Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-04-2019, 08:55 AM   #41
Senior Member
 
BandJCarm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Between Pickles Gap and Toad Suck, AR
Posts: 6,070
This site is NOT cheap. It may SEEM 'free' but if you read it, it ain't free.

Y'all do it any way you want. But please, don't argue that no one NEEDS an EMS just because you haven't ever needed one. Others have needed it quite often.
__________________
"Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man" Herbert Hoover
"American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God"Lewis Grizzard

FROG AR-0019-242
2016 GMC Denali 3500Dually--2017 CC 36CKTS
BandJCarm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 08:59 AM   #42
Senior Member
 
CAT-RN's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 7,363
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82 View Post
My TT chocks: 6" pieces of 4x4 treated with ends cut at 45's.

My TT Levelers: Assorted scrap pieces of 1x8, 2x8 that I got from lumber yard for either free, or a couple bucks.

No tie downs for awning, just bring it in if it's too windy.

I use the water from FW tank....for drinking....

I don't have a water filter....

No EMS....No TPMS....

I just go camping and have fun.



If it give someone piece of mind....go for it, but don't tell me I HAVE TO DO IT YOUR WAY.

In the end....it's personal choice and that's all that really matters.



Have a great July 4th !!!


X-2. Love it. “Keep is simple”. Stupid!! Butttttt- drink from FW tank!! That kill you. Ha

About like the insurance company that not insurance my moms house any longer. Told mom because of mold in one area. They told mom that mold kill her. Mom told em it been like that forever. Still canceled her.

Mom says I don’t believe them. How do you argue with mom. She 95 and in good health. Lol

Russell.
CAT-RN is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 08:59 AM   #43
Senior Member
 
Iwannacamp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 7,916
Quote:
Originally Posted by BandJCarm View Post
This site is NOT cheap. It may SEEM 'free' but if you read it, it ain't free.

Y'all do it any way you want. But please, don't argue that no one NEEDS an EMS just because you haven't ever needed one. Others have needed it quite often.


Lol. This site is kinda like an EMS...you don’t need it until you do.
__________________
2017 Puma 297RLSS
2005 Ram 2500 4X4 diesel SMOKER!!
I love puns, irony and tasteless jokes...
born in Texas.... live in Arkansas
Iwannacamp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 09:03 AM   #44
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 5,712
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAT-RN View Post
X-2. Love it. “Keep is simple”. Stupid!! Butttttt- drink from FW tank!! That kill you. Ha

About like the insurance company that not insurance my moms house any longer. Told mom because of mold in one area. They told mom that mold kill her. Mom told em it been like that forever. Still canceled her.

Mom says I don’t believe them. How do you argue with mom. She 95 and in good health. Lol

Russell.
Probably like you....I grew up drinking from the hose on the house. I figure the germs from that has given us protection from any bacteria that might linger in our tanks or CG water.
TheWolfPaq82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 09:07 AM   #45
Senior Member
 
nomad297's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 7,053
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82 View Post
No it's not Bruce....just let it go and move on.
I attribute it to...It's not as problematic as you believe it to be and the percentage is very small
“Just let it go and move on” is easy for you to say, and a sure sign that you have no data or proof that your opinion...and it is just your opinion, that an EMS is not an essential tool to protect RVs from the numerous electrical problems that can be experienced at campgrounds. It would be easy for me to accept if you were able to convince me that “It’s not as problematic as [I] believe it to be and the percentage is very small’, but I have to disagree with this statement now because I have read about and personally experienced numerous problems where the absence of an EMS has resulted in big problems. I’m just wondering where you are getting your information which contradicts the status quo, so if you are willing to share this wisdom, I am all ears.

Until then, I will not “Just let it go and move on”.

Bruce
__________________
2016 Rockwood Windjammer 3029W Diamond Edition
2015 Chevy 3500HD LTZ 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 Long Bed 4.10:1 SRW
nomad297 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 09:09 AM   #46
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 5,712
Let it go Bruce....just let it go. You'll be happier if you do.

BTW......where's your data ? ))
TheWolfPaq82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 09:11 AM   #47
Senior Member
 
BandJCarm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Between Pickles Gap and Toad Suck, AR
Posts: 6,070
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iwannacamp View Post
Lol. This site is kinda like an EMS...you don’t need it until you do.
Yeah, and it has cost me a new truck, countless doo-dads and shiny objects.


One thing this site does that makes me chuckle is the chauvinistic approach to all questions. Joe asks a question about what he should do, and 10,000 people answer with what THEY have.....even if their units are nowhere close to same. "You have to do it like I do it" is the unspoken advice.



Can't tell you the times I read in "New Posts" about some issue, only to see that the OP has a motorhome or a hybrid, and my experience means nothing there.
__________________
"Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man" Herbert Hoover
"American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God"Lewis Grizzard

FROG AR-0019-242
2016 GMC Denali 3500Dually--2017 CC 36CKTS
BandJCarm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 09:15 AM   #48
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 5,712
Quote:
Originally Posted by BandJCarm View Post
Yeah, and it has cost me a new truck, countless doo-dads and shiny objects.


One thing this site does that makes me chuckle is the chauvinistic approach to all questions. Joe asks a question about what he should do, and 10,000 people answer with what THEY have.....even if their units are nowhere close to same. "You have to do it like I do it" is the unspoken advice.



Can't tell you the times I read in "New Posts" about some issue, only to see that the OP has a motorhome or a hybrid, and my experience means nothing there.
X100 I've done the very thing myself by not looking close enough at the post sometimes.
TheWolfPaq82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 09:35 AM   #49
Senior Member
 
nomad297's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 7,053
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82 View Post
don't tell me I HAVE TO DO IT YOUR WAY.
Now you’re getting carried away. Where did anybody tell you that you had to do anything their way? I don’t even see where anybody suggested that you should change the way you have been doing anything for the last 35 years. You are obviously comfortable and confident with the way you do things, and that’s great. Nobody is telling you what to do. In fact, I think people are interested in your 35 years of experience and how you do things — just as I am interested in how you have managed to have no electrical problems in all that time.

Bruce
__________________
2016 Rockwood Windjammer 3029W Diamond Edition
2015 Chevy 3500HD LTZ 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 Long Bed 4.10:1 SRW
nomad297 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 11:28 AM   #50
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Lynchburg, VA
Posts: 393
I've been camping almost 50 years with no electrical problem, no protection. I've considered getting something but just never did. Perhaps I can expect 30 more years without a problem.
__________________
2011 Sabre Silhouette 260BHS
2017 F-350 XLT CC DRW 6.7L
tinkerreknit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2019, 12:00 PM   #51
Canadian Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Eastern GTA, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 6,233
TheWolfPaq82, as I said in my earlier post, I totally agree with you that an EMS is not mandatory but I also agree with Bruce that no one here is telling you it is. Just that some of us consider it to be valuable insurance based on our experience with poor power at campgrounds.

I'm curious ... do you have, or have you ever had, any type of continual power monitoring device to be able to say you've never had any of the issues that an EMS will detect?
__________________
2023 Rockwood Signature 8262RBS
2016 Ford F-250 XLT SuperCrew, 6.2L, 4x4, 6'9" bed
2019 Rockwood Signature 8290BS (2019 - 2022)
2011 Rockwood Signature 8293SS (2015 - 2018)
2010 Rockwood Roo 23SS (2012 - 2014)

itat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2019, 07:39 PM   #52
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Port Charlotte Fl/Hinsdale Ma
Posts: 4,823
Quote:
Originally Posted by cospringsrobert View Post
I am a new travel trailer owner and about to go out on our first camping trip with it. I have learned that a surge protector is a must. I found one on Amazon PROGRESSIVE INDUSTRIES SSP-30XL Surge Protector with Cover (30 Amp). Is this enough or is there a more recommended one? Trying to stay around the $100 price point. Thanks in advance!
Don't waste your money. Surge Protector is a missed used word.

SSP-30XL is a surge protector only and does nothing more. You need to buy an EMS. About $300.00.

Surge protector will stop a high surge just one time and it is dead. Research Progressive Industries EMS.
cavie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2019, 07:42 PM   #53
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 26
Quote:
Originally Posted by BandJCarm View Post
I don't think every time was a potential catastrophe. But some were. I ain't no electrician.


Four were low voltage. Some VERY low voltage. I don't have an autoformer, wish I did. But when that happens, Amps go way up, and damage happens to electrical stuff........


Two were weird situations that were not catastrophic but I'd never have figured it out without the EMS. Seems my unit will somehow sense an ungrounded courtesy light that are on some of those Eaton power pedestals.....the ones with the day/night sensor that turns it on at dusk and off at daylight. My unit shuts power down when that sensor kicks on that ungrounded light. Last campground, I was in two spots and both did the same thing. I called P.I.. and they explained it. Drove me nuts, and was an easy fix (tape up the day/night sensor).


There was one time where storms were making the entire campground power flicker.........on and off. No camper is going to like that, it causes surges and spikes. Unit shut me down and the built in delay saved me from trying to come back on with every flicker.


I know folks say they don't need one, and that's up to them. Fine. It always amazes me the things that campers try to save money on.

My dad was an electrical Engineer.
His comment was no surge suppressor will protect against lightening strikes.

You are correct in that you are basically cleaning up the spikes and protecting your equipment from this type of damage.

I bought a holmes autoformer from the previous owner of my RV. We almost made it all summer the first year before our fridge died. Spike? Low voltage? Don’t know but I wasn’t using my autoformer all the time...
went through the hassle of warranty for the residential fridge.

I always use my autoformer now.
Kennerg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2019, 09:20 PM   #54
RV Electricity Expert
 
jmsokol's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 99
Quote:
Originally Posted by 67L48 View Post
If all you want is surge protection (help in a catastrophe, like lightning strike), I'd go budget Camco or something. Anything with a fast response time is fine.

The more insidious issue is with low voltage. P=IV. With constant power devices and low voltage, it will draw more current. More current will wear things out quicker (esp. motors).
I’m Mike Sokol from RVtravel, RVelectricity and The No~Shock~Zone, so I study this sort of thing a lot. While your statement about constant power devices drawing more current at lower voltages is correct, in reality the main appliances in an RV that can be damaged by VLV (very low voltage) are the compressor motors in air conditioners and residential refrigerators, which will indeed burn up on VLV. But universal switch mode power supplies will happily operate on anything from 90 to 250 volts, albeit with more current as you mention. However I would suggest that the more dangerous condition is over voltage, from things like an open neutral on a pedestal or miswired TT-30 outlet. In that case a basic $100 surge protector is useless. What’s needed is an EMS surge protector that includes a relay and monitoring circuit that will disconnect your RV from under voltage, over voltage, and open ground. And an open ground is what allows a hot skin voltage to occur. However an EMS (Electrical Management System) surge protector does cost $300 to $400. But I think that’s cheap insurance considering how much an over voltage event repair can cost, or how dangerous a hot-skin voltage can be.
jmsokol is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2019, 09:25 PM   #55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 559
This is what I bought and it was $231 dollars from Amazon. Glad I bought it and no muss-no fuss installing it. Pretty straight forward though I do admit to be a little nervous as we were leaving in 3 days for DC when I did mine.
tyler811 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2019, 09:26 PM   #56
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Alvin, Texas
Posts: 64
Here is what I did. We had a camper burn up because of a faulty electrical hook up. Will never be with out one again. This is behind a cabinet and just quietly does its job.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	20181103_180953.jpg
Views:	64
Size:	255.3 KB
ID:	209418  
USMC0369 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-08-2019, 10:27 PM   #57
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: Florida
Posts: 140
Surge protector

We were at a campground a few weeks ago and our power wouldn’t come on. The surge protector key is know the ground was not correct. Wr let the office know. I have spoken to campers that said with the storms in Florida one camper that didn’t have one had his whole rig ruined with a surge 😳
shopinful is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2019, 05:51 AM   #58
Senior Member
 
Egalt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 110
"Trying to stay around the $100 price point."

I don't put a price on safety and lives. Invest in the best product available. It's Insurance.

Chinabombs are cheap tires and roll like all the others, but I would never buy them.
Egalt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2019, 08:29 AM   #59
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,306
I, like many others never used a Surge/EMS for many years, but I rarely stayed in Rv parks with full hookups. That changed in recent years. I bought the 50 amp Progressive unit and have used it for a couple of years. First know that water protection is a "must" for these units. Had the first one fill up with water and Progressive replaced the unit. Not sure if I would have purchased it knowing this weakness. I carefully sealed the second unit with silicone, and drilled drain holes in the bottom to allow water out. I also keep it covered on the post and use a cable lock to keep it from walking away. Minor hassles, but you may want to consider those issues in your purchase decision. I've had one issue where it shut down the electrical for an open ground, (big deal on a 50 amp system). Figure it pretty much payed for itself at that point. I feel the EMS function is even more important than the surge function, but most EMS's do both. Good luck in your search.
__________________
2003 Duramax
2017 Crusader 315

2016 Boston Whaler Montauk 150
Former Montana owner
Colorado Cruiser, Over the Pass and Down the Hill
Comanchecreek is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2019, 08:31 AM   #60
Senior Member
 
Oldnapapartsguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Southwest Missouri
Posts: 329
Hughes watchdog

I purchased this a couple of months back. So far it has served us well. We have experienced low voltage and when that occurred the unit disconnected the coach from the power supply. When the park power stabilized I connected it with my phone and it worked perfectly. We also got doing too many things at once, AC on, microwave on and electric barbecue. The unit saw the draw was exceeding the 30 amps so instead of a breaker popping the unit shut down. I cut back our usage and it was back on. If there is a spike, or large surge, it has a module that can be replaced for $30. That is much better than buying another unit. So far so good. Installed a cable lock to secure it to the power pedestal to keep honest people honest.
https://hughesautoformers.com/product/pwd30-epo/
__________________
Bill & Sue
Southwest Missouri, retired
2018 Dynamax Series 4
2014 Explorer & 2006 Jeep Unlimited
Oldnapapartsguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:14 AM.