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I did a search on the surge guard and read the comments but did not fully understand if the surge guard also protected our expensive toys which we have plugged in in our fifth wheel: lcd tv, computers, etc, or should we also have individual surge protection on each one?
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Dennis and Cherry 1998 Prowler 34 5Y 1997 F250 Power Stroke John Wood Towmaster tranny Firestone ride rite air bags, tranny temp gage, Toy poodle "Jasmine"
If the whole rig unit you install has a rating for surge/spike protection (which will be measured in joules and should be >>300 joules and a response time measured in nanoseconds and should be <1 nanosecond both are typical industry recommendation) then the short answer is that individual spike protection is not necessary.
The Progressive Industries unit does have these ratings. The Surge Guard unit alludes to but does not explicitly say on their web site that they have this rating. That would be worth an email to them. I bet it does.
In a nutshell these devices are protecting 1) high/low (aka sags and surges) voltages typically <105volt or >135 volts which can damage high draw appliances like ACs if run on high/low voltages. 2) a time delay when #1 is activated before the unit resets to reduce damage to things like AC compressors as they can't stand to be cycled on/off like that. 3) spikes - not surges as indicated in #1 - these spikes happen everywhere as a natural result of appliance turning on/off thoroughout the grid and typically are in the hundreds to thousands of volts range and last a few nano or micro seconds and are the things that damage delicate electronics - the heavy draw appliances don't care about spikes. #4) incorrectly wired electrical supply pedestals where the hot and ground wires are not properly installed - an obvious problem.
#1 is solved by the device sensing the voltage limits and shutting the whole thing down for a while or until you - with good reason - bypass the shutdown. #3 is solved by electronic devices (often a semiconductor device called a MOSFET) that absorbs those spikes and is actually consumed as it does so meaning they do need replacing over time. Most quality spike protectors have an indicator to tell you these devices are used up. #4 is solved by the device sensing the incorrect wiring and immediately shutting down
With all that said I also use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) on my electronics (I run a desktop computer hence no battery protection as in a laptop) as a means to reduce other nuisance current contaminants like noise and microsecond interruptions that can cause a desktop computer to be unhappy.
Thanks RV Dude, your explanation was more than adequate and I now understand the surge guard . I appreciate you taking your time to help us......Dennis and Cherry
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Dennis and Cherry 1998 Prowler 34 5Y 1997 F250 Power Stroke John Wood Towmaster tranny Firestone ride rite air bags, tranny temp gage, Toy poodle "Jasmine"
Monday, I received my surge/voltage unit from Progressive. It has all the "bells and whistles" that RV Dude has talked about. I went with Progressive because they have a digital read-out that gives all the info you need. One thing I like about the Progressive unit is that it gives you a code to tell you what the problem is. As far as I can tell, Surge Guard just has lights to let you know it has shut off. Then, you have to figure out what the problem was.
I went with the portable unit, as I didn't want to fool around with the MH wiring, and try to find a place to mount the unit. So far, everything is working well.
The thing that prompted my purchase was the fact that last week, a MH down at the other end of the park, lost all of its circuit boards. The problem was a fault in the outlet on the post. The CG is paying for the repairs, but the owner is going to spend a lot of time getting everything repaired.
-- Edited by Jim01 at 14:57, 2007-08-07
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Jim and Linda Full-timers from 2001 to 2013 http://parttimewithjandl.blogspot.com/ 2006 Dodge 2500 Diesel pulling a Heartland 26LRSS TT May your days be warm, and your skies be blue. May your roads be smooth, and your views ever-new.
