Surge Protector

[mefly2]

...padlock through chain and around the electric cable between the suppressor and the female receptacle ... chain goes around power pole...

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

It's axiomatic that no surge protector is permanent. A surge protector stops damage from ONE surge and then needs to be either replaced (most) or serviced (some), depending on the make and model. That means you can't just forget about it. Check the owner's manual to find out how to tell if it's working properly and get in the habit of checking it every time you hook up and after every storm in your area.

Semi-permanent perhaps? I've had one between this computer and the wall, and I haven't had to look at it for years. We recently replaced the refrigerator in our house-without-wheels, and one of the reasons for that costly affair was that the original was NOT on a surge protector and it got zapped to the point where its computer never did work properly again (thus the door thermometer would read 35F when the interior was actually something like 64F, if it even decided to produce a reading at all). Our new Kenmore is on a fancy surge protector designed for home theaters (word to the wise: get yourselves one if you value your fridge at all). But I hope not to have to look at that one for a few years either.

Checking the status of this one is easy - it has indicator lights on the front. My chief concern with this model is that it does not have a bypass switch. Therefore if it takes a hit to the point where it is kaput, we are going to have to yank it out and reconnect the line while on the road. That would be a time-consuming pain and it also requires not accidentally forgetting any tools or hardware.

This should be easier, methinks. Electrical issues are common enough and potentially catastrophic enough so that a protective solution should be more straightforward. I realize that some folks put individual appliances on individual surge protectors inside the vehicle, but that would not help with the roof a/c, furnace, Fantastic, TV, and probably a few other things.

[cwf]

So I asked my self.....
"Self, what are the critical components in Mjolnir (Airstream)?"
"Self", I replied, "The critical items are AC unit(s), Microwave, Converter, TV and other 120VAC 'electronic' device you may plug in. So, I bought a couple of 'Surge protectors' which plug into the 120VAC outlet, then plug in my device(s)... Microwave, Converter, TV power supplies.

No, it doesn't 'cover' for 'Brown Outs'...
No, it doesn't 'stop' Surges entering Mjolnir's 120VAC wiring....or the AirConditioning unit itself..

So, I may need to consider a 'proper' one.. and it is probably best 'outside' because I can't figure where I would like to install it 'inside'... and, if there was a big lightning strike, I would like to stop it at the POLE if possible...

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Semi-permanent perhaps? I've had one between this computer and the wall, and I haven't had to look at it for years.

Are you sure? A surge protector that has stopped a surge will still pass current; it is not a circuit breaker. However, it will not stop a second surge.

This fact was driven home for me at work, where one of our field sites was constructed without lightning protection (decades ago, but until that site got computers it didn't matter as much). Equipment plugged into surge protectors would still be fried, because after the protector stopped one surge in a thunderstorm, it wouldn't stop another surge in a later thunderstorm. It got awfully expensive to replace surge protectors after every thunderstorm, but once we started replacing them that often the computers didn't get fried anymore.

So when you say you haven't had to look at it for years, that could just mean you haven't experienced a surge for years.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Are you sure? A surge protector that has stopped a surge will still pass current; it is not a circuit breaker. However, it will not stop a second surge.

This fact was driven home for me at work, where one of our field sites was constructed without lightning protection (decades ago, but until that site got computers it didn't matter as much). Equipment plugged into surge protectors would still be fried, because after the protector stopped one surge in a thunderstorm, it wouldn't stop another surge in a later thunderstorm. It got awfully expensive to replace surge protectors after every thunderstorm, but once we started replacing them that often the computers didn't get fried anymore.

So when you say you haven't had to look at it for years, that could just mean you haven't experienced a surge for years.

This is a good point and I'm going to have to do more research because there are multiple devices on the market and some of them may do things that others do not do.

When I mentioned having my computer on a "surge protector", it's a surge protector that is integrated into a fifty-pound UPS (because I also have my primary business computer plugged into it). I know that the UPS is still working, at least in part, because the stupid thing shrieks at me every time the house voltage drops below acceptable levels, a phenomenon that occurs about every other week for reasons that aren't clear. But how the surge protector is integrated into that and how it functions and whether or not it is still operating as designed... it should be verified.

We know we've taken bad surges because our refrigerator clearly got hit (it went on the fritz the day of a large storm) and smaller appliances often don't last long for us, especially robot vacuums that are in continual charge mode. It's Houston - severe electrical storms happen routinely during the summer months. I've never had a computer issue, knock wood, and I assumed it was because this lead-acid behemoth on my desk was continuing to do its integrated job. I will have to look more carefully at it, though. This task hereby goes on the proverbial punch list.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

When I mentioned having my computer on a "surge protector", it's a surge protector that is integrated into a fifty-pound UPS (because I also have my primary business computer plugged into it). I know that the UPS is still working, at least in part, because the stupid thing shrieks at me every time the house voltage drops below acceptable levels, a phenomenon that occurs about every other week for reasons that aren't clear. But how the surge protector is integrated into that and how it functions and whether or not it is still operating as designed... it should be verified.

Which brings up another point, and I thank you for mentioning it so I can once again do what I do best, which is to be unnecessarily pedantic… Surge protectors protect against overcurrent, surges. They don't necessarily protect against undercurrent, brownouts. Your UPS does protect against brownouts as well as surges. So it's entirely possible that your other computer-chipped appliances were damaged by brownouts, not surges.

That shouldn't be a problem in an Airstream Interstate, because the Energy Management System has a load-shedding routine that shuts off circuits in a specific order if there isn't enough juice to keep them running. I haven't actually tested it in brownout conditions, so I'm just speculating, but still it's a feature your home wiring doesn't have.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Which brings up another point, and I thank you for mentioning it so I can once again do what I do best, which is to be unnecessarily pedantic… Surge protectors protect against overcurrent, surges. They don't necessarily protect against undercurrent, brownouts. Your UPS does protect against brownouts as well as surges. So it's entirely possible that your other computer-chipped appliances were damaged by brownouts, not surges.

That shouldn't be a problem in an Airstream Interstate, because the Energy Management System has a load-shedding routine that shuts off circuits in a specific order if there isn't enough juice to keep them running. I haven't actually tested it in brownout conditions, so I'm just speculating, but still it's a feature your home wiring doesn't have.

Energy Management System... another item for me to research. My husband and I are part way through watching the 2015 Interstate training vid on the other thread, and when we got to the part about the electrical system, we asked ourselves, "Does ours have that feature?" and the answer was, "Well, I think it might have some earlier version of that feature". In fact, I'm not entirely sure what it has. Yet.

I had assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that most surge protectors are sacrificial. This is almost a rite of passage in Houston: there's a big t-storm, you get home from work later that day, and half the devices in your house will no longer turn on. You end up chunking multiple surge strips that upon inspection prove to be dead, presumably because they got fried. Your small appliances and electronics still work, but you need a new set of surge protectors to plug them into. Been there, done that.

I've had two houses impacted by close lightning strikes. Destroyed the coax cables in each. And activated a lot of my daughter's battery-operated toys, which began playing music and marching around spontaneously. Very eerie.

[73shark]

The EMS is the component that (at least on mine) shows the AC current draw and the circuits and sheds loads as the current approaches 20 or 30 amps depending upon the supply capacity.

[gmillerok1]

One of the advantages of the power protection unit such as the Progressive Industries model is not only both over and under current is shown, but missing grounds and mis-wired pedestals can be determined by the readout. I pulled into one place and it had about 95 volts. Pulled into another one in the middle of nowhere, and it was putting out 140AC! Another place had no ground, another wired backwards. These units do is at least warn you before you hook up. The ungrounded plug was near a redwood tree national park in southern California, under dripping wet leaves with standing water on the ground.

Another place near Waco, Texas, after arriving after dark, I heard a loud explosion near the bath house, and all the RV's that had been lit up went dark. A 6 foot flame of fire was shooting out of the ground and a loud noise could be heard every time the flame shot out of the ground. Turned out the main circuit had shorted out underground and was surging on and off. Fortunately for me, I had just arrived so I was not yet connected. But I'd venture to guess I would have got my money's worth out of the device that night.

A shady park (and I don't mean with trees) put me in a slot late one evening. The 30 amp was mis-wired both with no ground and in some other way I can't recall, but the 20amp was fine. So I went with that with an adapter. A lady parked down the road came up and asked me how I was able to use the electrical because it wouldn't work in her rig when they put her there earlier in the week. She didn't try the 20amp. Even though she notified the park owner of the mis-wired plug, they still put me in the spot completely unconcerned that the pedastal was mis-wired.

I gave the park on RVPark Reviews an appropriate review for the lack of concern that could get someone killed.

It's really shocking just how poor some parks are wired.

[dieselblimp]

Another great thread for us newbies. Thank you. I am getting a new Dometic frig in a week and didn't even think of electrical protection.

I will be adding one now.

Help protect again -RV( Recked Vacations)