Surge Protection - Are They Needed

[JoArt]

Hello,
I am wanting some input into how important a Surge Protection plug has been for folks.
Are these needed because you are loading in heavy power needed items like a TVs or several computers at the same time?
I wondered if any one has had an electrical power surge that might have been prevented because of the Surge Protector?
If I needed one of these....I have a 102A Rockwood would I need more than the 30amps? What is the "enhanced diagnostics" Surge Protection? Is it needed?
What brand/ mark would folks recommend purchasing?
Does Rockwood already have a Surge Protection device already in the trailer?

Thanks in advance I know I have a lot of questions.

[crunchman12001]

Originally Posted by JoArt

Hello,
I am wanting some input into how important a Surge Protection plug has been for folks.
Are these needed because you are loading in heavy power needed items like a TVs or several computers at the same time?
I wondered if any one has had an electrical power surge that might have been prevented because of the Surge Protector?
If I needed one of these....I have a 102A Rockwood would I need more than the 30amps? What is the "enhanced diagnostics" Surge Protection? Is it needed?
What brand/ mark would folks recommend purchasing?
Does Rockwood already have a Surge Protection device already in the trailer?

Thanks in advance I know I have a lot of questions.

YES, a Progressive Industries EMS is one of the most important things you can buy. The most common electrical issues are low / voltage that will fry your electronics.
You can buy one here.

Progressive Industries EMS-PT30X Portable 30AMP Electrical Management System

[Gumpster808]

X2 on the P30x if you have 30 amp hookup from your rig. Keeps from frying things on under voltage as stated above.

Look at it as an insurance policy. Seem like a waste of money until you need it.

[elind]

I've had low voltage due to poor connections twice that kick out my fridge. I needed to go in and do a manual reset on it. After I installed a EMS system the problems ended. It could of been worse.

[Wiscampsin]

X2 on Progressive Industries. An EMS unit offers more than just surge protection.
Think of it as cheap insurance considering what it would cost to repair/replace all your onboard electronics. Link: Progressive Industries RV Surge and Electrical Protection industry lea

[SC 2017]

Just last weekend my surge protector did its job and protected my investment when I plugged in to a pedestal that had Reverse Polarity. The list of problems that this condition could have caused ranges from appliance damage to electric shock. Not something I want to chance. Our site was the only site nearby that had this problem. Had we plugged in directly we would have never known the wires were backwards. Yes Maybe we would have been lucky but maybe not. I vote Yes. Buy it. Hope this helps.

[NMWildcat]

JoArt, I'm in the same boat as you. I know buying one of these expensive gizmos is not a bad idea and another layer of protection, but are they really as necessary as folks who have them say they are?

We have travelled all over the states and stayed in lots of RV parks for 30+ years and never had an electrical problem.

So do your homework and weigh the pros and cons of investing in one.

I think I'll take another couple of years to think about it

[CHICKDOE]

functionally the trailer will work just fine without one, as long as your electrical source meets all specs at all times. but this just doesn't happen! I have been at a campground where there was some weather nearby and suddenly a flash of lightning, a thunderclap, and no power to the entire campground. none of our stuff was damaged. other people around us had issues. was it a fluke or did our ems system function as designed and protect us? I may not know for a absolute fact which it was, but the ems earned a gold star that day at least in my mind. there are many, many comments on the forum about hardwired vs portable. there are pros and cons. you will have to research and decide. but get the full ems system (not just the lower end surge protector). it protects from many more conditions. I would tell you to get one that displays the amps going through it. this feature has been very helpful in diagnosing or researching the electrical devices installed in the trailer. progressive industries is highly recommended due to the lifetime warranty and superb customer service. I have used their customer service and I can truly use the word superb to describe it.

[MontyPP]

Get one. All it takes is one time to for your RV electronics to get fried or burn out.

[Flybob]

They are a must have if you stay anywhere where lots of people stay and use either their AC or electric heaters. Most campgrounds were built when RVs had much lower power requirements and the wiring is not capable of handling 2-3 AC units per rig on a hot day. The voltage will drop and the compressor will heat up and can be damaged. A good Progressive EMS is cheap insurance. There are less expensive units, but Progressive has a lifetime warranty and many times the protector is damaged as part of it protection process.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

JoArt, I'm in the same boat as you. I know buying one of these expensive gizmos is not a bad idea and another layer of protection, but are they really as necessary as folks who have them say they are?

We have travelled all over the states and stayed in lots of RV parks for 30+ years and never had an electrical problem.

So do your homework and weigh the pros and cons of investing in one.

I think I'll take another couple of years to think about it

X2 Me too .......... never had one never needed one but who knows..................

[Mountain Girl]

Yes!!!

[DLoree]

Without a doubt, get one, we purchased the progressive industries brand and have been very pleased. This past week it kicked in 2 days in a row. The holiday week caused more then normal usage on the campgrounds electrical system. We got to a point of 103 volts, thus the need for the protection.

[gectisme]

I work in the electronics field and I am a firm believer in surge/sag/brown out/spike protection. Systems that run on clean power have a lower repair rate then ones that don't. It is still a crap-shoot, it all depends on where the cycle of 120 is at when that spike hits and what type of current any given type of equipment is drawing. You might get lucky and never have an issue or you could be Murphy and always have damage after a power issue... It's also a cumulative stress, the more hits a piece of equipment takes the more likely it will fail. It's all risk versus money and sometimes money wins out and you take the risk.

Another issue that a good EMS will spot, which is more important to me with my family, is a power pedestal that has wiring problems, you might never know it until someone grabs the wrong pieces of metal on the RV and dies from being electrocuted. I don't have to use my DVM and measure the pedestal any more, my EMS tells me as soon as I plug it in. We have been on the road or a year and so far out of 69 RV parks only one had a wiring problem, the EMS caught it, the handy man fixed it and all was good. So if I did my math correctly that is 1.4% of the RV parks we have been to had a problem, pretty low.

Good luck with what ever you choose.

[great white]

To me it's like house or car insurance: you buy it hoping you'll never need it, but there's always that one bad day that you hoped would never happen.......

I have an EMS 30A in my trailer. Gives me peace of mind if nothing else.

Last thing I want to be doing in the middle of a trip is replacing a fridge, or an AC unit, or a tv, or.....

Adds one little bit extra piece of "relax, you're on vacation, nothing is gonna go wrong" to my trips.

[TeachTexas]

Originally Posted by JoArt

Hello,
I am wanting some input into how important a Surge Protection plug has been for folks.
Are these needed because you are loading in heavy power needed items like a TVs or several computers at the same time?
I wondered if any one has had an electrical power surge that might have been prevented because of the Surge Protector?
If I needed one of these....I have a 102A Rockwood would I need more than the 30amps? What is the "enhanced diagnostics" Surge Protection? Is it needed?
What brand/ mark would folks recommend purchasing?
Does Rockwood already have a Surge Protection device already in the trailer?

Thanks in advance I know I have a lot of questions.

Start by answering these questions for yourself:

Do you carry insurance on your car/truck?
Do you carry insurance on your trailer/motorhome?
Do you carry insurance on yourself?
Do you like to replace things that could have lasted longer?

If your answers are Yes to any of the first 3 and No to the last one then I think you answered the question on whether you should have one.
It is cheap insurance against a possible disaster.
Progressive seems to be the odds on favorite among the traveling crowd.

Good luck.

[tande]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

X2 Me too .......... never had one never needed one but who knows..................

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make......."

[Cypressloser]

When you stay at a CG in summer when everybody has their AC's running full blast, the Voltage drops to 100 Volts or lower due to system overload and the Amperage draw spikes which causes overheating and leads to premature failure of the AC and all other systems in the RV. This is the most common problem we have experienced over the years, the simple solution is a surge protector that monitors the Voltage and shuts down when it senses an issue. The other option would be to invest in a Voltage regulator like the Hughes Autoformer to deal with Voltage fluctuations.
I, unlike others have not come across a pedestal that was not correctly wired, I have however seen a number of 30 and 50 Amp receptacles that showed severe burn marks from when the cord was connected or disconnected with the breaker switched on which can also cause problems.
It's simply 'pay me now or pay me later', your choice.

[Hutch333id]

I am two and a half weeks in to a four and a half week trip out east. One of the CGs we stayed at had an open ground fault that my PI EMS picked up and wouldn't let me connect to - no doubt saving some damage to the appliances in my RV. At another CG the voltage repeatedly dropped to a point were the PI EMS kicked in each time and shut down the power coming in to my RV - again, presumably saving me some damaged appliances.
I've had the unit and the RV for three years now and would never plug in without it.

[Jaydubya81]

My parents never had one, they've been camping all over the south for forty years and have never had one. I've had three different campers and have been pulling my own camper for 15 years now , and I've never had one nor have I had any problems without it. With that said I don't think anyone could argue that they don't do there job and occasionally save the day. However a ( surge protector), is going to nothing for you with low voltage or high voltage, they only protect you from a power surge. You need some kind of EMS unit to give you total electrical protection . The problem with those , is they're expensive, as expensive as to replace an AC unit or fridge on your camper? No ! However like I previously mentioned, my family has never had a problem without one. I don't think they're really as necessary as people make out . I mean they didn't exist twenty years ago! How did they ever do it?
To sum it up;
Do you Need one, no.
Would it be a good idea? Yes
Have people camped for years without one? Yes
Have there been people hell bent on saying you need this or your camper will go up in flames, YES

I'm willing to take the risk. I could buy a new AC unit for what you give for a real ems unit, it's not that serious. Go camping, enjoy yourselves, people have been doing it for years, I still see way more people without one than I do with one.