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Progressive Industries Surge Protector
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Thanks George,
Seems it is missing the important under/over protection, which is important.
I do have a surge guard 34850 which does provide this (<102v, >132v). Looks like the SSP doesn’t provide this, which seems to be a rather important feature. Especially since I’ve seen some system slowly increase Volts during some storms. A slow increase if moving past 132v could put damaging loads on the coach systems. This slow increase wouldn’t be seen as a surge, so wouldn’t be protected against. And without low/high protection, would be allowed.
I will call PI to confirm if the SSP does protect against high volts. I could see this being a problem if you plug into a hook-up that is already high and could be damaging to the coach systems, something that you wouldn’t know without going inside and looking at the control panel, which you may not do, especially if the SSP is showing “OK” status after going through it’s delay check.
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our progressive industries 50 amp surge protector (Unit is about 8 months old) looks like died (EMS-PT50X) The last 4 days when things start warming up outside and when we have only the fridge on. hot water heater everything else is off .. i get a PE4 code which is low voltage .. i checked with other folks in the Resort and no one else has had a problem .. Last night about midnight with nothing on alarms going off , i find the same fault code .. I know power companies reduce power at night during reduce load times .. we have been at this resort for about a month and haven’t had a problem until this week . It has been Hot here upper 90ies when the coach is loaded up max power usage no problems .. I will try it again at the next resort on Thursday . if it fails again i will try and return it,, when i was asking other coach owners if the had a problem with the power i was the only one . there was a coach owner in a tiffin that had a Hughes power/surge protector. has anyone used one of those and what do you think ?
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Every Prevost owner should have a decent multi-tester so if there is a question regarding any voltage, either shore power or associated with the coach that it can be checked.
We have specific voltage ranges that are OK for shore or generator power as well as DC voltage such as 12 or 24 volt power. Any time there is a question regarding any electrical issues the very first thing to check is the actual voltage in question.
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…and with our new voltage meter in hand you’re going to teach us what to test at the seminar this fall?
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Jimmy, I am not licensed to use tools, so when we do a tool “show and tell” Jeff is going lead the discussion.
All kidding aside I think you guys are giving us some needed direction for the seminar and while we adjust the seminar on the spot in response to questions or areas of interest I am going to revise the outline I am working on to expand and go into a little more detail regarding inverters, power management and now the use of a tester.
We get posts, emails and phone calls from members that need help or information and those contribute to the list of topics we try to include, but if anyone attending the seminar has an area of particular interest let Tom, Jeff or me know and we will try to make sure it is covered.
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Could be bad wiring on the post. How old is the resort. Years ago at an older park I had the same problem. It was them not me. Check other posts and move around until you find a better spot! Maybe you can find another owner more of an electrician!!!
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as I understand it, Not all surge protectors are going to protect you from low voltage like your Progressive will, it’s more than a surge protector.
Have you tried watching the voltage reading and amp draw as you put loads on the shore power? Start with minimal and keep loading up? That could point to a problem with the campground system.
As pointed out, just because your neighbors are fine, doesn’t mean your pedestal and wiring are fine. Just because it’s been good for a few weeks, doesn’t mean the pedestal, breaker(s), and associated wiring isn’t a problem. Maybe additional loads (more RVs) have been put on the big circuit you’re on since your arrival and the circuit is reaching capacity. Your neighbor could be on a different big circuit than you are.
Have you tried moving your Progressive EMS over to the neighbor and see what his volts are with a load?
Please keep us posted.
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I had the resort send in a electrician. I ran the gen set pretty much all day yesterday. I do carry a fluke meter and feel pretty confident in how to use it . I pretty much always check the voltage/Amps when i am outside the coach. I purchased this unit because of the digital read out . My MDD is died and hasn’t worked since i owned the coach, there are several others with marathons with the same problem. I haven’t found anyone able to repair the display unit . so my only way is to monitor the voltage/amp draw is with the progressive industries surge Protector. we moved to another site this morning and all is ok so far. When i was moving the electrician showed up when i was disconnecting . He found the breaker may be the problem. the connection to the power lug was very discolored on one leg only. he went to town to purchase a new one and is going to replace the breaker . I did call progressive and they stated if it happens again to file a claim.
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So Dave … was the problem with the PI EMS or the campground breaker? My guess breaker. The breaker was probably old, had been used as a switch too often (which it wasn’t designed to be), and pulling close to 50 amps through it causing it to further weaken as evidenced by the discoloration. I suspect there are 10s thousands of breakers in thousands of campgrounds that are in a similar condition.
We’ve only been in the RV biz for a little over four years, but I’ve already concluded that any campground, RV Park, or RV resort that provides power to its guests that doesn’t someone on staff who is skilled using a DMM and able to safely open a pedestal to check a breaker and replace it with a new one from stock is a poorly run operation.
Jon … if I’m plugged into the campground 50amp pedestal how do I check the volts I’m getting with my DMM? Where do I find a bare or exposed connection to touch the probes from the DMM?
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I agree with you about the breakers being used as a switch… I have been sitting in the coach almost all day… all is well so far … have check the voltage and amps
being running 118 to 122 13 amps to 28 amp draw… we shell see but i am thinking the breaker was going bad …. we shall see in the next day or two. Right now the resort is about 1/3 full.. we shall see its sold out tomorrow thru Tuesday Its about 90 outside and i have 2 airs on, HWH off
Dave
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I’m speaking in generalities because power to our coaches is always and issue and there is no one single cause and no reliable way to verify power issues are associated with what I discuss below without having someone physically check the power pedestal.
In the summer especially, even an RV park with all good tight connections and good breakers can experience low voltage as a result of all RV’s pulling heavy loads and their transformers and system wiring just cannot support the loads. I was at a rally in Colorado Springs with a large Prevost rally and it was summer, hot, and everyone was running their A/C’s. The RV park transformers could not handle the loads and after a while of low voltage to all coaches the transformers just failed.
But if the RV park has ample service and you experience good voltage at your coach with no load, but it drops as you add load then alert the RV park that there might be an issue at their power pedestal, ranging from loose connections, undersized wire (depending on how the RV park is wired) or a bad circuit breaker or all of the above. You can rule out your coach as the issue if your problems do not follow you. If however you are experiencing low voltages wherever you hook up, consider checking your power cord, transfer switch or even loose connections at your panel.
To answer Dick’s question, I know of no way other than checking a power pedestal under no load and then with a load. Loose connections are not necessarily going to show up on a receptacle with no load. But if you plug in to a receptacle that shows good voltage without a load, but after you add loads your coach volt meter shows a low voltage reading, use your multi-tester to see if you see the same low voltage at the pedestal. Most Rv park power boxes are going to have a 50 amp plus a 20 and a 30. The 20 and 30 receptacles are going to be on different legs but by checking them both, you have checked both legs of the 50 amp receptacle. If the coach voltage reading is low but the voltage at the pedestal receptacles is higher it could mean the 50 amp receptacle has loose fittings or that the coach itself has an issue.
Unloaded voltage readings are almost always higher even on bad circuits so you have to be a little bit of a detective.
Just so everyone understands what voltage should be seen at the coach, the ideal is 120 or above. Utilities have a 10% allowable variation meaning they can supply voltage as high as 132 or as low as 108. The higher voltages mean your coach will draw less current and that is good, and lower voltages mean the current draw can be higher than expected and that is bad.
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it’s been about 24 hrs and all is good. must of been the breaker
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Just a note on the PPS module, it does not monitor high or low voltage like the EMS model. Ill hang onto the PPS model as a standby unit and continge using the unit I have that has high /low protection built in as my primary unit.
If you don’t have a surge protector and are looking, get the EMS unit. Gives you much better coverage then the lesser units from PI.
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I can attest to the value of the Progressive Industries EMS model.
My bus is parked in a bus barn, which receives power through an on site transformer (service from overhead on utility right of way is underground to transformer). Duke Energy is the provider.
My bus has an alarm that chimes when shore power is interrupted or cut off. Over the last two months, I found the alarm chiming on about three occasions, but the bus was receiving power. The Progressive unit was showing 119-121 volts on each leg of the 50 amp service. No stored error codes were displayed.
Meanwhile, over the last few months, I have experienced unexplained electrical failures in the barn. A one year old microwave “died.” My security system suffered a “fried” circuit board. Three metal halide bulbs in overhead lighting blew, almost simultaneously.
I attributed these issues to lightning strikes, which are very common this time of year.
On Saturday morning, I found the shore power alarm chiming in the bus. I checked the Progressive Industries unit. It showed 137-152 volts on leg one, fluctuating every few seconds. It showed an average of 108 volts on leg two, but the voltage dipped to 87 volts on several occasions. Thank goodness that the PI unit cut the power to the bus.
After about six hours, the power stabilized and I restored power to the bus.
Duke Energy was rather incompetent in responding to my complaints, and it took three visits to the property and me raising hell to finally figure it out. The transformer box had been invaded by ants, and the ants and their dirt mound had compromised the neutral on the buss in the transformer. Duke repaired the transformer and all is good.
The PI unit protected the bus as designed, and the voltage monitoring feature enabled me to determine that something was wrong with the service to the barn. It also helped me persuade the Duke Energy engineer that my problems were not caused by a lightning strike.
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Where i am from, the power company will pay for damages if caused by a bad neutral.
Herb
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