Progressive Industries EMS-HW50C failure

[Second Chance]

It does happen from time to time - and this past Sunday it happened to us. We had just arrived in my home town of Las Cruces, NM, the day before and one of my sisters and her husband had stopped by for a visit. The morning was cool enough we just had the windows open and the only electrical "thingies" in use were the 12V house lights. As my sister and her husband were leaving, I got up to see them out the door... I smelled something a little odd but thought it was coming from outside since everything was open. After they were gone, I decided the sun hitting the RV was making things a bit warm and decided to turn on the front AC. That's when I discovered there was no AC power.

I checked the EMS (which had the coach off-line). The readout was showing 117 volts on leg 1 but only 5 volts on leg 2. I got out my trusty Beckman meter and went out to the power pedestal. We're in an extremely well-maintained park with very good utilities and clean power (no voltage fluctuations, etc.). Readings at the pedestal showed 117V on both legs and 234V across the two legs. Back inside and with the RV plugged in at the pedestal, I pulled the RV electrical panel to get at the EMS behind it. Taking the top off the EMS, I measured the same voltages at the lugs on the input side of the EMS. Conclusion: something in the sensor circuitry had given up the ghost, was sensing five volts instead of the 117 presenting, and keeping the relays from engaging. Despite the smell, I could find to signs of overheating or visible damage.

Since the 6-3 cable coming into the coach was no longer long enough to get back into the panel with the panel out, my other brother-in-law (by now by other sister and BIL had arrived) and I took a little trip in his new Ram 3500 DRW to get some 6-3 at Home Depot. 1/2 hour after getting home, we were back on-line sans EMS. I wrote the whole thing up using the PI warranty submission form on-line, submitted proof of purchase and a photo of the inside of the EMS, and in less than 24 hours received an email from PI stating that they were shipping out a replacement EMS. Kudos for their customer service on this 4-1/2 year old EMS.

Finally, I'll add that this EMS has probably saved us on at least three occasions - one extremely close lightening strike and two parks with very poor power and severe voltage drops.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Rob

[SteveTN]

The first EMS-HW50C that I had failed immediately after installation. I talked to Progressive on the phone and they sent out a replacement immediately.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[xrated]

Rob.....good job troubleshooting it and knowing how to do it. It's pretty hard to beat a Lifetime warranty on something, much less something that is an electrical device. Kudos to Progressive.

[offtohavasu]

Good right up Rob. That's why I'm seriously leaning toward the Surge Guard 34951 plug in model. Initially, I was going to go hardwired because the plug in model would not see "down stream" only in coming power. The 34951 is different. It sees both directions. So for me it's a triple win:

1) you get the protection both directions
2) If you ever experience the big bang, it is outside the coach
3)You can very easily bypass it in a complete failure.

Just my unwarranted .02

[Keebler]

One more advocate for PI as a company. I did nothing more than filled out the online warranty, no phone calls no emails; literally took me 10 minutes. As Rob mentioned above, i just entered a few sentences explaining my issue, attached a picture of the unit, and a screen shot of the amazon page that showed my on-line transaction. New unit arrived shortly after that without a question.

[D2Reid]

Working on my 4th ems system. Number 5 will be a Progressive. Good right up. My last ems kind of did the same thing, dropped one leg. But I didn't like it very much, only had LED's to indicate stuff. My new has the flashing legs/H/amps/volts, annoying long to start up, but I guess that's a good thing in the end.

[Jims94vmx]

Hey Rob, could it be overridden to still let power in, until new unit arrived?

[Second Chance]

Hey Rob, could it be overridden to still let power in, until new unit arrived?

No - even the off/bypass switch (suggested by PI) wouldn't put power through to the coach. That's why I removed the EMS from the system altogether.

Rob

[Jims94vmx]

Wow. That sucks.

[wirenut1980]

I'm currently using the Hughes Power Watchdog EPO/EMS plug in unit. Initial start up is a few seconds and it lights up white when no issues are present and red for any issue. It also will display an error code on the front as well your phone via Bluetooth. It will even send a notification to the phone as long as you are in range of the Bluetooth. It also has a user replaceable surge module. If the unit senses any surge or voltage drop, it will switch off and start a 90 second timer to protect the AC unit. As long as all is good, it will turn back on. Since we take our dogs on our trips, we took it a stop further. We found a device that talks to the power watchdog surge unit along with a battery monitor and a few temp sensors. While away on a local trip from our site, if we have a power issue or if the temp goes above or below a defined setting, we get an alert to our phone allowing us to get back to the dogs before it gets too hot for them.