Should I Add a 2nd Surge Protection Device?

[YLBlues]

When we did our walk-through before taking delivery, the tech showed us the built-in/supplied surge protection device and suggested we buy a portable model and put that between the shore power cord and campground pedestal.  I questioned why we would do that and he said it would protect the onboard unit from damage.

That makes sense technically, but how realistic is it to spend the money to surge protect the surge protector?

BTW, when I asked this same tech if the coach leveling system offered automatic leveling (sales guy mentioned it as a feature).  He said no....if it did it would have a button labeled auto.  Wrong!  Hit the Hyd button twice and it dumps air and then levels.

 

[John From Detroit]

It depends on what is built in.. If it is a true SURGE GUARD like the Progrissive industires HW-50(or 30) C EMS or equivalent TRC model. Well. I'd not buy an external unit

But if the "internal" is a "Surge guard" (note the addition of quotes) Spike suppressor only model  By all means for those do not truly protect you  Many "Surge guards" are nothing more than spike suppressors. They protect against short term (generall less than 1/30th of a second) Transient spikes in voltage. but do nothing for you if say the park is mis-wired and smacks you with 220 volts (or a buddy's garage) or the park is anemic and hits you with 90 volts (Damaging to Air Conditioners)

The HW-50/30 (and the PT-5030) by Progressive industries and the TRC equivlents.. They protect you against all the above.  They can also be set (Portorbales are factory set) to hold off power for just shy of 3 minutes in the event of a "Blink" (like a 1 secone power fail) This too extends the life of stuff. Lots of stuff..  The cheaper units that just clip spikes.. DO not do that.

 

[Larry N.]

I agree with John -- it depends on what is actually installed.

 

[Kevin Means]

I also agree. Some basic systems provide protection from high voltage spikes only, which is better than nothing, but in my experience, low voltage problems at campgrounds are more common. Higher-end (i.e. more expensive) systems are often called power, or energy management systems, and protect against several more appliance-damaging and safety related electrical problems. So yes, it would be helpful to know what you already have before recommending whether or not another device would be helpful.

Kev

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Tiffin doesn't show a standard power monitor or surge protector in the specs for the 2008 Allegro Bus, nor a factory option for it either.  Sometimes stuff like that doesn't make it to the sales brochures, but it' more likely one of these three things:
1. An after-market add-on by a former owner
2. Mistaken information from the tech doing the walk-thru
3. You misinterpreted what he said about the built-in auto-transfer function).

https://www.maplegroverv.com/wp-content/uploads/2008-Tiffin-Allegro-Bus-Brochure-2.pdf

 

[Isaac-1]

John, TRC is no longer TRC they sold out to Southwire last year, so their Surgeguard products are now labeled Southwire, not TRC.  I bought one (the price was right), to replace and older model which started acting flaky on its transfer timer, during the transition period last year, box said TRC, unit inside and instructions read Southwire .

 

[YLBlues]

I?m very sorry for not including all the information before posing the question, and wasting your time.

The original owners of this coach configured it with a lot of options.  It has washer & dryer, dishwasher, King Dome In-motion and an auto seeking dish.  Way more than we had on our wish list.  Still not certain all of it is fully working, but.... EMS is included.

The coach has a Progressive EMS-LCHW50.  So, the original question is should I consider a sacrificial device between the pedestal and the shore power cord, or will the Progressive device handle things without itself getting fried?  Secondary question is whether there is an age limit where I should consider replacing the the Progressive device?

Thank you for the responses already given.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I wouldn't buy a $250 device to protect another $250 device, but I know I could replace it myself if ever needed. It makes sense to me to just wait and deal with it IF it ever happens.

The power monitors are designed to be sacrificial if they cannot detect and avoid a power problem, but near-always they can. They will, however, eventually wear out the surge protect feature if there are repeated small power surges.  I had one fail 4 years of heavy usage, but the failure was a circuit board defect and not externally caused. The replacement was still working fine when I sold the coach 8 years later.

 

[Kevin Means]

Based on what you have, I would not feel the need to add another power monitoring device. The LCH W50  provides a lot of protection.

Kev

 

[YLBlues]

Update....our 1st trip was close to home and the Progressive EMS worked like a champ.

It was over 100 each day in SoCal and twice the EMS cut power to the coach.  Both times the error was for low voltage on line 1 and line 2.  Everyone was running AC constantly and voltage at our site dropped to 104 and 106.  The AC breakers also tripped.  Good to know it worked as designed.

 

[Rene T]

Update....our 1st trip was close to home and the Progressive EMS worked like a champ.

It was over 100 each day in SoCal and twice the EMS cut power to the coach.  Both times the error was for low voltage on line 1 and line 2.  Everyone was running AC constantly and voltage at our site dropped to 104 and 106.  The AC breakers also tripped.  Good to know it worked as designed.

Awesome.