Surge Guard Protecting?? or Defective??

Over the past 4 or 5 days my Surge Guard has shut power off to my camper at least a half dozen times. It does it at all times of the day or night with electrical usage in the camper up (with a/c running, water heater on electric, etc.) and with it down (everything turned off except a small table lamp).

Every camper around me seems to be still with power and after the normal Surge Guard delay, the power comes back on and things are fine for hours or day. Last night for the first time, the unit power kicked back in and then kicked back out three times before coming on and staying on. That was about 7:30 PM. The power was fine until it kicked off at 5:30 AM this morning. After it's normal reset, I have had no problem since. That's usually how it is...hours and hours before it kicks out again.

I'm at a loss if it is doing it's job or if it is malfunctioning. I do not have a clue how to check it. When I lose power, the readout on my panel say "delay reset" or something like that. Right now with every thing working as it should, with the water heater and refer on electric the monitor says "126V 2A" on the top line and "111V 8A" on the bottom line.

Any suggestions??

Check the voltages at the pedestal. If they are OK there, you may have a faulty power cord. Whatever it is, you should not have one leg at 111V.

Are you able to plug in to a different power source not on the same line? I had a very similar issue and plugged into a different pedestal and had not problem, and then the CG owner asked me to try the other source again. I did, and the issue returned. I never did find out what was wrong with the first pedestal because I hit the road the next day. Just a suggestion.

I see quite a difference between the 126v and 111v on your line voltage.
It should not be sagging that much.
With no load, your 2 voltage readings should be equal.
With drawing 8amps, you may see a 4 or 5 volt drop.
Do you have any error codes as to why you have tripped?
With out knowing what is going on, I think you have a park electrical problem.
There could be loose connections or a bad receptcial on the park pedistial
If you can, plug into a different park source of power, then check your readings.

Hockster

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Take my advice. Don't assume your Surge Guard is defective and disconnect it. Thats what I did last year and burned up my microwave, bedroom tv and a few minor appliances. Problem was in the pedastal and campground reimbursed me for everything.

I had bought a used portable Surge Guard so I figured that had to be the problem. Suggest you have the campground maintenance person check their side out so they are aware that you are having a problem.

Good luck.

You need a few more voltage checks to be sure with and without load at pedistal and at camper.The voltages you give suggest a bad neutral either connection or in wire itself.When neutrsl is bad 1 leg will rise in voltage and 1 leg will go down trying to complete circuit.

Keith, reading your post it is like "de ja vu" with my experience at LazyDays just a few weeks ago. The symptoms are identical as well as the doubts you have expressed whether your Surge Guard is acting up. TRUST THE SURGE GUARD!!!!! It is working as it should, especially when you can see the difference in line voltage. The surge guard is tripping when the distributed line voltage is exceeding parameters (such as voltage spikes, or low voltage), and then is resetting when power is back within limits. Get the campground to have a "licensed electrician" (my lesson learned when the Lazydays tech proclaimed everything was "fine", then admitted when asked that he was NOT an electrician), trace the issue from your camper to your site post, and then back from there to the electrical distribution panel. This is a normal set-up where an electrical distribution box feeds several camping site electrical posts. In my case the electrician found severe issues at the distribution panel causing arcing and voltage fluctuations. My Surge Guard saved me, I believe yours is saving you. Let us know how you make out.

Flying Dutchman said:

Keith, reading your post it is like "de ja vu" with my experience at LazyDays just a few weeks ago. The symptoms are identical as well as the doubts you have expressed whether your Surge Guard is acting up. TRUST THE SURGE GUARD!!!!! It is working as it should, especially when you can see the difference in line voltage. The surge guard is tripping when the distributed line voltage is exceeding parameters (such as voltage spikes, or low voltage), and then is resetting when power is back within limits. Get the campground to have a "licensed electrician" (my lesson learned when the Lazydays tech proclaimed everything was "fine", then admitted when asked that he was NOT an electrician), trace the issue from your camper to your site post, and then back from there to the electrical distribution panel. This is a normal set-up where an electrical distribution box feeds several camping site electrical posts. In my case the electrician found severe issues at the distribution panel causing arcing and voltage fluctuations. My Surge Guard saved me, I believe yours is saving you. Let us know how you make out.

Click to expand...

Sometimes I really question my intelligence. I was so worried about my Surge Guard being bad because no one around me was losing power. I had completly forgotton about two weeks ago when you were having all your electrical problems and we were camped directly behind you. Duh!! Thanks for reminding me Eric. Had the camp electrician out this morning and he replaced the breaker panel on our pedestal. Now I have 120V on one side and 121V on the other on our monitor panel. Just like it shoud be. We had to suffer through another night of 7 or 8 outages last night, but hopefully that's all behind us now.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions. No wonder why I LOVE this forum so much!!!

Keith