Surge Protection

[Dean Johnson]

I had a Surge Guard unit fail on my coach. I have a 30 amp plug at home that we have for the coach and we lost power for about 8 hours a couple of weeks ago. Went out into the motorhome and fired up the generator, stayed nice and warm watching TV. The power came back on, I shut down the generator, plugged the coach back into the 30 amp outlet, (did not power off the breaker first which I usually do), and went back in the house. Next day discovered there was no 110v power in the coach, even with the generator going. I took the cover off the SurgeGuard transfer switch, did not see anything obviously wrong. I had a mobile RV repair tech come out and we looked in  the compartment and he said he could smell something burned, which I had missed. We took off the cover again and upon closer inspection, one of the circuit boards had fried.  Luckily it did not cause a fire!

I am having the transfer switch replaced and the tech recommended an external or portable surge protector. These seem to run the gamut, from $50 to $500, does anyone have experience with these?

Thanks,
Dean
 

[Lee Welbanks]

On my 06 PT it already has the all in one unit, I used a hard wired Surge Guard when we had the 5th wheel and the tech is correct with the range of pricing, you want one that will guard against Hi & Low voltage along with lost neutrals, grounds and such.
Did the tech have any idea why the board went up in smoke? You stated you were connected to a 30 amp which is pretty hard to screw up. Did you check the 30 amp service to make sure it is wired correctly, I have seen them wired with two hot legs like a welder circuit, which will sent 120 volts into your coach on the neutral leg.

[Dean Johnson]

Lee,
I thought it was built in as well, even the new one says 'power protection'. I cheked the outlet and it showed 119.5 v but I'll have to check the neutral side and see. I had qualified electricians wire it so I assumed they knew what they were doing!? As far as what caused it, I just don't know, the tech's comment was that ' they just go bad' and I'm sure it was original so at 10 years old maybe it's just one of those parts you have to replace once in a while...? Unfortunately the new one does not have a connection for the Aladdin so I have no idea from the Aladdin what power I'm getting into the coach but I'm thinking there is a Silverleaf replacement in my future at some point.

Dean

[Lee Welbanks]

Dean,
Even though I have the built in unit I always check the park hookup, and I never let the transfer switch switch the power source, if I'm running the gen when I go to hook up I stop the gen, or I don't start the gen hooked to shore power. I know it is supposed to switch auto but I don't take that chance.

[Fred Brooks]

           Hi Guys,

   To carry Lee's thought a little further, consider this. We loose sight of just how hostile the circumstances are that we are forced to operate our "homes" in. Our coaches depend on a precious 6 gage white wire that has to be connected correctly every time we pull into a camp ground. All worthwhile surge protectors will cover this however may be sacrificial.
    The one thing that we do have control over is this: How do we transfer an electrical "load" or Amperage thru a device especially hidden loads such as a water heater or a inverter/charger. The default position of a standard transfer switch is in the shore cord position. If you unplug your coach and then start your generator, after the 30 second time delay expires, the transfer relays disengage the shore connection and engages the generator power. The issue is the "Arcing" of the contacts on the relay as the amperage passes thru it. If you happen to do this enough times you will have a failure. I am guilty of this as is anyone who gets distracted from their departure ritual. The safest and kindest thing you can do for your transfer switch is not to transfer a load thru it. Let the transfer switch engage first then turn the loads back on.
        Merry Christmas, Fred and may the force be with you "Electricity"