Progressive portable EMS-PT30X surge protector

CantTakeit · 06-29-2019, 03:05 PM

Hi everyone.
Thanks again for all of your suggestions & help on this forum!!
It has made a huge difference!
I have yet another question regarding EMS/surge protection.
Does anyone know if this will void any warranties on a 2019 Minnie Winnie 22m?
I purchased the Progressive portable unit, haven't used it yet.
Of course this stuff comes up on weekends when we have time to do things & I have to wait until Monday to call Winnebago!
I'm assuming some of you use these devices to protect your electrical systems, & hoping you have an answer for me!
Thanks so much.

Winterbagoal · 06-29-2019, 04:49 PM

What part of a warranty would using a portable EMS possibly void?

In any case, I doubt it, and I've been using the same unit since my Navion was new.

That portable EMS unit has one little quirk if you want to call it that. If I use it between the generator receptacle and the shore power cable, when using the generator for coach power, it takes about the entire built in power reset time to allow power to flow to the coach from the running generator.

I found this out in a rest area last February when we stopped to heat up some lunch in the M/W. I fired up the generator and noted no power lights/clock readout or anything on the M/W indicating that the generator was feeding the house power grid. When I went back to the power bay to see if the plug had come loose (my transfer switch is me, completely manual, and the shore power plug has shaken loose from the genset receptacle before on rough roads) and my wife called out "what did you do, it's working now". Knowing I had done nothing, I realized I'd left the EMS-PT30X plugged into the cable, and into the receptacle, and knew what was going on. It was showing E0 which is normal. I figured the generator probably needed a few seconds to stabilize it's output, and the EMS caught that and disabled power flow for the 136 seconds it takes to reset power flow.

FYI? If your coach AC grid is a manual transfer from shore to generator, and you use the portable EMS in the cabling mix, be aware.

Jim_HiTek · 06-29-2019, 10:09 PM

How would they possibly know?

So to answer the question, NO.

Winterbagoal · 06-29-2019, 10:41 PM

Cookies and malware built into the hardware and software of every device in the motorhome. Particularly the ECU and One Place monitor systems - the tanks and battery status are vulnerable to electronic software spying mechanisms embedded in the firmware.
Very crafty.

Kayak73 · 06-30-2019, 06:08 AM

On our rig I found the stimulated emission of crudulation cause by cleverly designed bad solar install to confuse the navigation system into always providing route guidance from anywhere USA to some dinky small town in IOWA? In an unknown turn of unlikely events this possibly was caused by me installing the EMS30 and a rewire of the power feed in Hozro5 our little 18V24D. A temporary abatement of route guidance by updating the software provides some relief, but beware the navigation and I suggest paper maps, travel with all cell phones off as well. Whenever I want real navigation I must turn off the solar with my newly installed 30amp switchable circuit breakers on the NEG leads of the solar controller. I get charged up thinking about it all.

Old Crows · 06-30-2019, 10:00 AM

We have used a portable EMS/SP for at least 15 years on all of our RVs. Never had an issue as described above. ???Why would you put the EMS/SP on the generator power cable????? That is a "known" source of power that is by and large better quality and reliability than a CG pedestal which you nothing about and are notorious for having all kinds of issues. ?????

The delay in operation may be explained. The EMS/SP probably has a built in safery delay after power is applied and before it passes the "juice" to the coach.

Not even going to go down that malware/cookie road....

peggwn · 07-07-2019, 10:02 PM

When plugged in and the breaker is flipped on, whether at the CG pedestal or at home, (whether 30 amp, 50 amp, or 110) there is an 18-20 seconds delay before we hear an electric "pop" that indicates all is good and the electricity is on in the old gal (not the DW). It freaked me out the first few times it happened because it sounded like, and I thought it was the breaker had been tripped. The normal readouts on the EMS were all positive.

bobojay · 07-08-2019, 12:36 PM

Back to the original question. It won't void anything to do with a WGO warranty

SummitPond · 07-08-2019, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobojay

Back to the original question. It won't void anything to do with a WGO warranty

I'm no lawyer, but I've not read anything in our warranty that excludes the use of the portable or hard-wired EMS. I have the hard-wired one (put one in our old TT also). If anything, you might get warranty push-back if there's shore power issues and you suffer electrical failures; the EMS would cut power to the
TT if voltage sags too low or goes to high, as well as acts as a surge suppressor. There are other issues it also protects against. The EMS saved our bacon in our old trailer when the hot and neutral were wired backwards on the pedestal at a CG; it wouldn't allow power into the TT. I shudder to think what could have happened if we didn't have it.

bkg · 07-08-2019, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Crows

Why would you put the EMS/SP on the generator power cable????? That is a "known" source of power that is by and large better quality and reliability than a CG pedestal which you nothing about and are notorious for having all kinds of issues. ?????

Generator power is reliable but not 100% trusted.
It is wise practice to protect incoming power from any source; shore power or generator.
The great thing about a good EMS is that it will protect for high and low voltages. A generator is capable of both.

I've always wired my EMS (hardwired) inline of the feed to the power center.

NXR · 07-08-2019, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkg

Generator power is reliable but not 100% trusted.
It is wise practice to protect incoming power from any source; shore power or generator.
The great thing about a good EMS is that it will protect for high and low voltages. A generator is capable of both.

I've always wired my EMS (hardwired) inline of the feed to the power center.

I just installed my EMS50 yesterday and thought long and hard about doing the same thing for the same reasons (I have an electronics background). I also was curious as to the power being drawn from the generator with various things running.

In the end I decided to just stay with the power cord because I didn't want a single point of failure knocking out all electrical power. Even though the Progressive Industries unit has a bypass switch, it's on the data cable so it still requires that the EMS50 be at least partially functional. And the bypass switch can't override a defective contactor.

I still have a single point of failure, the automatic transfer switch, but at least it's a dumb switch.

luvlabs · 07-09-2019, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkg

Generator power is reliable but not 100% trusted.
It is wise practice to protect incoming power from any source; shore power or generator.
The great thing about a good EMS is that it will protect for high and low voltages. A generator is capable of both.

I've always wired my EMS (hardwired) inline of the feed to the power center.

Your generator has a very sophisticated frequency and voltage control system. It is, in fact, cleaner than the power coming in from the power pole. You can run your generator through the PT-30X but you are going to gain nothing, protection wise, by doing so. RV generators are just a tad more sophisticated than the general purpose one you might pickup at the hardware store.