How To: Relocate the Surge Suppressor Remote Display

[John E Davies]

This is so easy..... I never understood why Oliver decided to mount my remote display underneath the street side mattress in the electronics compartment. After all, it is a "remote" so it should be installed in a remote location from the suppressor. Fortunately there is a good amount of slack in the cable. I chose to position it just in front of the street side bed and in an area that offers protection from bumps and bangs, yet will still allow me to see it without disassembling the bedding.

 

 

 

Here is a shot from the same angle with the interior lights out, showing how the reflected light is blocked by the bed support:

 

 

And this is a shot from the curbside bed (right next to the galley) - I can see the display by lifting my head up but normally the light will be blocked:

 

 

I haven't tried sleeping yet with this arrangement. If the light is still bothersome, it would not be hard to temporarily put a piece of black tape over the display. I would have preferred it to be located close to the entry door, under the switch panel, but did not feel like buying extra cable and stringing it under the floor. This works fine.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[Overland]

Looks good.  How big is the built-in surge suppressor?  I bought the portable one since I thought I might use it elsewhere but it would be less of a hassle to have the built-in, so it might be a future mod sometime down the road.  I don't know where I'd put it though since I've commandeered both sides of the of the wheel well top for other electrical.

[ScubaRx]

Although I installed our EMS before it was an option from Oliver, it is the same unit that they ultimately choose. I too found the location and the mounting of the remote to be a dilemma. Personally, I found the remote to be butt ugly, it had to be surface mounted with no way to make it into a panel mount, there is no way to blank out the continuously rotating display and there was no good way to hide the wiring. I finally decided to mount ours inside the cupboard. This seemed to be the lesser of all the evils and it was easy to do. It is mounted up high, right under the top shelf. I only have to open the door to view it.

[John E Davies]

...I found the remote to be butt ugly, it had to be surface mounted with no way to make it into a panel mount, there is no way to blank out the continuously rotating display and there was no good way to hide the wiring. ...

The wire is very flexible flat phone cable and can easily be bent back and hidden so that only the connector is visible. You do need to make a big hole (about 0.5 inch) for the connector  to pass through, but that hole can be behind the case, not below it. Otherwise I agree 100%. It is not a very attractive unit. I may end up painting mine bright white to blend in better.

 

Overland, the main suppressor unit is darned big, I do not know the measurements. Maybe somebody else could help.

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[JuniorBirdMan]

I've got mine mounted on a hinged piece of Lexan in an overhead compartment. The light from that thing is pretty bright at night so I can swing it out of the way and close the overhead. No drilling required - just route the phone cord between the hulls to the overhead compartment.

[topgun2]

I agree with JuniorBirdMan - the "flashing" or "scrolling" of those red numbers were more than I could take.  Heck, those little amber lights on the fridge bother me!  Even where John put his would have caused too much reflective bouncing of the light waves for my taste.  Therefore, behind closed doors it went.  But, if you put it behind closed doors make sure that the door is easy to open and the display is not blocked.

 

Bill

[JuniorBirdMan]

I wired my EMS to protect input from both the shore power and generator power. To that end, having the remote monitor located inside the cabin allows me to monitor the amps being drawn. It's surprisingly easy to exceed the generator output even without air conditioning. I even saw over 40 amps once while on shore power.

[JuniorBirdMan]

Something to take into account if wiring the EMS for protection from the generator: Some generators (Honda, for instance) use a floating neutral and your EMS may interpret this as an open ground and not allow power to the Ollie. The fix is pretty simple and cheap, a 110 plug with the ground and neutral bonded together to let the EMS know everything is OK.  The N-G plug is then plugged into an unused receptacle on the generator. I use it successfully (and safely) even with two Hondas in parallel. Only one generator needs to have the N-G bonded plug. See directions here:

 

http://noshockzone.org/generator-ground-neutral-bonding/

[ScubaRx]

I was going to comment that there are times when an interior display is useful but I see that the “birdman” beat me to it. Do consider having both the displays. I really like your idea of  of having a second one located on the exterior of the trailer inside a transparent case, very cool.  Would simply using a modular phone cord splitter allow you to install a second display? Easy enough to test, I suppose. Although you would have to purchase the second display panel just to see.

[topgun2]

Not like our Olivers attract much attention anyway - so, why not put a flashing red light on the outside.

 

Not withstanding the above, I too like the idea of putting a readout on the outside street side.  Certainly would save the walk about looking to see if all was OK.  But, to save the attention gathering, I'm thinking about something with a flip up lid - see it when you want, hide it when you don't.

 

Bill

[John E Davies]

Well, if you feel the need to have one readable from outside, put it in the battery compartment. Plug into shore power, if nothing happens, flip open the access door to see why....

 

Having it inside is not a big deal. There is a 10 second lag anyway as the unit analizes the incoming power and decides if it is OK, so you can look in the left window to see when your microwave display lights up, or wait for the audible kachunk of the relay. If neither of those happens you can go look at the inside display for an error code.

 

I really like having a continuous visual monitor inside showing the amp load. When I am hooked up to say a 15 amp circuit, I can easily keep track of things like the box heater and converter and switch stuff off if needed.

 

IMHO an outside display would be cool but a needless expense. There is no way I would put an electronic device outside down under the curve of the hull, it is vulnerable to rocks strikes and gets fire-hosed on wet roads. Having a constant blinking light outside would be a real irritant to a neighbor and a “Steal Me” sign to a thief.

 

At delivery I found a generator plug in a drawer, it was needed for my Yamaha 2400 to connect. Or I could just bypass (turn off) the suppressor, but under generator power I REALLY want that amp display.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[mossemi]

As the new owner of an OTT and a new rv’er, I am on a steep learning curve.  I’m trying to read any and all information available and was looking at the Progressive Industries manual and brochure that came with my Oliver last week.  And

today I started reading John’s post about relocating the remote display and several people have mentioned the possibility of 2 displays.  Progressive sells a kit that does just that and it is available on Amazon.  The part number is “EMS-RDS”.  There is also a YouTube video showing an installation.

 

Mike

 

[Jim_Oker]

FYI, in hull #709, considered a 2021 model (delivered in late 2020) the SP  remote is up in what I  guess we call the attic - the cabinet above the TV and emergency exit window. It's on the streetside wall pretty close to the cabinet door. And yeah,  having slept in there a few nights, I've done some temporary blocking of its flashing (or pulsing up  and  down if you  will as it cycles  through the readings) red furnace of hell glow but will be adding some sort of flap  that normally covers  it but is easily lifted.  I haven't used it enough  to be able to  fully judge the location  but  it does  seem like it would be a tad nicer somewhere  like under the  switch panel by the  door or in the closet on the bath wall but I'm betting moving it or putting a second there will  never make it onto my list...

[topgun2]

Jim - 

I moved mine into the pantry due to the very reasons you cite.  Actually I initially wanted to move it into the first cubbie forward of the pantry but I didn't.  For those that have the translucent doors on their cubbies I don't think that moving this readout into those locations would be a good idea given that this pulsating light will simply "pulse" right on through.

I like your idea about moving it near the switch panel near the door, but, I'd bet that with all the reflecting surfaces of that beautiful nice white interior of the Oliver, the reflections will still drive you nuts.  Therefore, behind a solid door is (in my opinion) the only way to go.  However, don't forget that it is helpful to place it in a location that is easy to get to for those few times when you really need to see what it is telling you.

Bill

Edited January 29, 2021 by topgun2
spelling

[Jim_Oker]

5 hours ago, topgun2 said:

I like your idea about moving it near the switch panel near the door, but, I'd bet that with all the reflecting surfaces of that beautiful nice white interior of the Oliver, the reflections will still drive you nuts. 

Yes, I think you are correct about that. I've been amazed at how much the little light reflections are to me given how effectively they bounce around in the  darkness. I will live  for a while  with it in the attic with a user-added flap over the  display and see how that goes. I have enough other things already on "the list" to be content with its current position with that  little mod.

[Jim_Oker]

That's why the closet  wall adjacent to the bathroom came  to mind, but until I've figured out what  we'll actually be storing in there I don't know whether that would  work well either. But it's handy to the front door yet the  devil glow would be well hidden when  it  matters  for it  to be. I also haven't bothered looking at whether  that would be a realistic place to pull a wire to...