Voltage regulator recommendation?

[Bajaahh]

Headed south for an extended Mexico trip. I have been told that it would be wise to have a voltage regulator to attach between my camper and the AC power supply( due to fluctuations of the power). I dont want to fry my electronics 1000 miles away from home.

Does anyone have a voltage regulator they can recommend that is reliable and priced around $50???

Also where to buy it. Camping world has a couple online but they are for motorhomes and cost $500...
Thanks in advance

 

[K7MDL]

Assuming you are talking about AC to AC protection using your camper AC outlets (hard wired to the shore power source via your breaker panel).

There are simple solutions like filtered and transient protected power strips and inline plugs, or you could go the next level and get an inexpensive SPS (some call thenm a UPS) like a Tripp Lite unit from Costco or equivalent for under $100. They have under and overvoltage protection and filter/clamp transients on the non-battery backed outlets. They use a small battery inside to provide AC power for a short period of time.

If you have a 12VDC power supply (aka converter - 120VAC->12VDC) and an AC inverter (12VDC->120VAC), then just run the stuff you care about off the inverter outlets only. The converter should handle things and (if you have one) your camper battery acts as a filter and backup source to keep the AC inverter going.

- Mike

 

[Bajaahh]

Thanks for the reply, I think I understand what your saying is that a simple Home Depot surge protector would work for this application.

Im basically worried about frying any electronic components of my camper like the fridge, heater, water pump, ect. ect. Im guessing that the campers circuit breaker would handle any surges but a friend(who owns a camper) said it would be wise to get an external surge protector that would plug into the source power supply, and then I would plug my extension cord into it...

 

[K7MDL]

Breakers and power strip protection won't do much about high or low mains voltages. Think brownout or periods of overvoltage. Those conditions won't trip a breaker until it is too late, the event is typically too slow and not drastic enough to kick in a breaker or fuse.

Several of the loads you listed are 12VDC like the water pump, heater fan and controls, thus are isolated by the 120VAC->12 VDC power supply (converter) and battery from problems on the AC side. So no worries about them.

The most exposure you have is plugging into shore power and plugging sensitive electronics into your stock camper AC outlet. Most of the small devices (like music, shavers, chargers, laptop and small LCD TV/monitor brick power supplies) have wide voltage tolerance. A transient protected power device or power strip is probably all you need. The Fridge however, set to run off AC, would be my biggest concern, partly since it is expensive to repair and inconvenient if it fails. An AC transient protector (15Amp rated) device that fits between your shore power cable and the AC supply outside should help, but not for brownout or overvoltage scenarios. You could run the fridge of propane instead if you are really worried about it and it is not for too long. If you were running a desktop computer or large expensive LCD TV then I would opt for a UPS type solution.

 

[Bajaahh]

Thanks for the great information! I will look in to a UPS unit. It would suck to have to resort back to a cooler if I fried my fridge....ahhh the old days.

 

[K7MDL]

Thanks for the great information! I will look in to a UPS unit. It would suck to have to resort back to a cooler if I fried my fridge....ahhh the old days.



A UPS unit would be cheap insurance to protect against high and low voltage situations. For simple plug and play use, you will need to plug it in outside your camper likely, and thus need to keep it clean and dry. These fridges are relatively low current units (on AC) and do not use a compressor motor so do not have high inductive surge currents to worry about. That means most any computer UPS unit should work fine. Most are good for 1KW (Kilowatt or 8 amps AC) loads so our 200W fridge units are about the same load as a typical deskop computer or stereo system. That means you would have plenty of capacity to run other AC loads in your camper, like your 80" LCD big screen TV watching the surfing event on the beach 100 yards away from your camp spot via your HD resolution roof mounted backup camera . One exception might be if you have a 30amp DC converter (IOTA DLS30) in your camper running full tilt charging a discharged battery or lots of 12V incandescent lights. They can draw up to 8 amps by themselves. The DLS15 draws up to 4amps DC power. So if you trip off your UPS unit, look there first, use your truck to bulk charge your camper battery for a while then plug into AC. Most UPS units now have a LCD voltage display and some sort of load meter, either numeric or a bar display.

My Norcold N300X 2.7cu ft 3 way model has these specs:
AC
120VAC (108-132VAC) (the IOTA 12VDC converter is same AC range)
1.4amps at 110VAC
1.5amps at 120VAC (180 Watts)

DC
12VDC 11.5VDC -15.4VDC)
12amps at 12VDC
14amps at 14VDC (196 Watts)

The AC operating voltage range is quite wide, and I have rarely (none personally) heard of any AC mains voltage related breakdowns.