Surge Protector

[TheGriz]

Hi folks,

The more I read, the more I'm convinced that I need to get my tail in gear and get a surge protector installed in my TT...Laredo 288RL (50amp service). I read somewhere that the following is a recommended protector...Progressive Industries EMS-HW50C Hardwire 50 Amp RV Surge Protector - W/Remote Display. The best price I found was $327 at https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Progr...p/emshw50c.htm .

Also, looking for suggestions on specific location to install.

I'd like to purchase and have installed before we depart for our trip south in latter March.

Before I pull the trigger to order, I wanted to run past the brain trust here. Feedback appreciated!

Regards,
Mike

[chuckster57]

I would find the junction box where the shore power comes into the trailer. Undo the connections and insert between the two sets of wires. The remote display has a long cord so you have options. Mine is sitting in a cabinet above the box.

[TheGriz]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I would find the junction box where the shore power comes into the trailer. Undo the connections and insert between the two sets of wires. The remote display has a long cord so you have options. Mine is sitting in a cabinet above the box.

Thanks for quick response Chuck!

Would the likely spot for that junction box be in the compartment behind the breaker/fuse panel in the base of the cabinet beneath my oven in my TT? I hesitate to pull that panel as I am concerned about disturbing a likely congested "nest" of wiring.

[chuckster57]

If your shore cord is “attached” to your trailer then the junction box will be in that space. If your shore cord “plugs into” the trailer then the junction box is most likely behind the breaker panel.

If you take the cover off the breaker panel, you’ll find 4 screws, probably Roberts head #2, that hold the panel in place. Take those out and you should be able to see the box.

[TheGriz]

Yes...shore cord plugs into the back wall of TT. So if not too cold tomorrow, I'll take the panel out and get a look behind.

Are you familiar with the surge protector I have in the link of my original post? If so, am I getting a quality unit at the right price. Or do you have other suggestions? I do want the surge protector permanently installed in the TT.

[B-O-B'03]

Mine is only 30 amp service but I basically did what Chuck suggested.


Removed the load center

Cut the power cord and inserted the EMS

Mounted remote display on the pantry wall, which was being used as a chase way for a lot of other wires, above where the load center is.


Easy Peasy.

-Brian

[SummitPond]

Originally Posted by B-O-B'03

...Easy Peasy.

(edit: fixed quote syntax error)

I concur with Brian. I'm not the fastest in doing anything, and I put my 30A unit in in about 2 hours - the most time spent trying to fish the cable from the EMS to the display panel.

My suggestion: mount the EMS on some rubber grommets to help isolate it from whatever surface you place it on. The unit "hums" and you don't want the mounting surface to act as a sounding board.

And to "second" what others have said in other posts - it is worth the investment. The EMS has saved me at least twice: once with a CG that had swapped the hot and neutral on a new outlet (power was not allowed to the trailer at all), the other with an open ground (the EMS cut power when any high-drain device was turned on - it took me a while to figure out what was going on).

Ken

[Rolling Along]

Originally Posted by TheGriz

Yes...shore cord plugs into the back wall of TT. So if not too cold tomorrow, I'll take the panel out and get a look behind.

Are you familiar with the surge protector I have in the link of my original post? If so, am I getting a quality unit at the right price. Or do you have other suggestions? I do want the surge protector permanently installed in the TT.

I have the same unit and have one bit of advice... DON’T plug your camper in until you have it installed!

I went 16 years camping with 30 amp and never felt the need. I bought this 5th wheel with 50 amp and camped for nearly a year and didn’t feel the need. A camping friend and his wife got adamant that I had to have one and told of her sister’s experience costing approx $3000 so I reluctantly spent the money.

I could not believe it, the very next trip to a campground near Mich International Speedway it saved my wallet. That summer it saved me a total of 3 Times once at a farm shop that I had no problems on 30 amp 110volt now tried the 50 amp... It ended up being three phase just like two other campers I knew who blew every ac appliance in their campers.

Save yourself thousands of $$ by spending a couple hundred $$ now.

[66joej]

Mounted mine like this.

[TheGriz]

Thanks for the pictures Brian. As they say, a pic is worth a thousand words.
One of my concerns was I might get into a mess of wires behind the panel. But judging by the pics you posted, it looks quite "well packaged", with sufficient wire slack. WX looks decent today, so I will be going out to the TT after it warms up a bit to do an exploratory and take out the electrical panel.

And Ken...many thanks for the sound deadening tip!!!! Any unnecessary background hum, squeak, rattle drives me absolutely "apeschnit"!!!

Thoughts are unanimous, worth the investment, get the EMS installed ASAP!!!

Mike

[Hodgy]

Originally Posted by B-O-B'03

Mine is only 30 amp service but I basically did what Chuck suggested.

Removed the load center

Cut the power cord and inserted the EMS

Mounted remote display on the pantry wall, which was being used as a chase way for a lot of other wires, above where the load center is.


Easy Peasy.

-Brian

Thanks for the photos. I was going to go with the plug in one but now I am thinking I like the way you did it.


.

[Andymil]

Yes that is the unit you need. The price is good. If you find it cheaper, let me know. We’re going from 30 to 50 amp so we can’t use our old one.

You should use some spacers (approximately 1/2”) to allow air to circulate around the unit. There is a large relay inside that always energized (unless there’s a problem) and it gets warm.

[Hodgy]

Originally Posted by SummitPond

I concur with Brian. I'm not the fastest in doing anything, and I put my 30A unit in in about 2 hours - the most time spent trying to fish the cable from the EMS to the display panel.

My suggestion: mount the EMS on some rubber grommets to help isolate it from whatever surface you place it on. The unit "hums" and you don't want the mounting surface to act as a sounding board.

And to "second" what others have said in other posts - it is worth the investment. The EMS has saved me at least twice: once with a CG that had swapped the hot and neutral on a new outlet (power was not allowed to the trailer at all), the other with an open ground (the EMS cut power when any high-drain device was turned on - it took me a while to figure out what was going on).

Ken

Never thought about the hum. That would drive me crazy, will have to isolate it.

Does it hum only when it is required to protect circuits or is it on all the time and hums all the time ?

Thanks.

.

[TheGriz]

Well...the wiring behind my electrical panel isn't quite so neatly nested . There is room in the compartment, but getting the angle to turn the four mounting screws will definitely be a royal pain!

Joe...nice install as well! I have my sink cabinet right there as well. Two concerns though. 1. If a leak develops in the sink area the EMS is right there!!! 2. I will have to see how easy it may be fish that main cable threw the two compartments.

[JRTJH]

TheGriz,

From your pictures, it looks like there is a lot of room to mount the EMS on the back wall above that junction box, run the existing yellow ROMEX to the EMS and use new ROMEX to go from the EMS back to your power center. You'd "solve" two problems that way, first, no angle to negotiate with the mounting screws and second, no chance of water leaking into the unit from the adjacent sink.

You may find other locations better suited, but that back wall looks promising.

[Rolling Along]

I mounted mine in the back where it came in. There was extra wire from the plug coming in to the hole in the floor in the cabinet so I just cut it leaving approx 18inch pigtail from the outside plug. Wired the cut ends into the EMS then fastened it to the floor. No extra wire needed! Just some manual labor. Mine doesn’t hum that I’ve noticed.

[Andymil]

If anyone has a Progressive unit that hums too loud, they should contact Progressive. We’ve never noticed a hum from our 30 amp unit.

[bfisher003]

Originally Posted by Andymil

If anyone has a Progressive unit that hums too loud, they should contact Progressive. We’ve never noticed a hum from our 30 amp unit.

Our 30 amp unit does not hum either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cardinal96ss]

We have our Progressive mounted behind the breaker panel with the remote display mounted low and by the entrance door so that I see the readouts without having to get into the RV. No discernible hum from our 50 amp unit.

[SummitPond]

Originally Posted by Hodgy

... Does it hum only when it is required to protect circuits or is it on all the time and hums all the time ? ...

All the time; it wasn't a loud hum (see this link for and this one for more comments) but in the quiet of the night it was there in the background, hence something to isolate it from the "sounding board" I mounted it on.