Voltage Regulators and Surge Protectors

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vmyoung61

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Mar 7, 2014
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I went into a local RV dealer and asked if I should get a surge suppressor for my fiver.  He recommended a voltage regulator saying it would protect from both high and low voltage.  It was quite expensive, but I purchased it.  After getting it home, I read the instructions and it said it didn't protect from surges, that I would need a surge suppressor "down stream" of the regulator to protect the RV.  If I also wanted the voltage regulator protected, I would need an additional surge protector "up stream" of the voltage regulator.  Are all of these really necessary?!  This is getting upwards of $1,500.  I hate to get an $800 voltage regulator and not protect it, but it seems redundant to have a surge suppressor for the voltage regulator AND the RV.  Why can't one just be used up stream of the voltage regulator?  Is the voltage regulator really necessary or will a surge suppressor be sufficient?
 
I'm guessing your "voltage regulator" is an auto-transformer that can increase or decrease voltage a modest amount to keep it in a safe range. That may be a convenience in a few usage scenarios, but you could have bought a device that combines surge protection and provides high/low voltage protection by shutting down if voltage gets out of range, and also some other forms of electrical protection. The cost for the combined unit would be well under $350. Here is one excellent unit:
http://tweetys.com/portable-50-amp-electrical-management-system.aspx?gclid=COimy4T6lb0CFe99OgodTxYAcg

I suggest you return the expensive "regulator" and get a device like the one above.
 
Auto-formers (there are basically two kinds) and "Surge Guards" work differently.

The most common Autoformer (Hughes and a couple others) will boost the voltage by one or more steps (like 10 or 15 percent) in the event of a brown out, but will not protect against over voltage

The least common one will not only boost, as above, but "Buck" a slightly high voltage.    So if yo uplug into say 130 volts it will bring it down.

But if you plug into 240 volts with a 30 amp rig.. Bad things still happen.


The Surge Guard that I have, and the Surge Guard brand of surge guards (Do not have a Progressive Dynamics manual handy) when you plug in they pause for a bit (like 2 minutes) analyze the incoming power and if it will be dangerious to your RV (Example plug a 30 into 240 volt or any rig into 90 volts) they do not connect.... In addition if the voltage drops, (or goes too high) say due to an open neutral in teh park causing strange things to happen... They will dump you offline for like 2 or 3 mintues. (minimum) because it is safer to be turned OFF than to run those voltages.

Why the 2-3 mintues... This protects air conditioners.
 
I'm new to a class A with all the goodies as I'm sure you can tell so... when the surge protector takes you off of shore power because of over/under voltage/or whatever, will the transfer switch automatically change to inverter power without harming AC's?  Or change to inverter long enough to start the generator?
Thanks
 
Depending on the inverter, and if you actually have one, it should switch automatically HOWEVER you do NOT want to power AC with an inverter even if you could. Even if it were possible, that would be a heck of a drain on the batteries and kill them very quickly.

You did not give any specifics for the MH (year, make, model, inverter model etc). This is important because many MH are not equipped with inverters but have CONverters to supply DC power and charge the batteries. These vehicles may have only a small inverter, enough to power a TV or something.

To start up a generator automagically on power failures requires special equipment associated with the generator itself, not always equipped in many cases. Again, details of your equipment are necessary for someone to help with that. (It is always a bit difficult to know what to report especially for a beginner!!!! "All the goodies" does not give enough specifics for these questions  :(
 
Thanks Stu, I'll remember that y'all can't read my mind like my wife does.  We just bought a 2003 Beaver Patriot Thunder lexington with a C-12 Cat with 505 HP.  It does have a 2500 watt inverter, don't know who made it.  The coach has a genset that will start it self to maintain temp in the coach etc...  I would not expect the inverter to run the AC's for long I was just wondering if the transfer switch would switch to inverter long enough for the gen to get spun up.
 
There's just a chance that the inverter could power one A/C for a couple of minutes, IF it doesn't have to handle a startup. But I'd not want to chance it, either for the inverter's sake or for that of the batteries (or the A/C, for that matter). However, I don't think your A/C is wired through the inverter. You can set the generator to start up (if yours is like mine) after a power failure, and the two or three minute delay (for A/C protection) won't let your rig warm up seriously.
 
Your a/c units in your Beaver are not on a circuit that is powered through the inverter, so the inverter and its internal transfer switch is never involved.

The auto generator start logic will fire up the generator when triggered by the house thermostat's demand for cooling. 120v power won't actually come on until the genset stabilizes rpms, but then it places its output on the main transfer switch, causing the transfer from shore mode to generator mode, and 120v power then reaches the a/c and it begins its start-up cycle.
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
I'm guessing your "voltage regulator" is an auto-transformer that can increase or decrease voltage a modest amount to keep it in a safe range. That may be a convenience in a few usage scenarios, but you could have bought a device that combines surge protection and provides high/low voltage protection by shutting down if voltage gets out of range, and also some other forms of electrical protection. The cost for the combined unit would be well under $350. Here is one excellent unit:
http://tweetys.com/portable-50-amp-electrical-management-system.aspx?gclid=COimy4T6lb0CFe99OgodTxYAcg

I suggest you return the expensive "regulator" and get a device like the one above.

Does anyone know if this will work if you only have a 30 amp connection and use the adapter that allows you to plug the 50 amp cable into a 30 amp?  I know one of the sites I'm going to only has 30 amp service but would still like the protection.  I won't need 50 amp since I won't need to run the 2nd air conditioner.

Thank you,
Jason
 
We have the Progressive Industries 50A hard wired model and it works on both 30A and 50A service.
 
To Those of you with these Progressive Industries Surge Protectors, or similar....
How often have you experienced conditions that this device has actually shut down on, or refused to initially connect?

I'm trying to gauge the level of my gamble not running one on my new RV..... and also gain ammunition to justify the expense to DW! ;)
 
We have had one case of a missing leg on a 50A outlet and one of a missing ground.  Also numerous occasions of low voltage where it shut down to prevent damage to the air conditioners.  Don't know if it has suppressed any spikes.
 
I've run into missing grounds several times in 8 years, all on 30A outlets. Had one that had hot and neutral reversed - that's a serious one! I've had a few low voltage shutdowns too.
 
Many years ago in a very nice campground in Las Vegas, we had an incident that resulted in Smoke coming from the big TV.  The following week I got a surge/over/under voltage protection device while at the rally in Quartzite.  Since then I have had undervoltage shutdowns numerous times, a couple of overvoltage ones and many due to grounding problems in the camp wiring.  Some resulted in a voltage of 120 to the ground I was standing on.  Only lasted a part of a second but I sure felt it before the protection device shut down.

I would not be without one as the Las Vegas incident got both my satellite dish boxes, the 2 TVs and a couple of other things.  Repair of just the large TV was as much as the protection device cost at that time.  I repaired the other stuff for a few dollars as I knew how to do it.
 
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