Hughes Autoformer RV220-50SP Testimonial

[AnotherMike]

Originally Posted by LWBAZ

Thanks Chuck - good info. As you may recall, I have a portable Progressive Industries EMS.

I'd forgotten about the confusion surrounding the lifetime warranty support when P.I. was acquired by Power Products LLC. Thanks for the reminder.

If I decide to use the Autoformer all the time, I guess I need to decide whether to plug it in before or after my P.I. EMS unit. In other words, which one do I want to be the sacrificial lamb...

I've not read all 9 pages of comments so please forgive me if these two points have been covered by someone else...

Right now I have a 30 amp coach, and the shore power cord feeds the distribution panel with minimal surge supression. One circuit from that panel feeds an APC LE1200 Automatic Voltage Regulator... it will buck (lower) or boost the AC line voltage automatically and cheaply... it is feeding proper voltage to the fridge, the computer, the WiFi and the Battery Tender.

The APC LE1200 could be considered a "small" single phase 10 amp AutoFormer with some surge suppression. The APCs show up on eBay regularly at a decent price... An LE1200 will support a residential fridge, might support a microwave but will not support a rooftop air conditioner.

Someone with 50 amp service could use two APCs, one for each hot lead. But you would still have a limit of 10 amps per hot lead.

My APC was free to me, and I'm using it, but an appropriately sized Hughes AutoFormer is on the wish list and when it goes in I'm going to look at it's warranty and the EMS warranty. Yes, I'll use both the EMS and the AutoFormer but the one with better warranty will be the sacrificial lamb.

Second point - this is IMPORTANT - always put the shore power cord reel FIRST then connect the output leads to the protection (AutoFormer, EMS, whatever) and from there to the coach power distribution panel! (a 30amp has one hot lead, a 50amp has two)

I heard a story about a gentleman with 50 amp coach... he had an external protection unit plugged into the power pedestal with the coach shore power cord plugged into that. The neutral brush in his reel opened up and the result was a toasted residential fridge. The only reason that nothing else was lost was that nothing else was connected...

No matter if the story is true or not, a open neutral has the potential to toast electrics, and the best made reels still use brushes that can open up. Therefore you don't want to use an external / portable EMS in front of a reel.

ALWAYS use internal protection (not external or "portable"), and always put your protection after the shore power cord reel. If a brush in the reel opens up the EMS will save your coach and it's electricals / electronics.

[LWBAZ]

Good points regarding the potential negative effects of a shore power cord reel failure and where to place a protection device.

I'm aware of several owners who've had cord reel failures, so the concern isn't altogether hypothetical. With our previous coach, I was concerned enough about it that I actually removed the cord reel and used a plain ol' 50 amp extension cord in its place. Didn't save any space to speak of and I lost a little convenience, but I didn't have to worry about a cord reel failure. I did reinstall the cord reel when we sold the coach.

With our current coach, I modified the cord reel cabling to achieve a "plug & play" set up that allows for quick & easy bypassing of the cord reel in the event of a failure. And my Progressive Industries EMS-PT50C is plugged in between the cord reel and the transfer switch. More info on that setup in this thread:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/prot...ch-403576.html

[bevandtomH]

Larry, thanks for posting. Even though C/W showed a b/o, my local store had it in stock. In addition to the sale price, the person at the register said there is a renewable warranty for $68.00/yr. this covers the full unit, not just the replaceable EMS portion.
Plan on wiring ours in similar fashion when I can get to it.
Maybe we need it or maybe not but I guess I like to have some choices and control when needed.
Tom

[DeWat]

Not wanting to start a new/separate parallel thread, a post came out today over on the Newmar forum about the possibility of the autoformer becoming extinct: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/auto...ml#post4896050.

Not my opinion or anything like that, just pointing out the new autoformer thread.

[Bigrig2]

Larry, thanks for the idea, inspiration and information. I finally got around to installing it and thought I'd share some pics. Autoformer connections use plug ends so I can remove from the line up.
I made a little mounting bracket with room for air to travel all around the unit.

[azbuzzard]

So where did you mount the plug box?

[Bigrig2]

I put plug ends on coach side of reel & input side of EMS. I can then pull the AF out of the loop whenever I need / want to.

[azbuzzard]

Still trying to figure out where to have mine mounted, Thanks

[Bigrig2]

Don, I remain unsure of any potential heat from the AF which is why I located where I did. I also have a hole in the bottom of the mounting bracket & small tabs in the bottom of the tray of the bracket to hold the unit a bit off of the mount bracket.

LMK if you would like any other explanation...

[Hayman]

Originally Posted by Bigrig2

Larry, thanks for the idea, inspiration and information. I finally got around to installing it and thought I'd share some pics. Autoformer connections use plug ends so I can remove from the line up.
I made a little mounting bracket with room for air to travel all around the unit. Attachment 258442Attachment 258443Attachment 258444

I made a very similar bracket just longer legs and mounted it over the power cord reel also with plugs.

[bobcre]

Forget about ordering from Camping World. I decided to order from them because of the price. I ordered 08/01/19 and still have not got it

[The Driver]

CW is dreadful, for sure! Ordered my Autoformer Jul 25, received it this week, Aug 26.

[legrandnorm]

Originally Posted by The Driver

CW is dreadful, for sure! Ordered my Autoformer Jul 25, received it this week, Aug 26.

Amazon has it also... https://www.amazon.com/Hughes-Autofo.../dp/B01MXL9YJV

[LWBAZ]

Originally Posted by Bigrig2

Larry, thanks for the idea, inspiration and information. I finally got around to installing it and thought I'd share some pics. Autoformer connections use plug ends so I can remove from the line up.
I made a little mounting bracket with room for air to travel all around the unit. Attachment 258442Attachment 258443Attachment 258444

Good work! I was considering something similar, but didn't have time to get to it before we left on our current trip.

I ended up temporarily removing the shore power cord reel, so I could determine if there was enough room behind it for the Autoformer and my portable P.I. EMS unit. It took several attempts, but I finally found an arrangement that allowed everything to fit and provided visibility to the display panel on the Autoformer even after I reinstalled the cord reel. I’ll include some photos below. In the photo that includes the cord reel it doesn’t look like it would be possible to see the display panel on the Autoformer, but it is in fact visible if I stand in the right place.

This arrangement was facilitated by having previously installed a “plug & play” setup on the cord reel. More info on that in this thread:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/prot...ch-403576.html

I did have a concern regarding potential heat buildup in the compartment, with the Autofomer, the P.I. EMS, the cord reel, and the Aqua-Hot all in there. But monitoring the various devices with an infrared thermometer gun, I haven’t seen anything of concern so far. We’re currently about a month into our current trip and the Autoformer has been live the whole time.