Hi,
Not trying to start a controversy. Happy Fourth of July!
And I do not own a buck / boost transformer nor surge suppressor for the Montana.
Knowing what I know I probably should but I don't, And my wife loves her AC and I like the electronics age.
If you would like to read more information here's a web page you can look at
http://www.sola-hevi-duty.com/support/faq.html
At the North East rally two people had the auto transformers. Both people said they had the lights indicating that the transformer was in boost mode. These devices, I'm sure do that they are designed to do no matter which brand.
The people that say I only install it if the voltage is low when they first hook up are fooling themselves. The point I am trying to make is that you can not determine, if you need one, based on a spot instantaneous measurement.
FredG and I both talked about this and we both think the ideal way is by using a Uninterruptible Power supply. (you just have to add hundreds of pounds of batteries) Any good UPS has surge suppression, over-voltage and under-voltage protection built in.
We as users, of the electrical system grid, never know when the low or high voltages are going to occur. Sometimes its only for a few cycles or a sustained event. But you never know.
You can go to
www.igrid.com and see for your self.
We use this and monitor it for our equipment at work. I get an email whenever there is an event from our monitoring equipment. Here is a brief output (without all the detail)
http://www.igrid.com/igrid/GetEventL...ewMainEventLog
There is much more information on this site available for members.
Here is just one page from the National Electrical Grid.
ID Local Time Event Type Duration Worst Case RMS Voltage Prior RMS Voltage Location
36344 07/04/06 09:35:17 AM Instantaneous Sag 1.4 cycles 103.7 121.9 DE
36343 07/04/06 09:25:03 AM Instantaneous Sag 1.4 cycles 102.3 122.1 DE
1884 07/04/06 09:24:28 AM Instantaneous Sag 0.6 cycles 102.8 123.3 FL
1883 07/04/06 09:24:26 AM Instantaneous Sag 3.4 cycles 89.5 124.0 FL
325 07/04/06 08:53:31 AM Instantaneous Sag 2.4 cycles 380.2 471.1 FL
2337 07/04/06 07:35:26 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.1 cycles 359.7 486.5 MN
25670 07/04/06 05:32:17 AM Sustained Undervoltage 68.888 seconds 103.0 106.6 CA
36922 07/04/06 05:28:25 AM Sustained Interruption 00:13:40.909 0.0 497.2 CA
1880 07/04/06 08:22:07 AM Instantaneous Sag 0.6 cycles 96.8 126.6 FL
1879 07/04/06 08:22:05 AM Instantaneous Swell 0.7 cycles 135.7 122.9 FL
15828 07/04/06 08:13:32 AM (in-progress) (in-progress) (in-progress) (in-progress) NC
1464 07/04/06 07:10:35 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.1 cycles 272.9 500.3 IA
36921 07/04/06 04:58:04 AM Sustained Interruption 85.342 seconds 0.0 501.4 CA
1679 07/04/06 07:33:12 AM Instantaneous Sag 2.4 cycles 69.3 125.5 KY
18605 07/04/06 06:30:41 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.0 cycles 260.7 478.0 MO
60888 07/04/06 07:25:32 AM Instantaneous Sag 0.7 cycles 94.8 120.4 MD
25666 07/04/06 04:01:50 AM Sustained Undervoltage 00:05:28.974 102.4 106.7 CA
457 07/04/06 01:00:52 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.3 cycles 392.7 472.9 HI
15310 07/04/06 06:54:40 AM Instantaneous Sag 1.1 cycles 84.5 126.8 KY
4630 07/04/06 03:49:05 AM Instantaneous Sag 9.8 cycles 12.1 120.5 OR
4629 07/04/06 03:45:54 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.9 cycles 97.8 114.9 OR
4628 07/04/06 03:45:54 AM Instantaneous Interruption 3.8 cycles 11.4 120.6 OR
642 07/04/06 05:44:43 AM Instantaneous Sag 1.0 cycles 399.9 485.4 KY
4627 07/04/06 03:44:37 AM Instantaneous Sag 1.0 cycles 103.5 111.3 OR
4626 07/04/06 03:44:37 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.0 cycles 99.1 111.6 OR
4625 07/04/06 03:44:37 AM Instantaneous Sag 4.0 cycles 20.5 120.8 OR
7838 07/04/06 06:41:21 AM Instantaneous Sag 1.8 cycles 103.5 108.1 KY
4624 07/04/06 03:37:59 AM Instantaneous Interruption 12.7 cycles 5.4 120.6 OR
25665 07/04/06 03:18:56 AM Temporary Sag 49.321 seconds 103.1 107.6 CA
3325 07/04/06 06:03:30 AM Instantaneous Sag 23.5 cycles 397.9 468.0 MI
So why don't I own one. Simply, I haven't found one I like enough yet and these devices are limited in what they can do.
If I had to select one today with a single air conditioner and money wasn't an issue I would probably select a UPS similar to.
http://www.sola-hevi-duty.com/products/ups/S4K4U.htm
These pages are for reference only. I do not advocate this brand nor any other. I have seen failures with all brands.