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Old 07-26-2010, 01:41 AM   #1
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Has anyone hard wired a Portable Surge Guard into their rig? I just bought one and got to thinking about an earlier thread where someone was concerned about getting it ripped off while plugged into a power pole. I'm putting a hard cover with a power receptacle into the power hole like others have done and thought it might be a good thing to hard wire the surge protector into the trailer.
Any thoughts?


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Old 07-26-2010, 05:57 AM   #2
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I purchased the hard wire version and mounted it in the forward storage compartment. But in your case assuming you have 30amp service, what about cutting your cord and hard wiring a receptacle and adding an end to your cord? Use your cord as an extension to the power pole and plug your portable surge guard between the cord and receptacle mounted in the camper. I think you would have a cord with two male ends and a female receptacle mounted in the cord storage compartment.



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Old 07-26-2010, 07:16 AM   #3
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I haveour Autoformer hard wired in behind the breaker box.
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Old 07-26-2010, 09:20 AM   #4
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Yep Bob, it's a 30AMP service. The mod I'm making to my power hole on the side of the trailer will have a 30AMP marine style receptacle with the matting connector on the power cord.
What I'm really wondering is if there is any reason I couldn't bury it inside the power hole hard wired inline. I would not have any access to it so wouldn't be able to see the LED's and what they are indicating. I'm just not sure how important they really are. Do these things generate any heat that would be of concern?


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Old 07-26-2010, 02:37 PM   #5
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I have seen a lockable connector which goes around the plug ends where they connect.

Then if someone wanted to stealthe surge protectorthey would have to cut the wires.
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Old 07-27-2010, 12:40 AM   #6
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You're right rv-rick but I'd like to just have it permanently installed and not have all that hanging on my cable.
I may look for a location near the converter to try and splice it in.


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Old 07-27-2010, 01:07 AM   #7
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I have thought about splicing one into the line like you are talking about. Where my land line comes into the 5er, there is a junction box inside. I don't know why a person couldn't splice in there. It would be "inline" "inside" AND, not steal-able. I have to do some thinking on that.

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Old 07-27-2010, 06:33 AM   #8
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The LEDs do have a purpose. Improper wiring fault and timer delay.

I don't think heat would be an issue, it's far hotter outside in the full sun then inside the camper.

I can access my power cord compartment from the inside my camer by removing four screws to the piece of paneling. Do you have something similar? Quick access could be obtained by removing the screws and secure the wood panel with magnet clasps.

Do you have a storage compartment next to your electrical service? You could drill a hole and pass the cord through and mount the surge guard for easy view and access. Con to this idea is you will loose about 2+ ft of cord length.


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Old 08-06-2010, 09:14 AM   #9
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Here is whatI did for ours.....















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Old 08-07-2010, 01:01 AM   #10
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I sure wish I had bought that one instead of the plug in kind. That's exactly what I want to do. I guess I'll just need to cut and splice everything.
Thanks for the great pictures!


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Old 08-07-2010, 02:28 PM   #11
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GladI could help !



Just make sure you use lots of strain relief to ensure you don't pull the cable off the unit ! I lost about a foot and a half of overall length and am thinking of putting a longer cable on but have to wait untilI have some extra time....
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Old 08-08-2010, 12:38 AM   #12
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While I'm doing this mod I'm also putting a receptacle and cover over the power hole in the side of the trailer, as has been discussed before. I will put a marine style plug on the end of my power cable and will have an extra length of mating power cable for those long runs. I want to mount the surge protector somewhere that I could still see the lights but be out of the way. With the power cord hole covered that will be difficult.
If I put a lock on the surge protector, as some have suggested, someone cold just steal my whole power cord with it attached.
I may follow the power inside the trailer to see where it goes maybe I could do something near the converter. Obviously still a work in progress.


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Old 08-14-2010, 03:10 PM   #13
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So I found this afterI started thinking about the 'marine' connection you were talking about....



http://www.modmyrv.com/2008/06/15/rv...ord-receptacle



You could still put the surge protector, or even better an autoformer, in the box. I may be trying to talk my wife into that......Edited by: nordstromfamily
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Old 08-15-2010, 02:43 PM   #14
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I was talking to the dealer and he told me that if I hardwired the surge protector and something happened electrically that the warranty would be voided. Sounds kind of nutty but that is what he told me. Just my 2 cents.
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Old 08-16-2010, 04:25 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whipandee
I was talking to the dealer and he told me that if I hardwired the surge protector and something happened electrically that the warranty would be voided. Sounds kind of nutty but that is what he told me. Just my 2 cents.
I can understand that. If someone not qualified to do the installation does the work and because of a mistake, the electrical system goes south, the warrantee should be void. If the manufacturer took this on a case by case basis, they'd have a hell of a mess.

Having said that, perhaps manufacturers should offer an inline surge protector as an option.


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Old 08-16-2010, 01:07 PM   #16
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Yep.....understand somewhat....but if the dealer hard wired it seeems to me that it should be done right and the warranty should be honored.....but he told me he was not allowed to do it....on the other hand....why not offer an option from the factory(with a follow-up from the dealer...too much money invested without the opportunity to have protection..... I know.###..because my unit was just a few days old when I had a lightningsurge...which took out my inverter along with the microwave and the vacuum and the refrigerator and my satelite box along with my washer/dryer combo and by the waythe alarm clock too.....seems that a hard wire surge protection should be offered. and by the way I strongly recommend anyone that owns a camping unit to have surge protection.
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Old 08-17-2010, 01:55 AM   #17
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Wow, I think after all of this I'll just keep it plugged into the end of the shore power cord. I don't like the big clunky "lock box" that CW sells so I may come up with something different to lock it to my cord.
Having said that I am converting my power connection to the trailer similar to the link that nordstromfamily showed above. With the twist lock going into the trailer I guess if someone wanted the whole banana they could do that


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Old 08-17-2010, 05:23 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KennyB
Wow, I think after all of this I'll just keep it plugged into the end of the shore power cord. I don't like the big clunky "lock box" that CW sells so I may come up with something different to lock it to my cord.
Having said that I am converting my power connection to the trailer similar to the link that nordstromfamily showed above. With the twist lock going into the trailer I guess if someone wanted the whole banana they could do that

Is there some reason you can't put it in the same space as the converter? The only difference would be that the surge protector is on the other end of the wire from the plug. You could actually put plugs on the wire and plug it in the same as you do now...plus it would be removable when you want to trade the trailer.


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Old 08-17-2010, 06:39 AM   #19
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Great suggestion but I'm now a little concerned after reading threads like whipandee above that if I did something like that and later my converter went out warranty may not cover it.
I'd think that it would be pretty obvious that green to green, white to white and black to black would tell the story but maybe not.
I'm still thinking


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Old 08-17-2010, 02:33 PM   #20
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So all of this is just my two cents, which if you ask my wife is only worth one.....



So I had to make the judgement call on whether the catastrophic failure of the surge guard outweighs the catastrophic failure of the converter and wiring due to the lack of a surge guard. For the past five years I had a plug-in-the-end-of-the cable model and it travelled all over the United States and Canada. I noticed one day that the rubber/plastic of the plug, where the surge guard plugs into the shore power plug from the trailer, was burned and cracked. Corrosion from the years in the elements had degraded the connection to the point of danger. I immediately threw the surge protector away and replaced my entire shore power cable.

(Any of you Navy or Marine Corps people remember Corrosion Control School ? LOL! Not that I would have another Forrestal but better safe than sorry)

I spent seventeen years in the Marine Corps as an Avionics tech, worked my way through colege as an ASE certified mechanic and spent the last ten years working in the Semiconductor field as a robotics engineer. I would like to think that I have some knowledge about electro-mechanical systems, of course if you ask my wife......LOL



As to whether the 'warranty' such that it is, would cover catastrophic damage from either the installation of the surge protector or the lack of one, is purely speculative. Until it actually happens to one of us and we report the results, just like the question, "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop", we may never know. On that note, I sincerely hope NONE of us ever finds out about a catastrophic failure of any type !



I have included some more pictures to show how I fit the surge protector into the converter cabinet. As you can see, there is plent of room. I also installed a small battery powered smoke detector to the roof of the enclosure, you can't see it in the pictures but I figured it couldn't hurt.







Edited by: nordstromfamily
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