Surge protection

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Dennis,

It would be a good practice to check every 50a outlet that you plug in to first.  Never trust a campground... Do this by using a volt meter.

You should check each leg to ground and nutral and read 120v. Then check between the two legs to read 240v. If one leg reads higher or

lower then the other, then this is a sign that you need to do further checking.

I don't use a surge protector. My Xantrex RS 3000 monitors land voltage as it passes through the inverter. If there is a spike or a drop, it automaticly

drops out the land power within a milli second and kicks in inverter power.

Good Luck
Nick-

[niles500]

"drops out the land power within a milli second"

And that's what you should look for in any protection device - any longer and the smoke is out before the device does its job - FWIW

[Hi yo silver]

Nick,
I'll keep the Xantrex in mind; I plan to install a battery bank and inverter in the future.  The project is evolving .  Thanks for your help.
Dennis

[Zeroclearance]

Dennis here is the link for the unit that I run.   Goodluck

http://www.surgeguard.com/40240.html

[Sean]

...
I don't use a surge protector. My Xantrex RS 3000 monitors land voltage as it passes through the inverter. If there is a spike or a drop, it automaticly drops out the land power within a milli second and kicks in inverter power.

Nick,

I think you may be misleading yourself about surge protection.

Your RS3000 has a transfer time of 20ms, not 1ms as you wrote.  20ms is more than enough time for a harmful spike to make it all the way through the inverter and damage sensitive electronic devices downstream.

Generally speaking, stand-by inverter systems (meaning the type with utility pass-through; all RV models fall into this category) are not designed to provide surge and spike protection.  It is virtually impossible to disconnect utility power fast enough to prevent damage from these, no matter how good the monitoring system is.  That is why most surge and spike suppressors rely on sacrificial MOV's to clamp the harmful voltage to ground.

We deal with surge protection by disconnecting from shore power (when available) during surge-causing events (lightning storms).  But if you really want to stay protected, get a quality surge arrestor -- they are available for individual branch circuits, or the whole coach.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[Dreamscape]

Would this work?

Creative Concepts Group

50 AMP Hardwire RV Surge Protector

Specifications

Rated 50 AMPS, 250 volts
RV Panel/full protection electronic surge protector
Surge Handling Rating In Three Modes (Hot-Neutral, Hot-Ground, Neutral Ground)
Clamping Starts @ 130 Volts, Maximum Clamping Voltage @ 340 Volts Excellent Voltage Clamping Characteristics (With Standard 8x20us Impulse)
Maximum Surge Energy Dissipation: 840 JOULES
Maximum Surge Current: 6500 AMPS Peak Current
Maximum Volt/AMP Dissipation: 8,800,000VA
Surge Lie: 10,000 Surges Minimum With A 150 AMP Impulse (8x20us)
Manufactured From All UL Approved Components.
Filtering RFI/EMI 1-KHz - 100 MHz
Response Time 1 - 3 Nanoseconds~ Automatic Reset within ratings
Maximum applied continuous voltage - 250C

~Paul~