EMS-HW50C on 367BHS - I AM AN IDIOT

[BigGuy82]

Yep, I said it. After watching a simple video about this product I went ahead and bought it for well documented reasons. It arrived and I neglected to notice that for me, this does not work well, at least not without A LOT of work. What do I mean? Well I have to basically cut the shore power cord and splice this box in between the two pieces. Simple enough, but this rig does not have the cord inside at any point. The 30 ft shore cord goes from pedestal to the back of the rig. So I am left with the following options, I think.
1 Sell it and replace it with the pedestal type of similar joules etc.
2 Create some sort of weather tight box on the underside of the rig to serve as a housing for the EMS-HW50C....not what I want because I think whatever I do, it's going to expose this ting to the elements and thats not good.
3 Route the cable, buy more as needed, into the docking area, do the connection and then route the entire length of cord to the rear of the unit, providing some sort of storage for the end while transiting, again it would be exposed....
4 Something else ? Any ideaS?

Of course, you are not an idiot. This isn't a criticism - just an observation. You obviously don't know a lot about your electrical system just based on your comments. You have three choices: 1. continue down the do-it-yourself route which can be done but you need to learn a lot more than you know now. 2. Hire an electrician or dealer or an RV mechanic who does know this stuff and pay them to do it. 3. Buy a pedestal "dog bone". Any of these paths will work but you definitely need to do one of these because, as you've already learned, proper electrical protection is a necessity. Personally, I recommend #2 , but it's also not my money.

If you go the do-it-yourself route, just be sure to follow instructions meticulously. One very common point of failure with these things is improper terminal torque. Anyway, good luck and be safe.

[bertschb]

I'm not an electrician nor do I have a good understanding of my rig's electrical system (compared to several members here) but I thought the installation was very simple. By far the most difficult part was just working with the super thick and inflexible wires. That was pretty frustrating.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

I originally bought the hardwired version, then couldn’t bring myself to wire it up, sent it back and got the portable one, which since it isn’t hardwired adds maybe an extra minute to our setup process.
We’re very happy with ours, and although these Progressive Industries units are very expensive, the piece of mind knowing we’re not going to damage our RV, makes it worth it.


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[clark49841]

Ditto. Had a Salem Cruise Light 171 and no good space to install the hard wire so swopped for the dogbone. Won't hook up to power without it. Now we have a Imagine 2250 I would consider the hardwire, but I already have the dog one....

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[SouthTX]

I originally bought the hardwired version, then couldn’t bring myself to wire it up, sent it back and got the portable one, which since it isn’t hardwired adds maybe an extra minute to our setup process.
We’re very happy with ours, and although these Progressive Industries units are very expensive, the piece of mind knowing we’re not going to damage our RV, makes it worth it.


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You'll be glad to have the portable unit when the surge protector blows and you have to send it in for service - a not infrequent occurrance. Progressive has excellent warranty service, but with the hardwire version you're out of business for a week.

[Cate&Rob]

See this thread for some in depth discussion about what a built-in can protect you from, vs the portable at the post.
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...ailure!/page2?

Rob

[DaveMatthewsBand]

That’s a lot of reading Rob...
I had to skim because electrical stuff makes my eyes glaze over, lol.
So is this the gist of it? ...make sure the end of your power cord that plugs into the RV has good nubs and it locks securely?
Is that it? Oh and I saw some mention that you shouldn’t use a dog bone.

Luckily we have such a monster solar/Lithium setup that we don’t even use shore power when it’s available.

I’ve always heard about how cloudy and rainy it is in the Pacific Northwest, but we haven’t seen anything but sun since we got here! Maybe that’s the Winter?
So far this place is Heaven for a Texas boy!



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[Cate&Rob]

Hi DMB - I think the gist of the story is that the EMS can't "see" any problems downstream of it and with the unit at the post, there are a number of things that can go wrong between the EMS and the RV electrical panel.

We all learned through Paul's experience and Curtis' explanation of what was going on, that losing a power cord neutral connection at either end of the cord or at the RV wall connection can have disastrous results, even if your EMS located at the post is quite happy with the park electricity that it sees.

BTW, this is a unique situation to a 50A supply where losing the neutral can feed 240V to the trailer. One way around this is to use the 30A park outlet if you don't need more power than this. If you have a neutral disconnect, things won't work, but nothing will get damaged. This is what we often do, because our single AC Reflection 303 really can't use anywhere near the 100 amps of 120VAC power that it is wired for.

Rob

[carnolddsm]

this is a unique situation to a 50A supply where losing the neutral can feed 240V to the trailer.

I’m being nit picky, when connected to 50 amp service there is always a nominal 240 volts present. It is the open neutral that allows 120volt appliances to see 240 volts.

The two primary differences between the 120/240volt system of an RV and a house are isolating the ground from neutral and how the two hot legs are organized in the breaker box.

In a house breaker boxes are constructed to allow the use of 240 volt appliances. This is done by alternating the hot legs in the breaker slots and the use of double pole breakers. For example: the air conditioner or electric range are wired to side by side breakers; each breaker is on a different hot leg.

In an RV with 50amp wiring (except for mega dollar units) the electrical box is organized to NOT allow the use of 240 appliances by installing a double pole breaker. Why? Imagine the problems that would occur when connecting to 30amp RV service with only one hot leg. Typically in an RV the two 50 amp main breakers are in the center of the breaker slots. All of the circuits to one side of the mains are on one leg. The circuits on the other side of the mains are on the other leg. Installing a double pole breaker at any place other than the mains will not yield 240 volts even though 240 volts is present.

[John Stein]

I have it for sale now, and will simply replace it. If it does not sell, I will go ahead and do the install per the helpful comments here. Thanks