard wired EMS. I love that I can see how many Amps I'm drawing and adjust usage.
Today it saved my bacon. I'm volunteering and getting a site in exchange for work. They decided to upgrade the service to 50 amps in the area I'm in. The person doing the install is NOT an electrician, for sure.
We were out for the day and when we got back I noticed no power, and the EMS was showing 240 volts coming in on my 30-amp pedestal!!!
Fortunately, the EMS did it's job and prevented that voltage from getting to the RV. I shudder to think what would have happened if I didn't have the EMS when this idiot rewired things without disconnecting me or testing the circuit! - Joe
Everyone…
Great post, Joe
Even though you may have metered your campground pedestal during hookup, power quality can change in a heartbeat so it’s best to have an Advanced “EMS” Surge Protector that can monitor the electrical power continuously.
Watch my video on the various types of surge protectors and why you really want an advanced unit (usually called an EMS for Electrical Management System) that can check your incoming electrical power 24/7 and disconnect your RV from the pedestal if something goes wrong at any time.
Let’s play safe out there… Mike
An electrical storm fried my fridge circuit board. That was an $850 fix. Installed a hardwired surge protector, have encountered similar situations and the SP saved us from $$$$ damages.
It’s scary to think that anything can happen at any time and when you least expect it! We had a storm come through about two or three weeks ago which triggered a brown-out the resulted in I think 40 or 60 V (I can remember exactly) on our power line. Some of my LED lights kinda sorta worked but my refrigerator was not happy. After I realized what was happening, I tripped the circuit breakers on my sensitive appliances to isolate them. This situation continued for longer than I would have liked, maybe an hour or two. I figured our utility company would cut off the power but the brown out continued. I have a “transfer meter” installed in place of the standard electrical meter which normally automatically switches in the auxiliary generator receptacle so I can power my house with a generator. Well, the presence of 40-60 V on the line caused the transfer meter to think there was still utility power available and it would not switch over to the generator input. I would have been stuck but fortunately I had also installed a generator breaker and a mechanical lock-out device which allowed me to switch off the main breaker, actuate the lock-out, and switch on the generator breaker bypassing the transfer meter. I could then power my house with my generator. After a few hours, the utility cut-off the power until they fixed the problem (which took all-day). I wish I had an EMS for my house! You never know what might happen next. Mike, can you tell us about some of the failure modes that result in brown outs like the one we had?