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05-09-2015, 09:48 AM
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#43
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club Holiday Rambler Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,632
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim T.
I have a Progressive 50amp hard wired unit installed in my coach. I also fabricated (with a little research & help) one of these, which gives me the best of both worlds:
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What does that give you that the Progressive unit doesn't? Looks like it gives you voltage and basic polarity checking.
It looks interesting, but it seems like a lot of work to go through on the very slim chance that the power is so bad you want to go to another site. It doesn't take that long to plug in the shore cord as the first step of setting up, does it?
__________________
Adam and Sue, and a pack of little furballs
2007 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PDQ Limited Edition - Cummins ISL 400
2013 Ford F-150 FX4 toad - USGear Unified Tow Brake, Roadmaster Blackhawk II Tow bar, Blue Ox baseplate
Home base near Buffalo NY, often on the road to a dog show
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05-09-2015, 10:26 AM
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#44
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Sedona, AZ
Posts: 713
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I have the locking plugs on my 50A at the RV side, but want a portable that I can lock in the electric bin instead of hassling with locking it to the park outlet. I'm looking at the Sure Guard Marine 50A, since it has the locking plugs built in. It looks to be exactly the same as the RV version except with better weather protection and the locking plugs.
What's the difference between the Sure Guard and the Progressive Industries portable?
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Tim, Tara and Canyon - 'TnT' (& C now...)
2015 Thor Outlaw 37LS w/FJ Cruiser Toad
Columbia 400, 1967 Corvette, KTM 350 EXC-f, TTR 125 LE, XR50 for toys
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05-09-2015, 10:43 AM
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#45
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club Holiday Rambler Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,632
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film
Plus if you just spent 20-30 minutes getting the coach parked just right
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I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't take me that long to get into a parking pad, and especially lucky that I've rarely seen any pedestal wiring issues. The last time I remember having a bad power pedestal was after parking at a dog show at the NY State Fairgrounds. I could've asked to move to another site that would've been much farther away, but instead I reported the problem and within half an hour the very friendly maintenance crew was there to fix it.
I'm sorry to hear that you've had so much bad luck with tough parking spots and bad power pedestals.
__________________
Adam and Sue, and a pack of little furballs
2007 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PDQ Limited Edition - Cummins ISL 400
2013 Ford F-150 FX4 toad - USGear Unified Tow Brake, Roadmaster Blackhawk II Tow bar, Blue Ox baseplate
Home base near Buffalo NY, often on the road to a dog show
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05-09-2015, 11:04 AM
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#46
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Rainbow Riding
Posts: 18,574
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShapeShifter
I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't take me that long to get into a parking pad, and especially lucky that I've rarely seen any pedestal wiring issues. The last time I remember having a bad power pedestal was after parking at a dog show at the NY State Fairgrounds. I could've asked to move to another site that would've been much farther away, but instead I reported the problem and within half an hour the very friendly maintenance crew was there to fix it.
I'm sorry to hear that you've had so much bad luck with tough parking spots and bad power pedestals.
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You don't really know if you've been lucky or not on power issues as low voltage over time shortens the life of everything it touches.
I have my own version of the tester Richard built - and use it regularly before hooking up.
Richard and I both have voltage controllers in line and Progressive EMS - and I now have a transfer switch that does everything the progressive does at twice it's price. So I'm protecting that investment as well as the heat pumps etc..
__________________
Steve & Annie (RVM2)
2008 Fleetwood Bounder 38F ~ 325 ISB Turbo ~ Freightliner XC 2014 CR-V ~ Invisibrake / Sterling All Terrain
Sioux Falls, SD (FullTime Since Nov 5th 2014)
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05-09-2015, 04:50 PM
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#47
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: LaBarque Creek, MO
Posts: 290
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wlf00
The input was on the wrong side in my coach as well. So I mounted the unit upside down and then mounted the cover rotated 180 degrees so that I could still read the text. My unit had the remote display. I believe that you cannot rotate the covers on the units with the built-in display.
I described the installation (with a picture) here in another thread if you are interested.
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My install was upside down also. I have the direct display, no remote. I found that the cover would work either way up. I unplugged the led display from the board, rotated it 180 and plugged it back in. Works great and everything is right side up.
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05-09-2015, 06:25 PM
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#48
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Senior Member
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 904
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film
Plus if you just spent 20-30 minutes getting the coach parked just right to put slides out without hitting anything and then hook up the electric only to find a problem with the power or pedestal, spending 5 minutes to plug in the Power/Pedestal tester is well worth the effort in my book.
In addition, if there is a problem and for some reason the male plug of the tester takes a hit or gets fried, it's a lot easier to replace that plug versus the molded plug on your RV's shore power cord.
Dr4Film ----- Richard
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And that's why I built mine!
Also, my wife drives, unhooks toad, backs or pulls into site and connects power. She KNOWS that pedestal is OK before she does all of that because she has already tested it.
FMCA Local Chapter Secretary - Bay Area TravelerS (BATS)
__________________
Jim & Shirley & Abbie (Scottish Terrier)
2013 Newmar Canyon Star 3911, 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan - Braun Accessibility Modified Toad, Remco Lube Pump, 5 Star Tune, Progressive Industries EMS-HW50C, Coach Net Emergency Road Service, FMCA 378968
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05-09-2015, 09:04 PM
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#49
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 313
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There probably is no overwhelming reason to choose portable over permanent or vice versa. I got permanent for the combination of hard to steal, don't forget to take it or use it, remote monitor, one less thing to store. No matter how you value the aspects of portable vs. permanent it should be one of the highest priority items you have.
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05-10-2015, 08:45 AM
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#50
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Spicewood Texas (West of Austin)
Posts: 4,576
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShapeShifter
I've rarely seen any pedestal wiring issues. The last time I remember having a bad power pedestal was after parking at a dog show at the NY State Fairgrounds. I could've asked to move to another site that would've been much farther away, but instead I reported the problem and within half an hour the very friendly maintenance crew was there to fix it.
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True story, After installing the HW50C in my previous rig, the very 1st pedestal that I plugged into, only had one leg of power. We were lucky in that this park was designed for every other coach to be parked in the opposite direction and the pedestal for the next pad was close to us. The manager said to use it and they would not park anybody next to us. Otherwise, we would have been packing up and moving, since this was before I had learned to check the power before doing anything else.
__________________
Scotty and Kristen, Airedales Wyatt and Belle Starr
2007 Newmar Mountain Aire 4528, 450 HP ISM, Allison
2024 Brinkley G4000
2022 F350 DRW King Ranch 4 x 4
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05-11-2015, 11:29 AM
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#51
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club Holiday Rambler Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,632
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flaggship1
You don't really know if you've been lucky or not on power issues as low voltage over time shortens the life of everything it touches.
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Oh, don't get me wrong, I understand the potential issues, and I love my PI HW50C and won't plug in without it. That's one of the reasons I went with the hard wired unit, because I don't consider it optional.
It's just that I haven't run into enough mis-wired pedestals to make the extra pre-test effort worthwhile. Generally, the power is great when I plug in, and it's only later when the demand rises that the voltage starts to drop to dangerous levels. (Or rise to over 150V in the middle of the night as demand drops off!  )
With very rare exceptions, the many times that the PI EMS has protected me has been well after I've plugged in, after the initial connection tests have passed. When someone wants to save money and just use a multimeter to test the outlet before plugging in, that's why I say they should still get an EMS because that initial pre-plug-in test is not that reliable. In my experience, the problems usually don't show up on the initial check, they tend to happen later when you aren't looking at the meter.
Manually checking the pedestal is better than doing nothing before plugging in. But the PI EMS is far superior than manual checks, and don't see the point of doing both. But others obviously have different experiences that I have had, so if it makes them feel better, it's great that they're able to do so. So I guess my initial question is answered, and it's not because those home-brew tester boxes do something that the PI EMS doesn't do.
__________________
Adam and Sue, and a pack of little furballs
2007 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PDQ Limited Edition - Cummins ISL 400
2013 Ford F-150 FX4 toad - USGear Unified Tow Brake, Roadmaster Blackhawk II Tow bar, Blue Ox baseplate
Home base near Buffalo NY, often on the road to a dog show
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05-11-2015, 11:46 AM
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#52
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Rainbow Riding
Posts: 18,574
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^^ that is correct. They are potential sacrificial lambs. Cheap insurance on the off chance of ugly.
__________________
Steve & Annie (RVM2)
2008 Fleetwood Bounder 38F ~ 325 ISB Turbo ~ Freightliner XC 2014 CR-V ~ Invisibrake / Sterling All Terrain
Sioux Falls, SD (FullTime Since Nov 5th 2014)
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