Currently have 30 amp TT. Will be getting a 50 amp 5th wheel next year. Wanting to get the 50 amp surge protector, plug into the 50 amp side of the pedestal, then step down to 30 amp with the adapter, and plug into the TT. Any problems with doing this?
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.
X2 on that insurance.
We pulled into a mom & pop park in August near Lafayette Louisiana, plugged in and turned on the A/C. The power protector shut all of it down. The display showed 103 Volts. The progressive unit payed for itself right then and there.
This thread contains several references to the fact that members or family have been camping 30-40 years without an EMS system with no problem so why get one now. The simple answer is things have changed. In the past RVs and TT were smaller and had lower energy requirements. 30 years ago many TT had no AC and those that did had one small unit. Today it is not unusual to see campgrounds full of large units with 2 and 3 ACs, residential fridges etc. Unfortunately many of the campgrounds still have the same wiring they had 30 years ago that was not designed for today's demand. The forum is full of posts about ideas on how to use not only the 30A outlet in a pedestal but also the 15/20A outlet.
Good point, never thought of it that way.
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2013 Forest River Salem/Sport Fifth WHL
2017 GMC Sierra 2500 Duramax/Allison
Curt Q20 Fifth wheel, Champion Inverter3500
US Army Retired
Currently have 30 amp TT. Will be getting a 50 amp 5th wheel next year. Wanting to get the 50 amp surge protector, plug into the 50 amp side of the pedestal, then step down to 30 amp with the adapter, and plug into the TT. Any problems with doing this?
Not at all. You can use a HW50 as well if you want hard wired.
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2017 Puma 297RLSS
2005 Ram 2500 4X4 diesel SMOKER!!
I love puns, irony and tasteless jokes...
born in Texas.... live in Arkansas
While camping at a state park, there was a problem when hooking into the pedestal that melted the plugin. Since I had an EMS-PT50x plugged in, the plugin for the rv was protected from melting as well as protection for appliances in rv. After this episode I bought the shortest male/female 50 amp pigtail I could find. Now I plug the pigtail into the pedestal before I plug in the EMS to protect the prongs.
I've noticed that the cheaper one's will detect, but not protect on a lot of issues. My biggest concern right now is for lightening strikes, as this just happened 2 day's ago. Would the cheaper models protect the RV in that case?
Hello Again,
Wow! This is a very active interest to a lot of folks.
I appreciate all the comments.
Another question
If I choose to purchase one of these expensive EMS and it is just out there by the pedestal. How are you protecting it from not being unplugged and walking away with someone else?
We were out this weekend and experienced a power surge during the morning hours between 3:15 am and 7 am. It was so hot / humid that even a few of the Tenters had modified window A/C units going into their tents. Needless to say the A/C was buzzing throughout the CG.
Before going to bed ( roughly 11 pm ) we noticed there were spikes in the electrical when we were washing up and the water pump would cycle sporadically. Was a good time to call it a night. I made it a point to turn the A/C down to low at that time.
The reason I say 3:15 is that I woke to go the bathroom and seen the time on the Microwave, and also turned off the A/C. Later when I re-awoke and started making coffee, I noticed the Microwave and Coffee pot clocks were both flashing. I then figured we had a surge through out the morning hours...somewhere down the line. As perfect timing would have it, I did notice the camper 2 sites down resetting his electrical box on the pole. Still not sure what happened.
This is twice for us. The first time was a bad storm ( tornado ) had blown in quickly, and took all the power out in the CG.
YEP, I would say......I am definitely glad I have one! JUST BEACUSE!
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Rick & Brian
2023 Flagstaff 206STSE
2019 Flagstaff HW29SC ( sold )
2017 Salem Cruise Lite 232RBXL ( sold )
2014 Ford 150 XLT 5.0 2wd
Hello Again,
Wow! This is a very active interest to a lot of folks.
I appreciate all the comments.
Another question
If I choose to purchase one of these expensive EMS and it is just out there by the pedestal. How are you protecting it from not being unplugged and walking away with someone else?
We carry a padlock so we can either lock the electrical box, if that's an option, or we carry a bicycle cable that we can wrap around the electrical pedestal. Works great both ways!
__________________
Rick & Brian
2023 Flagstaff 206STSE
2019 Flagstaff HW29SC ( sold )
2017 Salem Cruise Lite 232RBXL ( sold )
2014 Ford 150 XLT 5.0 2wd
Hello Again,
Wow! This is a very active interest to a lot of folks.
I appreciate all the comments.
Another question
If I choose to purchase one of these expensive EMS and it is just out there by the pedestal. How are you protecting it from not being unplugged and walking away with someone else?
You have to lock it to the pedestal if theft is a concern.
I went with the "hard wired" option. No worries of it "walking away" or being left behind. Also one less piece of gear to mess with when setting up or tearing down. Hooking up/disconnecting power is as simple as plugging/unplugging the power cord and flipping the breakers.
Camping is about getting away from hassles and relaxing for me and not have the urge to be cleaning/doing/fixing something when home. I want as few hassles as possible both coming or going. I just want to get set up as easily as possible so I can shut my brain off, slide into my reclining lawn chair and think/do nothing.
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2011 Flagstaff Classic Superlight 831RLBSS "Atrium slide"
Husky Centerline Hitch
2016 Ford F-150 EcoBoost SuperCrew, Lariat Sport, Max Tow package
I don't speak from authority, but I don't think you can protected from a lightning strike....I recon it can jump many feet. Lightning rods maybe. These are designed for power surges not lightning.
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2017 Puma 297RLSS
2005 Ram 2500 4X4 diesel SMOKER!!
I love puns, irony and tasteless jokes...
born in Texas.... live in Arkansas
I attended a great lecture on lightning a few years ago. The one take-away. Lightning just traveled 1-2 miles from a cloud through air your 1/8" rubber soles are no issue. AN EMS / Surge protector will never protect from a direct strike, but it might from the induced EMF from a near by one.
Thanks for the lightening report. I had a lightening strike either hit the camper, or close enough that it sounded like it was ours, this past Fri night. It knocked all the outlets in the kitchen and bedroom completely out. I have one outlet in the kitchen with the reset button out. As of Saturday morning, this outlet would not reset, and it controls all the other outlets. I've had many suggestions on what to do, everything from replacing the outlet, to perhaps an outside outlet that could be on the same circuit, being wet from the storm, as being the reason for it not resetting. I don't have a surge protector, but am ordering one this week. We're seasonal campers, so was looking at getting the Progressive Industries SSP-50XL.
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