POWER Struggle-Do You NEED an RV Surge Protector?

First of all-WHAT IS IT?

An RV surge protector is a device that connects between the RV park’s power pedestal and your RV’s electrical system.  It’s designed to protect your RV against potentially dangerous power surges. Some surge protectors can even cut off power to your RV if it detects conditions such as under-voltage or mis-wired pedestals.

A Power surge is a temporary jolt of power, sometimes only lasting a fraction of a second, that can cause damage to anything connected to it.  Computers, TVs, mobile devices, and electronic equipment are especially sensitive to power surges. An RV surge protector is a high-tech piece of equipment that is designed to both monitor and protect your RV from a variety of electrical issues.  These issues include surges, low and high voltage, mis-wired pedestals and wiring INSIDE of your RV.

It’s NOT a House on Wheels

RVs are wired much differently than residential homes. The local power company has designed the electrical grid to provide plenty of power for the entire neighborhood. Since RVs are normally moving from place to place, they don’t receive their power from one stable source. Because of that, RVs need more protection than surge protection alone. 

If you’ve been RVing for any length of time, you know that you can’t guarantee what power issues you might encounter when you pull up to a campground pedestal.  One site can have steady, stable power while one across from it may have a mis-wired pedestal with no ground wire. 

In addition to wiring issues, there can be low-voltage issues as well.  When too many RVs are pulling power from a single source at the same time (think about summertime when everyone is running the AC in their camper) you can experience a brownout.  And most of the time you won’t even know it’s happening.

Lightening Doesn’t Strike Twice          

When surveyed, 97% of RVers responded that they had NEVER had a direct lighting strike to or near their RV.  This scenario is very rare.  However, over 53% of those same-surveyed RVers said their power was cut off by their surge protector due to low or high voltage.

The REAL Culprit

Something that is much more common than a lightning strike or power surge is low and high voltage.  Low voltage is typically defined as anything below 102 volts and high is anything above 132 volts.  Although very unfortunate, many campgrounds have faulty wiring as a result of adding RV sites and pedestals over time without upgrading their electrical service. 

When the voltage into your RV drops below and acceptable level, the amperage increases which generates heat.  Over time, this can cause electronic components in your RV to fail.  And some of those components, such as the refrigerator, AC unit, TV, microwave and more, are expensive to have replaced.  The problem with low voltage is that you many not even know it’s happening.  It won’t immediately zap an appliance, but over time the life expectancy of your appliance is reduced. Many people will just assume that the unit failed because of “natural causes” or wear and tear, but low and high voltage are the silent killers that need to be dealt with by having a surge protector in place.

 How Do They Work?

Surge protectors use MOVs (metal oxide varistors) to dissipate excess voltage.  The effects of small surges will accumulate over time until the MOVs are exhausted, at which point, the MOVs will short out and blow the fuse.  So, when someone says that a surge protector is just “one and done”-that’s not necessarily true.  In some cases, the surge is big enough to short out the MOVs immediately, but the same unit could also last for years while only receiving minor surges.  That’s why knowing the JOULE rating on a surge protector is important.  The higher the joule rating, the more surge it can dissipate before expiring.

Hardwired Verses Portable-What’s Best?

Hardwired Surge Protectors must be installed into the RV’s electrical system before using and should be installed by a professional.  With a hardwired unit, you connect power like you normally would using your RV power cord. However, before allowing power to flow to your RV, the protector will analyze the power source to ensure that there are no issues.  The system will then allow power through to your RV if no faults are detected.

 Portable Surge Protectors are smaller, less expensive units.  They offer surge protection only.  While not as costly up front, they will not shut off the power to your RV if a fault is detected and don’t protect against the most common issue which is low voltage. The advantage of the portable unit is that you can test a power source before you ever get settled into your campsite.  They are designed to withstand the weather and are easy to both install and remove. 

A good RV surge protector should be able to not only detect if there are problems with the power but should be able to protect against them as well.  Some less expensive models will alert you to an issue but will do nothing to stop the flow of power.  The best protection is that of a voltage protector with integrated surge protection.

At RVPandA.com, we have both hardwired and portable surge protectors to meet your needs. 

There’s no power struggle when you protect your RV from power surges and voltage issues.  Check them out TODAY!

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