Re: [A/S] Surge/Low Voltage Protection

[Jack Canavera <jackcanavera@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yea, I was pretty hot when we got back to the trailer
and realized what had happened.  In 30 years of
camping this has been the only case of thievery I have
ever experienced.  Thankfully we were on flat ground. 
I just can't believe someone stealing the chocks on a
parked vehicle....although in the Compuserve RV forum
I heard about some cases of stolen hitch pins in
restaurant parking lots.  Folks come out, drive off
and eventually find their rig being held by the safety
chains. 

> 
> I am with Wayne about 12 volt protection. However, I
> have a
> different take on ac protection. I plugged in at a
> MS State Park a
> few years ago and surges zapped my Penguin a/c
> circuit boards. Cost
> me something like $400 to replace them. 

My old SOB dealer used to have an annual spring camp
out at a nearby campgrounds.  They brought out their
service guys who gave various seminars.  One was on
electrical issues.  The fellow pointed out the number
of control boards that seem to be on every RV
component.  He noted that repair was now at the board
level and if a component on the board was bad, the
board would be replaced.  He also talked about the
need for 12 volt power and that the newer refrigerator
and water heaters would not operate without 12 volts
being present.  Battery upkeep was now much more
important.

I had problems with my old Brisk Air Duo-Therm on my
old trailer on its first big trip to Florida.  This
was a ducted unit that actually shut down the fan and
compressor when the thermostat temperature was
reached.  My problem was the fan would shut down but
not the compressor.  This happened one night as we
slept and we awoke to a hot trailer with frozen A/C
coils.  

We had experienced a heavy thunderstorm earlier in the
day with lots of ground strikes so I think the board
may have taken some damage.  Since we were under
warranty there was no charge.  The unit worked ok for
less than a day and the problem started again.  In the
end they replaced the thermostat and we never had a
problem again.

One thing I do miss with the old trailer is the
ability of the fan to shut down once the inside air
temp is reached.  I never did like the extra humidity
that continuous fan units pump in when the compressor
is off.

Jack