Surge Protector Installation

[WaitingToRetire]

Howdy,

Bought a Surge Protector. Cost $202 at CamperWorld in OKC (first time to CamperWorld, woot woot!!), installed it myself this afternoon. Bought the hardwired version instead of the "plug 'n' play" portable version because of 1) price, 2) didn't want $200 just dangling out there for someone to come along and re-appropriate, and 3) I needed a project to take up some time and make me feel productive. Although I would have preferred the Progressive EMS-HW30C, the SurgeGuard 34520 does everything it needs to do, and it's $140 cheaper. And the plexiglass allows me to mount it unobtrusively and still see what's going on.

Anyway, the hard part was figuring out where to put it. Of course, the compartment where the cord coils up was the natural place, but you want to be able to see the lights, right? And with the panel screwed in place, you can't see the unit to determine what lights are on for troubleshooting purposes. So, after thinking for awhile, I just decided to keep it in the cord storage compartment, and add a plexiglass cover so I could look in there when needed, yet still keeps out the little kids' curious hands.

So, the story behind why I got it in the first place. Three of us (3 Rv'ers) went camping to Skiatook, OK (nice lake, BTW) a few weeks ago. Sat through some thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Power went out in the nearby town, and all the camp spots at the lake. After the storm, the bunch of us were sitting back outside when the power came on (I had just left everything on in the camper, didn't think to shut anything down). I heard my A/C kick on, my buddy's A/C kicked on, but our other friend's camper didn't power back up. I asked him if he thought he got zapped - he said no, it's probably just low voltage to the campground, and his will come on when power stabilizes in the region. He told us about his surge protector and how it works and what it protects against. Sure enough, about a half hour later, his rig powered up. Nothing happened to my set-up, all is well. The other guy had a burnt smell coming from his A/C when he went to check on his, but it is still working fine to this day. Can't imagine in the long run it is good for it though. So, it didn't take to much to convince me it was worth the $$.

I forget what magazine (either TrailerLife or Highways), but one of them had a good basic primer on surge protection in it a month or two ago.

I thought it looked ok when I finished. Just thought I'd throw up the pics and let all know how I did it. Not much to it, pretty straight forward install.

Chad

[DTJ9610]

Great post and pics. Thank for sharing. I'm current debating which to get. I want to get a hard wired, however I also want to convert to the Marinco plug. The problem is I can only do 1 at a time. I was also contemplating how to see the lights, which it appears you may have solved for me.

Thanks again.

On a side note it's good to see another Tundra owner. I'm pulling the Laredo 303TG (cousin to the Outback 312BHS). How do you like it so far. The longest I have gone is 320 miles 1 way and the truck pulled without any issues. Did you do any upgrade to the truck?

[KO4A]

I had the CW surge guard and thought it had failed. Nope it was doing its job but I replaced with Progressive Industries EMS HW50C which has a remote module and bypass switch.
The one concern I have about the CW surge guard is the screw heads are not covered or protected from a sharp metal object from coming in contact with them. I would put a plexaglass cover over them if I was still using it.