One of the earliest purchases we made was the Progressive Dynamics EMS-HW30C hardwired surge/electrical protector. The hassle of dealing with the standard dogbone connectors when pulling into a site was a non-starter. I queried online forums and a couple folks told me they had installed the system in their Casitas just fine.
Installation was fairly straightforward. The instructions were clear and I had necessary tools from my prior life as a boat owner.
The black, white, and green wires are internal to the factory power cable. White and black go to their respective terminals. Ring connectors, provided with the EMS, are crimped onto green ground wire and subsequently attached to a ground bar on the side of the case. The ring around the black “hot” wire is the current sensor.
The next step was to secure the box to the floor of the Casita. I used a drill to try and drill the appropriate size and depth hole in the plywood bottom — and promptly drilled through the bottom of the trailer. Second day of ownership and I’ve put a hole in it. Nice.
Not to worry. Prior boat owner — taped the bottom of the hole up, mixed a little West System epoxy, filled hole using a syringe. Having concluded that drilling holes in the thin bottom layer of trailer is a bad idea, I epoxied a couple blocks to the bottom.
So the main unit is secured to the floor with one screw (from the hole I did drill) and the plumbing strap attached to the two epoxied blocks. It hasn’t shifted in a couple trips, but I have purchased some of the bendable metal plumbing strapping to replace the existing plastic when I get a chance.
There is a display unit that shows the status of the unit. It connects to the main box via a provided data cable — RJ something or other. I did not feel the need to have that in our faces all the time, so I taped it down to the floor forward of the wheel. It’s just taped down with black duct type as its very light.
The display is telling us the current frequency is 60 Hz, voltage 123V, the load is 0 amps, and “Error 0” means everything is hunky dory. The PE2 means their was a “previous error:” under-voltage. (I unplugged the trailer).
Since it protects against all bad things electrical, when we get to a site after plugging in we just open the cabinet door and check the microwave display. First site we used worked fine. Second site — no microwave display. That’s not good. After thinking a moment, I plugged the microwave back in. (The plug had rattled loose while towing.)