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Old 03-27-2017, 06:16 PM   #1
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Progressive Industries EMS

Has anyone put one of these in their rig? I'm pretty handy, just a little nervous about cutting the cord because it runs down the entire length of the 5th wheel.

We are going to a new seasonal campsite and they only have 30 amp service. I have the dog bone and I have a Progressive industries surge protector that attaches at the pedestal. My concern is the electronics and brown outs. Was talking to friends at the RV show Saturday and they lost two A/C units and a refrigerator last summer in their 2 year old Wildwood because of brown outs. They have been on the same site for 28 years. Guess their old camper handled the power fluctuation better.

I was hoping there was a transfer box in the front garage, but I didn't see one when I looked tonight. The 5th wheel is covered and zipped up tight, have to go in and see if there is room behind the inverter, or maybe inside the garage where I can splice it in.

Any suggestions or tips would be great. The installation videos on YouTube look fairly straight forward.

Progressive Industries RV Surge and Electrical Protection industry lea

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Old 03-28-2017, 08:02 AM   #2
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I installed the 50 amp version last year. Found sufficient space in the basement compartment just below the power panel. There was enough slack in the main power cord to cut it and make the connections. If the line had been tight, I would have disconnected it from the power panel and purchased a few extra feet of line from HD. Not that difficult to do except for the cramped work area fighting 6 gauge wire and making tight connections. My display is mounted next to the power panel. It detected a missing ground at the last campsite.
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Old 03-28-2017, 01:53 PM   #3
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Thanks Larry. I'm pretty handy, I just don't want to mess up something I can't come back from. I would feel better if I could see where the cord runs from the connection on the outside to the panel.

I've been holding off taking the RV cover as long as I can. I will have to go inside and see what's where. Most of the snow is gone.
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Old 03-28-2017, 03:55 PM   #4
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Thanks Larry. I'm pretty handy, I just don't want to mess up something I can't come back from. I would feel better if I could see where the cord runs from the connection on the outside to the panel.

I've been holding off taking the RV cover as long as I can. I will have to go inside and see what's where. Most of the snow is gone.
Yeah, it depends on the location of the power panel. If it sits at the bottom of a wall on the main floor, then the line will be routed in the underbelly and thru a hole in the floor. You may not have space or slack in the line. Mine sits up higher in the hallway, so the line had to pass thru the compartment floor and then thru the hallway floor.
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Old 03-28-2017, 05:38 PM   #5
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Yeah, it depends on the location of the power panel. If it sits at the bottom of a wall on the main floor, then the line will be routed in the underbelly and thru a hole in the floor. You may not have space or slack in the line. Mine sits up higher in the hallway, so the line had to pass thru the compartment floor and then thru the hallway floor.

My power panel is on the floor. I'm hoping the cord comes in from behind. Worse case, I'll buy a junction box at HD and some new cable.
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Old 03-29-2017, 06:34 AM   #6
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My power panel is on the floor. I'm hoping the cord comes in from behind. Worse case, I'll buy a junction box at HD and some new cable.
You won't need the junction box if there is space for the surge protector behind the power panel. CR seems to do a good job of leaving excess wire , so hopefully you can pull the panel out without disconnecting any wires, just shut off both AC and DC power.
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Old 03-29-2017, 02:13 PM   #7
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You won't need the junction box if there is space for the surge protector behind the power panel. CR seems to do a good job of leaving excess wire , so hopefully you can pull the panel out without disconnecting any wires, just shut off both AC and DC power.
The power cord is in the cubby and both batteries are in my workshop on the battery tender. I have 2 weekends to work on the 5th wheel before it gets transported to the campground and now we are having 6-8 inches of snow Friday into Saturday. I can't win.
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Old 03-29-2017, 02:44 PM   #8
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My surge guard is going on 7 years old. It doesn't have all the new bells and whistles, but it does the job.
I was able to splice into the land line where it enters the trailer in the back corner. They even had a junction box there.

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Old 04-02-2017, 03:35 PM   #9
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Sean, I put in a 50 amp EMS in my 5th wheel last year. Once I pulled the panel box, which was under the stove, I realized I could not get my hands in there to work. I ended up removing the stove/oven and had plenty of room to work. Once I cut the cable I had lots of loose cable to move around. Those wires are pretty hard to work with but I did it. Works great! I put the remote readout in the basement where my hook-ups are. Here are a couple pictures. Dave











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Old 04-03-2017, 04:37 AM   #10
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Thanks. Dave. My box is at the bottom of a bank of narrow drawers just inside the door. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. ApprecI ate the pictures. Will take some pics and post when I get the EMS installed.
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Old 04-03-2017, 06:29 PM   #11
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Worth it

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Sean, I put in a 50 amp EMS in my 5th wheel last year. Once I pulled the panel box, which was under the stove, I realized I could not get my hands in there to work. I ended up removing the stove/oven and had plenty of room to work. Once I cut the cable I had lots of loose cable to move around. Those wires are pretty hard to work with but I did it. Works great! I put the remote readout in the basement where my hook-ups are. Here are a couple pictures. Dave












I bet it was worth taking the stove out to have all that space to work. Nice job.
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Old 04-06-2017, 06:18 PM   #12
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I was a little worried when I first looked at the stove/oven but it's only held in with a couple screws. Took the top off, unhooked the gas line, removed the screws and it came right out!

Working through a drawer opening is tough. Good Luck with your installation.

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Old 04-08-2017, 06:24 AM   #13
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Was excited when the EMS was in my mail box on Thursday. Unfortunately it was missing the data cable and the digital display housing is defective. I'm a little disappointed because I wanted to install it today but have to wait for the replacement.

I bought it from Tweety's, best price for the 50 amp EMS, $303 with free shipping for a brand new unopened unit. They were great, already shipped replacement yesterday along with return label to send the other one back. No problems, no difficulty. They can't just send the data cable and display, they have to ship whole units. I could probably install the main unit and plug in the display from the other one when it arrives, but I have plenty of other stuff to do, so it can wait until next week.

The defect in the display housing looks like something sticky spilled on it, so it's functional. If the display was going to be out of sight I wouldn't care, but it is probably going to be in the kitchen so it will just look like something spilled on it. Tweety's said it doesn't matter if it's cosmetic, it should be right. Definitely recommend them.
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Old 04-08-2017, 03:54 PM   #14
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I put the 50 amp unit in my Seville in the basement. I took out the basement panel to have more room to work. It's not hard to do, just a bit tedious. It was easier than trying to work through the access hole. I had plenty of slack in the cable as it looked like there was maybe 5-6' for cord than necessary.

The bigger problem was getting the readout up to the switch panel. It had to go up behind the cabinets through a cable run.
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Old 04-10-2017, 05:41 PM   #15
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This is the mess

This is the space I have to work in. I'm hoping I can access it from the basement. Otherwise I may have to dislocate my shoulders. I'm sure I'll get it, but it won't be fun. I took the two narrow, (less than a foot) drawers out that are above the power panel in the kitchen. This is not going to be fun.
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Old 04-11-2017, 08:07 AM   #16
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This is the space I have to work in. I'm hoping I can access it from the basement. Otherwise I may have to dislocate my shoulders. I'm sure I'll get it, but it won't be fun. I took the two narrow, (less than a foot) drawers out that are above the power panel in the kitchen. This is not going to be fun.
So, the pics are taken from above and looking down toward the basement, right? If so, the main power cord is clearly coming up from the basement and hopefully you will have better access in the basement. That 50 amp cord is pretty stiff and will be difficult to maneuver. Read the instructions for the surge protector carefully. There are coils that need to slip over the hot leads as they are connected. So, you have to secure the box first, then prep the end of the hot lead, feed it into the box, thru the coil and then tighten it down. Oh, and the coils have a specific orientation as well. Doesn't look like that area behind the power distribution panel has the access you will need. Good luck.
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Old 04-11-2017, 07:02 PM   #17
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So, the pics are taken from above and looking down toward the basement, right? If so, the main power cord is clearly coming up from the basement and hopefully you will have better access in the basement. That 50 amp cord is pretty stiff and will be difficult to maneuver. Read the instructions for the surge protector carefully. There are coils that need to slip over the hot leads as they are connected. So, you have to secure the box first, then prep the end of the hot lead, feed it into the box, thru the coil and then tighten it down. Oh, and the coils have a specific orientation as well. Doesn't look like that area behind the power distribution panel has the access you will need. Good luck.
Larry I hope you are correct. I think the basement is behind the wall opposite the back of the distribution panel. I was thinking I would pull the whole distribution panel out, take some pictures and put it back. I think I can screw it into the wall behind the distribution panel. I was also thinking it might be easier to just buy a length of wire to run from the out of the EMS to the distribution panel rather than fight with a stiff wire that is only long enough by the length of the box.

I have to get into the basement to know for sure. The winter cover is still on it and I didn't get to crawl up into the basement. I'm taking the cover off this weekend, so I'll know better.
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Old 04-12-2017, 06:31 AM   #18
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Larry I hope you are correct. I think the basement is behind the wall opposite the back of the distribution panel. I was thinking I would pull the whole distribution panel out, take some pictures and put it back. I think I can screw it into the wall behind the distribution panel. I was also thinking it might be easier to just buy a length of wire to run from the out of the EMS to the distribution panel rather than fight with a stiff wire that is only long enough by the length of the box.

I have to get into the basement to know for sure. The winter cover is still on it and I didn't get to crawl up into the basement. I'm taking the cover off this weekend, so I'll know better.
Regardless, you will be fighting stiff wire. You can cut that black zip tie holding all the Romex wires, then remove the screws for the distribution panel, pull it out far enough to loosen the cable clamp on the power cord and then disconnect it.

Then you have a choice. 1) Pull the cord back down into the basement (especially if there is more room to work), cut it to correct length and install the EMS there, then run the excess wire back up to the distribution panel. Or, 2) wire the EMS directly to the end of the cord (or shorten it if possible) install it behind the distribution panel, and add a short length of wire back to the distribution panel. The problem with 2) is bending a short length of 6 gauge wires to get the distribution panel re-installed.
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Old 04-12-2017, 10:03 AM   #19
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Larry, I am hoping you are correct and it is coming from the basement. That will make life much easier. I'll know more after I pull the winter coat off and can get into the basement.
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Old 04-13-2017, 02:22 PM   #20
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Buy the portable one, plug into power, add rv cable, wait 2 minutes & viola. Also when you trade rvs, follow same procedures. Our 50 amp portable is currently on it's 3rd rv.
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