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I don't want to be contentious, but I don't like to see scare tactics used to sell unnecessary equipment. For the sake of argument, I would like to provide some counter point the stated reasons for using the surge guard. Also, please understand. I do not question the integrity of the original poster. Everyone is entitled to their viewpoint.
1. Fridges use AC only for the heating element - it does care if the voltage is too low, it just will not provide the neat necessary to cool. As you know the circuit board and relay are always on the 12 volt side.
2. You mention that no one in the campground where this incident occurred suffered damage. Interesting - did everyone have a Surge-Guard?
3. Computers, especially laptops, are not very voltage sensitive. They will shut down at some point when the voltage is too low, but this is no different from the surge-guard arbitrarily when the voltage reaches a preset lower limit (which how it would work on most rigs).
4. Inverter cutover switches and sign-wave inverters are not common in 5th wheels and are expensive. Of course if your not home for a couple of hours this solution will also be depleted creating the same situation.
5. A/C will easily operate at 90 volts (and somewhat below), so why let the Surge-Guard make this decision for you? The A/C unit will shut the compressor down in low voltage situations.
6. Investing $350 to protect $45,000 would be a good investment, but buying a Surge-Guard is actually not protecting much, so may not be a good value. Certainly a situation in which it would save entire rig from destruction would be hard to imagine. In fact it may be an inconvenience in the long run causing more problems than it solves. I suggested a couple of ways to provide similar protection for much less over all cost.
I present these views for the other readers consideration, each of us makes our own decisions based on own assessment of need. But, please just don’t go out and buy a product based on one incident where the product was of dubious usefulness. I am sure that Surge Guard is a fine product and performs as specified, but is it cost effective for the average RVer?
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