[Chip & Pam]

I would wire it after the transfer box to get protection from both the shore power and the generator. This would put your transfer box in a somewhat vulnerable position but if the surge is really high it will hopefully flash over at the plug. This will give you the low/high voltage protection as well as A/C frequency issues and all the other potential issues that could arise from both the generator and shore power.

Andy

[Andy]

Normally they are wired between the campground power and the transfer switch. 99.9% of the time, that is where the problem comes from.

[Craig]

But if the voltage regulator on gen go out and it over volts it might help

[Craig]

Progressive recommends before the transfer switch. What is the make of your transfer switch?

[Art]

Your correct! Progressive says to install before ATS box . Also It has a Maverick MTS 20K ATS box, It also has a over/under voltage protector built in.

[Corey]

Out of curiosity, l looked at the instruction manual – see page 6 of http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/439d5a_7ad65dbbbaab4a55b19a8bcaca828075.pdf where it eludes to wire it after the transfer box when there is a generator.

Andy

[June]

Yes I read that part and called them and they said they still recommend before the ATS box so it will pretect the ATS box also, But! I told him my box does have an over/under voltage protection device built, and he said ours does a lot more then over /under. He said genis not usually a problem.

[Andy]

Art, I do not have much experience on the failure modes of our generators so I was going by how much bang for your buck you will get in terms of protection and that is probably where Progressive’s written recommendation stems from. I have the external version so I don’t have protection from the generator either but if I was going with a fixed version I may still put after the transfer box depending on how close it was connected to the transfer box. You are trading some over voltage surge protection for the transfer box vs all of the other protections that it offers should the generator go bad. Note that I said trading “some” surge protection because you will still have some surge protection if the protection is after the transfer box and the closer (short wires) it is to the transfer box the better.

You would still be susceptible to a persistent over voltage condition even if the protection activates should that occur and that may be a good enough reason to put it ahead of the transfer box.

The manufacturer should really change their published recommendations if they are telling customers something different and an explanation would be welcome as well.

Has anyone experinced or heard of house electrical component failures due to a generator malfunction?

Good luck.

Andy

[Chuck]

Art, I do not have much experience on the failure modes of our generators so I was going by how much bang for your buck you will get in terms of protection and that is probably where Progressive’s written recommendation stems from. I have the external version so I don’t have protection from the generator either but if I was going with a fixed version I may still put after the transfer box depending on how close it was connected to the transfer box. You are trading some over voltage surge protection for the transfer box vs all of the other protections that it offers should the generator go bad. Note that I said trading “some” surge protection because you will still have some surge protection if the protection is after the transfer box and the closer (short wires) it is to the transfer box the better.

You would still be susceptible to a persistent over voltage condition even if the protection activates should that occur and that may be a good enough reason to put it ahead of the transfer box.

The manufacturer should really change their published recommendations if they are telling customers something different and an explanation would be welcome as well.

Has anyone experinced or heard of house electrical component failures due to a generator malfunction?

Good luck.

Andy