Onboard Surge Protector

[Montana Martins]

We stay at several dozen campgrounds in any given year. Because we are trying to preserve the value of our investment as best we can, we use a "Surge/Under/Over-voltage Protector" which we plug into the campground's utility post. We never fail to use it!

That said, it is often a hassle. No 50 amp service? Drag out the 50-30 pigtail. Utility post too low? More hassle. And, the device is heavy. It also must sit out in the elements.

Sure would be nice if a comparable (good quality!) device could be built into the 5ver so we could get the benefit without the hassle.

Thnx!

[bncinwv]

Many of us have installed the hard-wired types. Out of sight, out of mind, security still provided on a constant basis with no lifting and no worries of theft.
Bingo

[Montana Martins]

bncinwv, where do folks hide hard-wired types? Are they all do-it-yourself projects? Do they have to be in the vacinity of the shore power plug? How bad is the technical challenge?

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Hard wired into the rig is the only way to go.

• It's a lot less hassle when setting up or breaking down.
  I have my Autoformer hard wired.
• Out of sight, out of mind
  Having it hard wired and hidden prevents theft AND it also hides it from the CG owner/manager. Many CGs feel you are stealing additional power and if they see it they may ask you to remove it.
• Ease of mind
  Knowing it's down there doing the job and keeping your rig and equipment safe from low voltage, spikes and surges from a CGs inadequate electrical service

Do I know how to hard wire it in? Yes.
Could I explain it to you? Probably, but I won't. I am not that much of an electrician and there is no way I would want to put your rig at risk.

HOWEVER, there are numerous electricians in the MOC and I am sure one or more will be along and only to happy to assist you.

[bncinwv]

My situation is a little unique. I elected to install an Autoformer and an Electrical Monitoring system (surge protection, high-low voltage protection, etc.) in conjunction with the addition of a 50 amp receptacle on the front of the rig. Our rig was gen-set prepped which allowed me to tap into the Iota Smartswitch located in the battery compartment for all of the additions. It took some doing, but was a relatively simple install. If you are not gen-set prepped as ours was, then most people have the hard-wired protection installed near or behind the breaker panel. Ozz is an example of this install and he has provided pictures of the install if you do a search for his thread. A similar search will reveal pictures, schematics and instructions for what I installed, if you can't find the posts let me know and I will post the links. The reason I installed mine in the manner I did was to allow me to power the rig while in transit using a generator in the back of the tow vehicle. We have a dog and a cat that I haul around in the rig (in pet crates) and the generator allows me to power up the air conditioner for the pets during the summer months when we are travelling. Hope this helps and feel free to ask detailed questions about the install if you wish.
Bingo

[MAMalody]

I have 3575RL and my electric panel is located essentially on the side of the stove so my surge protector was hard-wired in behind the lower drawer next to the stove. The lower drawer was removed and the input wiring for the electric panel was right there.

[mtheo]

I'm not sure what type of trailer you have but I installed mine behind the subpanel and put the remote display near the on the wall near the floor near the door. I can look in the door and easly see if everything is ok.