A quest we get asked is “What causes a surge or spike?”
Essentially when you’re at an RV park and everybody is plugged in, you have electricity running through the wires from the park pole into your Watchdog or surge protector, into your Autoformer or whatever, going into your coach. Everybody is plugged in, they have a lot of draw or load on the line – their AC units, water heaters or microwaves working – there’s electricity flowing through the wires into that coach. If somebody doesn’t shut down or unplug from the pole properly, you can have a surge or a spike.
Picture electricity like water flowing through a pipe. If somebody goes to the pole and just yanks their shore cord out of the pole, that electricity – that water flowing through the pipe – hits a wall and has to go back through the powerline and can easily have an effect on anybody that’s still connected around that RV. So, a surge can be caused by your neighbors.
Obviously, if there’s a distant lightning strike hitting the ground or power lines, you can have a surge or spike that way. If it’s windy and you have power lines that are arcing, you can have a surge or spike. Even just simply turning on and off large equipment – washing machines, electric dryers, or devices with a high amp load – they can cause surges when they kick on and turn off. You’re essentially changing the flow of electricity. It’s this sudden change that causes that surge or spike. It can either go into your RV or somebody else that is near you if they’re still connected and you’re sharing some wires.
So essentially, you do want a surge protector. It is something that is necessary to prevent damaging surges or spikes.
brengmdj – :
I am currently in an old RV park, the voltage ranges from 104v to 114v. The other RVs have only a Surge Protection that turns the electric off when the voltage gets too low, and turns back on when the voltage increases. When I installed the Hughes Autoformer the voltage increased to a range of 112v to 120v. With the internal surge protection I don’t need to purchase an additional product. I am very satisfied with the Hughes Autoformer.
Richard Miller – :
I had to send my autoformer in for repair, the service tech was very interested in the reason. He did not try to blow me off. We talked for about twentu minutes to insure the problem would be addressed. My unit was repaired three days after they received it and I was informed of the problem. I have nothing but great things yo say about this company when so many are only after your money. Great product and I hope when I talk to other RV’s they try this product. I am a RV Tech , best insurance you’ll ever buy for surge protection and low power/Brown outs
George G Miller – :
I keep my Newmar RV in my garage. The power sometimes lights up all three lights. Without this Autoformer I would never know about the poor power supply. With Hughes I sleep well at night.
Walter Dean – :
The best thing on the market to protect your RV. The Autoformer boosts voltage if it falls in the RV park and has surge protection.
While not required I added a Watchdog surge protector with Bluetooth to add protection and monitor all electrical inputs and faults
Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and no protecting is foolish
Walter Dean – :
The best thing on the market to protect your RV. The Autoformer boosts voltage if it falls in the RV park and has surge protection.
While not required I added a Watchdog surge protector EPO with Bluetooth to add protection and monitor all electrical inputs and faults
Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an RV and adding no protecting is foolish. No only protects your RV will allow it to operate better if power drops. This is especially important with todays RV
I tried other brand Surge protectors and this by far is the best one. One big advantage either unit you can replace the surge module yourself with a screwdriver.
Speaking to this Company they are really on the ball and stand behind their products.
If you do not have protection or you want to get the best protection by upgrading and monitoring give this company at try.
Most of the products are sold by Camping World some on the shelf others on line
Kirk & Melani Jones – :
Years ago we stayed at a campground that had power issues that ultimately fried our water heater, TV, microwave, automatic transfer switch for the generator and even our power cord all on a split second! After we stopped crying, we went on a search for future protection of our RV and it’s costly new equipment we were now having to replace, that’s when we found Hugh’s line of products.
We have the watchdog and the autoformer and boy, they do exactly as advertised! The app is great to monitor boosting and power levels into our rig and sure removes any and all anxiety about possible power issues at the different parks we stay at….no more fear of thousands of dollars of damage ever again!
We’ve dealt with 2 customer service reps (Dave and Ian) who happily helped and resolved our issues promptly and offered us exceptional customer service. We are definitely Hugh’s customers for life and can’t recommend this company and their products enough! The peace of mind their products provide is PRICELESS!!!
Richard Belisle – :
I’ve owned the 30 amp version for about 6-7 years…it is one of the best investments one can make to prolong the safe use of your rv…hands down.