Our Progressive EMS may have saved our trailer.

[Steph and Dud B]

We keep our trailer in a detached garage we built about 18 months ago. Prepping for summer, I had the Ollie plugged into a 20A outlet in the garage (with the Xantrex dialed down so it didn't overload the circuit). Last night I looked outside and the garage was dark, even though I had left a few lights on. I went over to investigate, smelled hot electronics and found a slew of weird electrical problems inside. Lights were flashing or going dim, something was humming, and the garage door motors were making bad noises. Realizing there was a major problem, I killed the master breakers in the garage sub panel and then the breakers covering the feed from the house distribution panel. Based on my smart home logs, the incident may have been going on for 2 hours before I noticed it.

The electricians who originally wired the garage were here this morning. They discovered that the neutral line going to the garage was not clamped to its bus bar in the house. It was just sitting loose in the hole. This is called a loose or floating neutral and it can cause severe damage to electrical devices and potentially shocks or a building fire.

Once that was fixed we started assessing the damage. Both garage door openers were damaged, as were 2 smart light fixtures and a Makita battery charger. I'm thinking, "the Oliver!"

During the event I had noticed that there was no 120VAC inside the Oliver, even though it was connected to a live outlet. As far as I can tell now, the Oliver sustained no damage. All the 120VAC and 12VDC devices appear to be working as designed. It seems the EMS did what it was designed to do and isolated our trailer from the faulty shoreline power throughout the incident. We'll know for sure as soon as we get out camping. 

Amazingly, the wiring had been that way for over a year with no symptoms at all until last night. The electricians have accepted responsibility and are paying for all replacements and repairs to damaged equipment.

 

[Jason Foster]

1 hour ago, Steph and Dud B said:

 

The electricians who originally wired the garage were here this morning. They discovered that the neutral line going to the garage was not clamped to its bus bar in the house. It was just sitting loose in the hole. This is called a loose or floating neutral and it can cause severe damage to electrical devices and potentially shocks or a building fire.

Amazingly, the wiring had been that way for over a year with no symptoms at all until last night. The electricians have accepted responsibility and are paying for all replacements and repairs to damaged equipment.

 

This is why I do my own electrical work.  

and construction

and vehicle maintenance

and plumbing

and medically necessary surgeries.

[topgun2]

13 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

It seems the EMS did what it was designed to do and isolated our trailer from the faulty shoreline power throughout the incident.

Be sure to check this very carefully - depending on exactly what happened (electrically speaking) many of these units actually sacrifice themselves (even partially) in order to do their jobs.  You might want to check with the manufacturer of your EMS to see what they have to say on the subject.

Good luck!

Bill

[Steph and Dud B]

11 hours ago, topgun2 said:

depending on exactly what happened (electrically speaking) many of these units actually sacrifice themselves (even partially) in order to do their jobs.  You might want to check with the manufacturer of your EMS to see what they have to say on the subject.

Good point, Bill. No error codes on the EMS, so that's a good sign.

[mountainoliver]

I had a similar potential major issue several years ago in a campground with multiple extreme voltage spikes. The voltage was spiking to almost 200 volts and the EMS saved the camper from damage. I called the Progressive Industries folks and told them of the issue and that the EMS was seven years old. They still sent me two new circuit boards at no cost. I’d give them a call and get new replacement boards. After an event like you experienced, I wouldn’t take any chances using the old boards even if the system seems to be working properly. I had to end up requesting several new boards because the Progressive Industries folks kept sending the boards in just a little bubble wrap and in an envelope. Several arrived crushed or otherwise broken. I explained to the contact person that they really should be sending the boards out in boxes but they didn’t seem to care. Anyway, I ended up with two new working boards.