Community Forums

Dan Fessler · 11-19-2021, 10:01 PM

I have a 2007 40 ft SE and really love it, although it has been a challenge for me at times to figure out its fine Swiss workings. One item always puzzled me, namely there is a manual up-down toggle switch on the side of my Surge Guard ATS Model 40250. The switch is labeled with "Bypass" if the switch is up and "Normal" if the switch is down. Between them is a larger label that says "AGS Shore Power". I never knew what the heck this did, and the prior owner didn't either. So, I put in the 'Normal' position and ignored it for the last 3 years. But what the heck is it? Picture is attached.
Now, however, I can't ignore it any longer. On return from the last trip of this season, I noticed that I had no shore power even though plugged into it. Generator power worked fine. After reviewing the forum posts and checking a few things out, I found that the contacts on the shore power side of the ATS were not activating, although if I manually pushed them in I had shore power. Generator side was fine. No obvious electronics fried. My best estimation was that the coil on the shore power side of the ATS switch had faulted. So I bought a new Surge Guard unit (Model 40350RVS) and I am in in the process of installation. The new one has no switch and I am not sure whether I need one or if I should install the switch from the old unit.

Study of the interior of the old unit revealed that there are two very small feeder lines coming off one leg of the shore power switch (so 110v). the first wire is green and comes from the neutral to the toggle switch. It looks like it exits on a different a different terminal and then down to a small clear electronic box that research says is an Omron LY2 110v power relay. It doesn't look damaged. The second wire from the shore power leg is red and comes from the positive wire of shore power directly to this 'relay'. So, power from the shore power leg triggers this relay or not depending on the position of the toggle switch? Yeah, but to do what? The relay has two bigger gauge orange wires that go through small holes in the wall of the Surge Guard box up over the Xantrex and looks like they disappear up into the coach. I have no idea where. Picture of inside of the Surge Guard box is attached.

So, if I don't drill holes in the new surge guard box and reinstall the toggle switch, I have two loose orange wires connected to something somewhere in the coach, which doesn't sound good. Tie them together? Cover the ends but let them dangle? Not sure. But, if I reinstall the toggle switch, I still have no idea what it does. Some Help! from you all would be most appreciated.

bcbowers · 11-20-2021, 07:30 AM

The key question now is “Does everything work ok with the new TS?”. If it does, then the orange wires aren’t needed. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to determine what’s not working and troubleshoot accordingly.

If everything is ok, I would recommend capping the ends for now. Have you tried tracing the orange wires into the coach?

Ljwt330 · 11-20-2021, 10:11 AM

Your old switch.

The toggle switch was to be used if the surge protector failed or got "fried" by a sudden surge. In the "Normal" position, the switch allows full protection to the rv from the surge protector. Flipping to the "by-pass" mode would route shore power around the protection of the surge guard and allow 110v to the coach, but without any protection from surges, over or under voltages, etc.

The "AGS shore power" position allows the generator to automatically start and supply power to the rv if there is a loss of shore power detected by the surge protector. I'm not familiar with this last feature, but it must indicate that the generator is wired to the surge protector and will start and run automatically with a loss of shore voltage.

Dan Fessler · 11-21-2021, 11:51 AM

Thanks for the replies. About the toggle switch - it only has two positions, up or down. It doesn't have a stop at the middle position labeled 'AGS Shore Power". That is what is confusing. I haven't tried to trace the orange wires yet. Dan

Jeep401 · 11-22-2021, 09:16 AM

If you are not used the switch anyway, figure out if is open or closed in its normal position as you are using it and wire it accordingly. Wire together if it's closed or cap off the ends if open.

Old-Biscuit · 11-22-2021, 10:24 AM

Surge Guard ATS Model 40250
OEM didn't come with a 'toggle switch'
Sounds like a previous owner had it installed
'AGS Shore Power' label indicates Normal would allow full function with Gen Auto Start in the loop and Bypass would negate Gen auto start function OR allow for Shore Power when Surge Guard Failed (Bypass the Surge Guard protections)

Orange wires.........probably go to gen control box
AGS ---starts gen on preset battery voltage typically 11.9VDC

New one.....same surge guard just new model number

Installation
https://rvpower.southwire.com/wp-con...0075-1C-2C.pdf

Troubleshooting
https://rvpower.southwire.com/wp-con...uide-DSG-3.pdf