A common question on RV forums and RVing Facebook groups is “ what surge protector should I get? ” and the simplest answer is, none. That might surprise you, but the reality is that you DO want protection, but a simple surge protector isn’t going to protect you against all of the nasty conditions you’ll find out there- miswired and worn out pedestals, low voltage, and more. So, you don’t want a “surge protector”, you want an “Electrical Monitoring System” (or EMS, for short) .

The EMS will block bad electricity from flowing into your camper/motorhome and only let it in if it’s good. It’ll protect you against that miswired pedestal, or the receptacle that is so worn out inside, or the electrician at your house who saw your 30amp outlet and thought it was a dryer or welder plug and miswired it, or simple the older campground with low voltage issues in the heat of summer and the holiday crowd rolls in. (I’ve experienced 2 of these and have read first-hand forum accounts of all of them.)

So, now you know the better question is, “What EMS should I get to protect my RV?” And that answer is Progressive Industries.

Why? They’re made in the good ole USA and have a lifetime warranty. The PI EMS has more features, protects against more situations and plainly- their products are solid. They just work. In the rare event that you have issues, I’ve heard good things about their customer service.

You match your EMS to your camper’s RV system. My camper is a 50amp rig (because of the 2 air conditioners primarily), so I bought a 50amp EMS. If you have a smaller rig and have a 30amp plug, you use a 30amp EMS.

Note, you can still use the same dogbone adapters like you usually do (I use a 50 to 30 when I need to step down to 30amp service and my friends can use a 30 to 50 when they want to step up to 50amp service). None of that changes and you still buy the EMS that matches your camper’s electrical service.

The next decision you have to make is if you want to hard-wire the EMS in or if you want to get a portable unit.

They both perform exactly the same. One isn’t better and both have pros and cons.

Installation of a hard-wired EMS isn’t terribly difficult and many people can do it themselves. As I mentioned, anything electrical is above my paygrade. Fortunately for me, my father-in-law had no issues jumping in with the installation instructions and had it done in fairly short order.

Many people install these behind their converter’s distribution panel (where the breakers are). There is usually a small space back there that you can squeeze it into. The remote display pendant is usually mounted somewhere nearby. For me, I was able to run the 10′ or so of wire over to my control panel with the rest of my gauges.

Amazon.com of course! Pick your flavor:

Note, due to floating neutrals in some generators, you may need a special plug. To be honest, it all sounds like greek to me, but Mike Sokol has a great write-up on it.