Community Forums

**NLOVNIT** · 04-22-2019, 03:11 PM

So, our Phaeton comes with the Surge Guard 41260 transfer switch that has some protection:

Limited protection from faulty park power (not sure what "limited" means)
Power surges
Open neutral
Reverse polarity

But it doesn't have the full protection of the PI's that we've had on every one of our RV's:

Over/under protection
Open ground
Miswired pedestal indicator
Accidental 240V protection
AC frequency protection

So I asked the tech at our PDI if we could install the PI & he stated it isn't compatible with the Surge Guard unit. He suggested Hughes Autoformer, which I'm assuming is THIS ONE (they also have a portable just like PI does).

I've trusted PI with our RV's for nearly 20 years & am skeptical of a unit I've not heard of. But I want the extra protection.

What have you other Tiffin owners used for your power protection?

Thanks!
Lori-

**Lt Dan** · 04-22-2019, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

So I asked the tech at our PDI if we could install the PI & he stated it isn't compatible with the Surge Guard unit. He suggested Hughes Autoformer, which I'm assuming is THIS ONE (they also have a portable just like PI does)

What have you other Tiffin owners used for your power protection?
Thanks!
Lori-

I have no idea what he's talking about. I have a HW50 PI unit with our Surge Guard transfer switch and it's perfectly compatible. The PI will not interfere with the transfer switch at all and is just a first line of defense. Your transfer switch does have more capability than mine due to the RVC communication with the Spyder system, but the PI will not interfere with it.

By the way, due to the limited space in the power bay, I found the best place to install mine was in the bay in front of the power reel next to the transfer switch. There's lots of extra 6ga wire bundled up in the "ceiling" of that bay. That is unless they've moved the transfer switch from our '17 model.

curtsr · 04-22-2019, 03:26 PM

I have a 2016 Phaeton with the same Surge Guard transfer switch. First thing I did was to install a PI

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

So, our Phaeton comes with the Surge Guard 41260 transfer switch that has some protection:

Limited protection from faulty park power (not sure what "limited" means)
Power surges
Open neutral
Reverse polarity

But it doesn't have the full protection of the PI's that we've had on every one of our RV's:

Over/under protection
Open ground
Miswired pedestal indicator
Accidental 240V protection
AC frequency protection

So I asked the tech at our PDI if we could install the PI & he stated it isn't compatible with the Surge Guard unit. He suggested Hughes Autoformer, which I'm assuming is THIS ONE (they also have a portable just like PI does).

I've trusted PI with our RV's for nearly 20 years & am skeptical of a unit I've not heard of. But I want the extra protection.

What have you other Tiffin owners used for your power protection?

Thanks!
Lori-

I have a 2016 Phaeton with the same Surge Guard transfer switch. First thing I did was to install a hard wired PI EMS-LCHW50 surge protector. Know several other Tiffin owners that use the same surge protector. Placed mine between the transfer switch and the cable reel. Saved me twice already due to low campground voltage.

vsheetz · 04-22-2019, 03:36 PM

Many of us have that combination. Works very well and is typically highly recommended. Your PDI tech is, well, unknowing in this area.

**NLOVNIT** · 04-22-2019, 05:10 PM

Thanks, guys, SO much.

I knew you'd know. I realize my tech does hundreds of walk-thrus a year & I'm sure it's hard to keep straight all the nuances of every coach.

Tiffin did move its location. It's in a PS bay & if I remember correctly, it's right beside the Intervac unit, on the right wall about a third of the way in. Dave's installed all our other PI's so he'll take a look at where it is & see if there's any slack in the wiring. At least this one he won't have to take out wardrobe drawers, laying on his side in less than 12" of space between the bed & the wardrobe/reaching through drawer openings, like it was in our Bounder. That was 13 years ago & contorting to get at that was hard even back then.

Lori-

**Lt Dan** · 04-22-2019, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

Thanks, guys, SO much.

I knew you'd know. I realize my tech does hundreds of walk-thrus a year & I'm sure it's hard to keep straight all the nuances of every coach.
Tiffin did move its location. It's in a PS bay & if I remember correctly, it's right beside the Intervac unit, on the right wall about a third of the way in. Dave's installed all our other PI's so he'll take a look at where it is & see if there's any slack in the wiring. At least this one he won't have to take out wardrobe drawers, laying on his side in less than 12" of space between the bed & the wardrobe/reaching through drawer openings, like it was in our Bounder. That was 13 years ago & contorting to get at that was hard even back then.
Lori-

That's in the same place as our '17. If he'll look up in the top of the basement, there should be a coil of wire from the cord reel. Apparently they don't cut off the excess, just coil it up. I bought a wire to use as a jumper on mine, then found there would have been plenty to cut off about three feet to use. Below is where I put mine, then put the remote display over by the door on the other side where I can see it when connecting.

**NLOVNIT** · 04-22-2019, 05:52 PM

Awesome, Dan! I hope we've got the same coil of extra cord up top.

L-

Ddjay · 04-22-2019, 06:02 PM

Oooooo, what’s in the box from Tiffin?

**Lt Dan** · 04-22-2019, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ddjay

Oooooo, what’s in the box from Tiffin?

Replacement wiper blades trying to cure the windshield slap in the wind, but that's a whole other story.

**NLOVNIT** · 05-13-2019, 09:35 PM

DH got the PI installed! Right now the remote display is just laying in the bottom of that bay. You can see the wire coiled up above the transfer case. Will work on snaking that over to the DS side later.

Lori-

jkorn · 05-13-2019, 11:30 PM

Hey guys, I give up. What is a PI?

rockriver · 05-14-2019, 01:57 AM

i feel inferior to answer a question that dan is involved in!!
i've sure learned a lot from many folks here and he's on the top list.

PI stands for Progressive Industries and is a more complete "surge protector"
these guys have fancier phaetons and i have a little gasser, and i'm a newbie, but highly recommend this modification... regardless which size MH folks have!

i forgot all the model numbers but a PI 50 amp has already saved me a wad of money... i plugged in the camper and the Progressive unit would not allow power to go to the coach... my wife was anxious to get the air conditioners cranked up... i did not get the unit with the separate monitor... saved a few dollars...
so i knelt down and watched the small screen on the unit itself... it cycled through each leg (side) of the incoming electricity... L! worked fine... L2 did not... so... no power to coach...

some corrections were made (i'm not savvy enough to explain) and progressive unit then allowed power to the coach... yahoo....

cavie · 05-14-2019, 06:59 AM

Just trying to clear things up a little. Surge Protector is a generic term for a one use electric device. EMS is a multi use device. The two are totally different devices. Progress Industries is the brand name of many different devices. Surge Guard is the Brand Name of many different devices.

Please do not call an EMS a surge protector. It is a multi use device that happens to include surge protection.

A surge protector is just that. Surge protection only.

docj · 05-14-2019, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavie

Surge Protector is a generic term for a one use electric device. EMS is a multi use device. The two are totally different devices. Progress Industries is the brand name of many different devices. Surge Guard is the Brand Name of many different devices.

To try to be very clear about this, both Progressive and SurgeGuard sell significantly less expensive devices that are just surge suppressors. The indiscriminate use of that term to apply to both surge suppressors and EMS's can be very confusing to people for whom all of this is new information.

If you want any evidence of this, you ought to spend some time on the Facebook RV groups where the overall knowledge level is significantly less than on these forums. There the confusion between surge suppressors and EMS's runs rampant!