It amazes me the # of people I see in my travels that don't use them. I don't hook up without my 'Surge Guard'. They are not cheap, but are a heckuva lot cheaper then replacing circuit boards!!!
I spent a little extra and have the ability to lock mine to the cable as they are easily stolen in the middle of the night. My Surgeguard 50 AMP also a 2 minute sytem check when you first turn it on. I have used it hundreds of times so it only works out to be a little each time, but it only takes once to ruin the electronics on your coach. I used to check the pedestal out each time with an electronic tester, but that only tells you at that moment and offers no protection.
QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ Aug 18 2011, 06:18 PM) [snapback]27238[/snapback] I spent a little extra and have the ability to lock mine to the cable as they are easily stolen in the middle of the night. My Surgeguard 50 AMP also a 2 minute sytem check when you first turn it on. I have used it hundreds of times so it only works out to be a little each time, but it only takes once to ruin the electronics on your coach. I used to check the pedestal out each time with an electronic tester, but that only tells you at that moment and offers no protection. Lindsey - How did you "lock" it to the cable?
QUOTE(chowhound @ Aug 18 2011, 07:56 PM) [snapback]27239[/snapback] Lindsey - How did you "lock" it to the cable? They have a hasp. Check link below. My hasp is an older model and not this nice, but it would keep a thief away for sure. It connects the cable plug to the surge protector. See link. http://surgeguard.com/lock_hasps.html I have run into several pedestals that have been too low for my surge protector to be used.
Have had ours for almost 7 years. Have been to three parks that had electric problems and was glad we had it. It kicked out at each one of these. We don't have a lock on ours. No one has stolen it yet.
Hi, It is interesting that there have been 372 views--but only 20 votes. Can I assume the non voters are not surge suppressor owners?
Hard to tell by looking around in a campground because many high end coaches come with it prewired at the inboard end of the cable.
Three years ago my son lost his converter due to a lightning storm. I wasn't using a surge suppresor then, but I bought two (one for me and one for my son) so I might be better protected. I figured with all my camping I had been pretty lucky not to have had any problems. What I had been doing was checking out the electrical post for any problems, but that is not going to protect you from an electrical surge or spike. Even now I think the next step should be a voltage regulator. I have been using a voltmeter for questionable electrical sources. That certainly helped me in Baja California where I ended up not trusting any of the rv parks electrical. Now if someone would only put out a combination box that had everything needed for electrical protection.
I have a surge guard for my little 26' travel trailer and I am glad I made that investment. In May of 2018 I pulled into a TVA campground in Tennessee, went through my routine of backing the trailer on to the site. Once I had the trailer positioned the way I wanted it, my next step it to hook up electrial to the power pedestal. I plug in the surge guard into 30 amp receptacle, without hooking up the other end to the trailer and flip the 30 amp breaker to on. I checked the surge guard for any faults and what do I discover, a "REVERSE GROUND" fault indicator. I reported the problem to campground maintenance and they immediately came out and rectified the problem.
I'm glad the park took care of the issue quickly, Ron. But do note that this is a 7 year old thread...
An old thread that lists folks that have not been around for a while. Pianotuna, Lindsey and DSXMac used to be very regular around here. Where did they go?
