Lazy Daze Owners' Group

Hello LDOG

A favorite RV park we use has terrible electrical stability in the mornings.  If we are running our heat pump, and perhaps brewing coffee the 30 A breaker will trip, or the heat pump will drag to a slow stop.  Guess people are using lots of juice in for mornings for breakfast (and running their heat pumps). 

Will this plug-in protector from Amazon help in that situation to protect the heat pump and other A/C accessories in our LD?


Amazon.com: RV Surge Protector 30 amp, POWSAF RV Power Defender Voltage... (https://www.amazon.com/Protector-POWSAF-Defender-Protection-Designed/dp/B08RJ72Z1S/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=esolf&content-id=amzn1.sym.b4f172f0-a2ab-4ffa-ac9d-22e96231ca8e&pf_rd_p=b4f172f0-a2ab-4ffa-ac9d-22e96231ca8e&pf_rd_r=D0EHEK66A1R2655C53XS&pd_rd_wg=6gZU2&pd_rd_r=c61e132a-ce21-4e90-bd26-a61e2a58adac&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_atf_m)

No. this type only protects against surges - a more elaborate model will actually disconnect you if voltage falls too low. Inconvenient, but will save appliances that could be damaged by low voltage. Such as :

Amazon.com: Progressive Industries RV Surge Protector 30 Amp with Electrical... (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0W4CZ8/ref=emc_b_5_t?th=1)

Steve

Note the liability of the good post-attached surge protectors is their expense and vulnerability to theft. Internally installed will protect also against generator issues without danger of theft:

Amazon.com: Progressive Industries RV Surge Protector 30 Amp with Electrical... (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UC6RSA/ref=emc_b_5_i)

Steve

No. this type only protects against surges - a more elaborate model will actually disconnect you if voltage falls too low. Inconvenient, but will save appliances that could be damaged by low voltage. Such as :

Amazon.com: Progressive Industries RV Surge Protector 30 Amp with Electrical... (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0W4CZ8/ref=emc_b_5_t?th=1)

Plus this one has protection from the elements, which the OP’s model didn’t.

It’s personal preference on an external protector like this one vs an internally installed one.

I like externals, because it’s easily replaced if it gives itself up to protect the RV, latter is more work to replace.  Figure the theft risk is low given how infrequently I hook up to power anyway.

"If we are running our heat pump, and perhaps brewing coffee the 30 A breaker will trip"

To begin with, don't use two power-hungry appliances at the same time when you're in a marginal power situation such as you described. Turn off the heat pump while making coffee. (Or make it on the stovetop using a percolator, French press, or filter coffee maker.)

The problem at your campground is low voltage due to inadequate wiring. The $40 "POWSAF" surge protector you mentioned can protect against surges and spikes, but it can't protect against your heat pump (for example) being damaged by low voltage.

The most popular solution is to buy an "energy management system" (EMS) that monitors line voltage and cuts off power if voltage drops below a level that is safe for compressor-based devices such as your air conditioner/heat pump. That means you'll lose shore power, but your heat pump will be protected from damage. The most popular such devices among Lazy Daze owners are Progressive Industries' EMSHW30C (https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Industries-EMSHW30C-Surge-Protector/dp/B0050EGS5W?crid=1KL6X10EK9168&keywords=progressive+industries&qid=1675788385&s=electronics&sprefix=progressive+industries%2Celectronics%2C233&sr=1-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.c3015c4a-46bb-44b9-81a4-dc28e6d374b3) (hardwired; must be installed by an electrician) and EMS-PT30X (https://www.amazon.com/PROGRESSIVE-INDUSTRIES-EMS-PT50X-Portable-Protector/dp/B01N0W4CZ8?crid=1KL6X10EK9168&keywords=progressive%2Bindustries&qid=1675788385&s=electronics&sprefix=progressive%2Bindustries%2Celectronics%2C233&sr=1-2&th=1) (portable).

The hardwired version, although more expensive, is preferable. It's not vulnerable to theft, can't be left behind by mistake, and is never exposed to the elements. It comes with a wired remote display (not shown on that Amazon product page) that shows line voltage, frequency, and any errors such as reverse polarity, open ground, etc. The portable version has the same display built in, but you have to go outside to see it.

That brings up an important point. The $40 surge protector you mentioned has indicator lights for open neutral, open ground, and reverse polarity... but it will cheerfully pass along power regardless, potentially creating a dangerous situation for you and your Lazy Daze (for example, reverse polarity could cause the metal parts of your rig to become "live"). The Progressive Industries EMS devices will not only detect these problems, as well as too-low or too-high voltage and out-of-spec line frequency, but will stop power from reaching your rig if a miswired campground socket, bad voltage, or wrong frequency is present. That's in addition to stopping surges and spikes.

I should add that a Progressive Industries competitor, SurgeGuard, offers similar products. I've owned both, and I've seen the insides of both. The PI units are better designed and better built. I recommend them.

You may also hear about a device called an autotransformer that actually boosts voltage. They do, but they're bulky, heavy, expensive ($500-$700), don't cut off power in case of bad wiring, and actually make matters worse for everyone else in the campground. I have once or twice seen 50 amp autotransformers used by big rigs, but I don't know of any Lazy Daze owners who have one.

A Progressive industries EMS is the solution that many of us have chosen. Yes, it's inconvenient to have shore power suddenly cut off on a cold morning or a hot afternoon, but it beats buying a new air conditioner after low voltage causes yours to burn out.

Thanks all for the good information.

Does the Portable EMS-PT30X turn itself back on (reset) or must you do that manually each time it trips?

Thanks again for your recommendations.

Cheers!

Tony R. aka (codefour)

If we are running our heat pump, and perhaps brewing coffee the 30 A breaker will trip, or the heat pump will drag to a slow stop. 

Something Andy mentioned that needs to be highlighted is that running your heat pump (or A/C) with low voltage will damage it.  If it is slowing down/dragging to a slow stop, the low voltage is causing permanent harm to the motor and compressor.

Thanks all for the good information.

Does the Portable EMS-PT30X turn itself back on (reset) or must you do that manually each time it trips?

Thanks again for your recommendations.

Cheers!

Tony R. aka (codefour)

It will turn back on if voltage is adequate after a 2 minute delay.

Yes, the Progressive Industries EMS products will restore power once it's safe to do so--after, as Ross & Beverly pointed out, a delay of a couple minutes.

Why the delay? Because if power to a compressor device such as a heat pump or air conditioner is briefly shut off and then restored, something called "compressor lockup" can occur. This results in its motor overheating and potentially being damaged. The EMS's delay keeps this from happening in the event of either a brief outage in campground power, or a brief cutoff by the EMS due to bad power. It gives the compressed refrigerant a chance to stabilize before restarting the compressor.

(The built-in delay also means that when you first plug in to shore power with an EMS in action, your rig won't see power for a couple of minutes, even if there are no problems with campground power. Don't panic--it will come on! But until you get used to it, it can seem as if it's taking forever, even though it's only a couple of minutes.)

These devices really are fairly smart. That's why they're called energy management systems, rather than just surge suppressors. 🙂

Hi Tony;  The surge surpressor you detailed won't shut off power if it is too low. As Andy said, It's only function is to protect the incoming line voltage from having 'spikes' in it.  I haven't been able to find any documentation in the form of specifications on how low a voltage it will protect you from.
   The one Steve detailed the PE-30X  will shut off if the input voltage goes lower than 104 VAC. I suspect RMS measured and for a specific amount of time.  That is the protection you need in this instance. Most people don't have heat pumps, the heaters are just heating elements. Lazy Daze didn't have roof heat pumps until about 2015.  Just plain heating elements won't suffer any damage from low voltage, (unless the internal fans quit running).   Other times when people are all running air conditioning, too much load can drop too much voltage going to the entire region, entire RV park, or maybe just your circuit branch.  Either way you need to protect the Freon compressor from too low a voltage. Hopefully compressor motors have internal 'overtemp' protection that should protect it. If not, the smarter PE-30X will. After power is back above 104 VAC, it will start an internal timer for 2 minutes, 16 seconds. At the end of that time it will turn power back on.  Of course if power continues to be 'bad' or too low it can remain off a lot longer.
   The manual for this Progressive  EMS says:"  • RV wiring is different than house wiring. In an RV, neutral and ground conductors are isolated whereas in a house they are bonded at the service panel. Therefore;
never connect neutral and ground as this can result in a ground fault condition, electric shock, and/or a fire hazard."        In my power distribution box, ('99 TKB), just like in a house, the neutral and ground are connected together, so not true!   Every trailer or motorhome I've ever worked on is connected the same as the Lazy Daze electrical.  I haven't worked on that many, but still....  I don't know who wrote that manual, but that 'blanket statement' seem to not be the case.   RonB

Minor note: my 2013 MB has the heat pump AC unit, so they date to no later than 2013 LD model year.

(The built-in delay also means that when you first plug in to shore power with an EMS in action, your rig won't see power for a couple of minutes, even if there are no problems with campground power. Don't panic--it will come on! But until you get used to it, it can seem as if it's taking forever, even though it's only a couple of minutes.)

This is extremely helpful information for those unfamiliar with these. Very thoughtful to post this, Andy.

Unlike many others, but similar to Dave, I went with a portable Progressive EMS because I didn't want to be stuck without power should a hardwired unit sacrifice itself in a surge or similar situation -- although I don't think I have ever personally heard of this happening in my admittedly limited experience.

Should a catastrophic event occur, my plan is to make every effort to not plug into the same source without another EMS (I don't carry an EMS spare, but do carry 2 spare 30A surge protectors).

Thanks to RonB, Andy, Ross and Bev, Michelle C, Dave K, Steve and Jason.  And anyone else who helped out on this discussion.

I have the EMS-30X portable unit in Amazon Cart.  On the way tomorrow.

It is amazing the amount of "really great" shared information comes from this Forum.  Not no mention the kindness of it's members.

Cheers!

Tony R. (aka codefour)

You can mitigate the situation by starting your generator (most RVs give the generator priority over the shore power - if yours doesn't, you need to disconnect the shore power one way or another), and run off of that until the morning power struggle is over. Or use your propane furnace (if you have one) instead of the heat pump to warm up the coach. For periods of poor power that don't require the heat pump or the A/C to run, turn on your inverter, then disconnect from campground power. Later, when the camp power has improved, reconnect to the campground power to charge your batteries.

There are some very clever inverters that will automatically supplement the shore AC power when it gets too low, or even switch away from shore power if it's too "dirty". Ditto for generators that have the "autostart" feature. Sometimes, the shore power is a shared 15 A circuit, just enough to keep the batteries charged on 3 or 4 RVs, so we have to disconnect from it to run our inverter for coffee or the microwave, then switch back to shore power. Or do the generator thing.

"I went with a portable Progressive EMS because I didn't want to be stuck without power should a hardwired unit sacrifice itself in a surge or similar situation -- although I don't think I have ever personally heard of this happening in my admittedly limited experience."

That's a point, but there is a  solution if you have the hardwired EMSHW30C model: there's a bypass switch on that model's remote monitor. Quoting the manual, "Bypass switch: This switch is located on the remote panel, and allows the user to bypass the computer circuit in the EMS in the event of computer failure, thus allowing source power into the RV. This does not disable the surge protection portion of the EMS." However, the portable EMS-PT30X model lacks a bypass switch.

Full disclosure: while I recommend the hardwired EMS, I'm currently using a portable one. Back when I bought my first Airstream, I had scheduled a trip to a commercial campground in Lee Vining, California immediately afterward (not a great idea with a brand new rig, by the way), so I didn't have time to wire in an EMSHW30C EMS. But I wasn't going to plug into shore power without protection, so I bought a portable EMS-PT30X to take along with me... and out of laziness, have been using it ever since.

It turned out to be a good thing I had it. That campground had seriously inadequate power, and on hot days the voltage sometimes dropped as low as 99 volts! If I hadn't had the EMS, my nice new air conditioner would likely have been damaged. As it was, I had to put up with the EMS occasionally cutting power when the voltage dropped too low, but no harm was done to my rig.

The PI hardwired surge protector is a better choice for many reasons as mention in previous postings, IMO.
I have installed many of them and never heard any complaints from owners.

Roof top A/Cs can be protected against low voltage starts by using a soft-start device.
SoftStartRV – The RV AC Soft Start For Any Air Conditioner - Guaranteed

Larry

"...if you have the hardwired EMSHW30C model: there's a bypass switch on that model's remote monitor."

Thanks for adding that little known feature Andy. The switch is located underneath the monitor module and is easily overlooked. I was going to explain it much as you did but life got in the way. Back in the foggy Lazy Daze past I recall having used it but now cannot recall the circumstance.  ;D   ::)

"...if you have the hardwired EMSHW30C model: there's a bypass switch on that model's remote monitor."

Thanks for adding that little known feature Andy. The switch is located underneath the monitor module and is easily overlooked. I was going to explain it much as you did but life got in the way. Back in the foggy Lazy Daze past I recall having used it but now cannot recall the circumstance.  ;D   ::)

Used it recently visiting a friend's older house wired w/o a ground circuit.

Steve

I saw a great article on surge protectors vs ems vs voltage regulators.

I don’t have the link right now - it was in a Mexican travel group.

The voltage in some areas of Mexico can vary a lot (under and over).

The article said:

Home Depot in Mexico also sells a small 15 Amp regulator for about $80 that is ideal for a Class B with a small A/C. It cannot handle a standard 13.5 A/C, but will run a microwave. It comes in a Red & White Box. There are other similar models that cost a bit more. There are usually logos on the box that indicate what they are meant to power. Pick one that shows appliances. They are invariably made for15 Amp.

We are in Mexico for a while and plan to pick one up if we get to a town big enough to have a Home Depot (or see it in a hardware store).

I was looking at Soft Start's plug in surge protector.  It appears that it has over/under voltage protection as well as all the checks for when you first plug it in.  Does anyone have experience with the Soft Start and is it also an EMS?

I was looking at Soft Start's plug in surge protector.  It appears that it has over/under voltage protection as well as all the checks for when you first plug it in.  Does anyone have experience with the Soft Start and is it also an EMS?

Can you provide a link? The only thing I see is from Active Start.

Steve

Can you provide a link? The only thing I see is from Active Start.

SoftStartUp (https://softstartup.com/)

SoftStartUp (https://softstartup.com/)

It does not appear that this is designed to disconnect power when the input is out of range - limiting current surge is a different issue.

Steve

Softstartup website - "SoftStartUp Is No Longer Being Offered for Sale"

  Karen~Liam
    98 ` MB
     NinA

I was looking at Soft Start's plug in surge protector.  It appears that it has over/under voltage protection as well as all the checks for when you first plug it in.  Does anyone have experience with the Soft Start and is it also an EMS?

I installed a soft start two years ago to prevent additional damage to our LD's A/C . Brownouts destroyed a hard-start starting capacitor and burned a wire between the control switch and compressor in the past.
I have not had any issues since installing the soft start, the A/C is quieter and when running at night, it eliminated most of the bumps or bangs when the compressor starts, an annoyance when sleeping in hot climates.

Checking the site, it looks like the Soft Start RV is available. There are soft-start available from other manufacturers.
CHOOSE YOUR PACKAGE OFFER - SoftStartRV (https://www.softstartrv.com/choose-your-package-offer/?utm_source=offerhttps://www.softstartrv.com/choosurere-your-package-offer/?utm_source=offer)

The soft start is not an EMS, it starts the compressor slowly, reducing peak amperage draw, and preventing overloading of the compressor. It's not cheap but can save your rooftop A/C from damage or being burned up.

Larry

Home Depot in Mexico also sells a small 15 Amp regulator for about $80 that is ideal for a Class B with a small A/C. It cannot handle a standard 13.5 A/C, but will run a microwave. It comes in a Red & White Box.

This sounds a lot like an autotransformer, as Andy described.
I have no other ideas on how it could regulate voltage, I would investigate deeper before spending any money on one.

FYI, our LD's microwave draws as much or more power as the rooftop A/C.

Larry

"Home Depot in Mexico also sells a small 15 Amp regulator for about $80"

That's interesting. The "Autoformer" products for 50 A RVs that  I mentioned start at $600, so $80 sounds pretty cheap even for a 15 A version. I did find something on Home Depot's website that might fit the bill: this 20 A adjustable "voltage regulator" (https://www.homedepot.com/p/VEVOR-2KVA-Transformer-Max-20-Amp-Variable-Transformer-0-Volt-to-130-Volt-Output-Regulator-for-Industries-Equipment-Appliances-BYQTDGC-2KVA00001V1/322865200).

This is what the electrical engineers I used to work with called a "Variac" (probably a brand name), and if I remember correctly it is a type of autotransformer. People who restore old radios and TVs use these to slowly ramp up the power to a suspect piece of equipment, in order to minimize the chance of a sudden catastrophic failure--if it starts to smell, or parts feel too warm when you touch them, you can stop before they catch fire.

I suppose you could use this to compensate for consistently low line voltage, which I've read is common in Mexico. I'm not sure whether it would automatically stabilize a fluctuating line voltage, the way a Hughes Autoformer is supposed to do. Since it's limited to 20 amps, it would have limited usefulness for a Lazy Daze, but might work well for a small class B RV, as Jane & Scott said.

The way these devices work is to convert amperage to voltage. For example, if you're drawing 15 A at 100 V, the transformer can boost that to 120 V--but it'll be drawing 18+ amps in order to do so. If a significant number of campers are using these, it will make the power situation worse for everyone else. Remember that campground in Lee Vining I mentioned a while back--the one where the power dipped as low as 99 volts? There were a couple of larger rigs there with Hughes Autoformers sitting next to them, which undoubtedly made a bad situation worse for the rest of us.

There's just no substitute for having enough shore power available.

"This is what the electrical engineers I used to work with called a "Variac" (probably a brand name),..."

Variac indeed, and yes, a brand name. During my stint as an instructor in the Air Force these could be seen in every classroom. They were used to power a simulation breadboard for illustration purposes. Not a good use for low voltage RV problems.

I found the link discussing different ways to protect RV from bad shore power where the voltage regulator is discussed. 
Andy, they discussed the Hughes device also.

Power Issues (https://mexicocaravans.com/power.html)

Any info any of you figure out on this would be appreciated.  Jane

UPDATE:
The ISB Sola Basic voltage regulator, $200 US, the article mentioned could not be found in Home Depot Mexico pages (maybe sold elsewhere).

Here is a link to the Mexico Home Depot web page when I searched for voltage regulator (Spanish spelling) it gave this info.  Pesos is about $19-$20 for US dollars, that varies over time so no idea what it was when the article was written.

Note:  Google translator is your friend if you don't know Spanish, you can use the camera feature, point it at the text and it will translate for you (give it a couple of seconds).

That's a good article, Jane & Scott--thanks for posting the link. Unfortunately, while it mentions the $80 15 amp regulator you mentioned, and even has a photo...



... it doesn't link to the product or give a name and manufacturer, and the photo is too small to read the manufacturer or model number. I thought I saw something like this while searching Home Depot's site for autotransformers, but now I can't find it. :: sigh ::

"They were used to power a simulation breadboard..."

I must be getting senile because I now recall that the wife used one of them to power our American standard 110v kitchen appliances in Germany on their 220v power system.  ::)   ;)

Home Depot in Mexico also sells a small 15 Amp regulator for about $80

I couldn’t find that one either but Amazon sells an APC Line-R LE1200 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009RA60/) automatic voltage regulator for $68.88.  At 1200VA (120V @ 10A) it won’t run the AC or microwave but could be useful for sensitive electronic gear; ie computers, satellite TV, StarLink internet, etc.  I don’t own one and I’m only going by the specs, but it says the output regulation is +6% to -12%. So it should be able to safely handle pedestal swings from around 106-127V as long as you don’t exceed 10A.

- John

Thanks for posting that, John. It looks potentially useful for small loads. I did see that one purchaser said this:

In the 110VAC position, it will float from about 96.5VAC to 116.5VAC without doing any correction.
Over 116.5, it will Trim 10% off whatever voltage it is fed.
Below 96.5, it will Boost 20% to whatever voltage it gets.
It does this by changing the tap on the internal transformer.

96.5 V may be too low for some appliances, so one would want to use this with caution.

Thanks for posting that, John. It looks potentially useful for small loads. I did see that one purchaser said this:

In the 110VAC position, it will float from about 96.5VAC to 116.5VAC without doing any correction.
Over 116.5, it will Trim 10% off whatever voltage it is fed.
Below 96.5, it will Boost 20% to whatever voltage it gets.
It does this by changing the tap on the internal transformer.

96.5 V may be too low for some appliances, so one would want to use this with caution.

Agree, but I think it would be more useful to set the nominal output voltage to 120V when in the USA.  That way the boost will kick in 10V sooner (around 106V).  There’s a switch on the back of the unit that sets the nominal output to 110V, 120V or 127V.

- John

"There’s a switch on the back of the unit that sets the nominal output to 110V, 120V or 127V."

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I couldn't tell from product photos what the settings were. I even went so far as to download the owner's manual, but it says "The Line-R provides a three-position User Selectable Voltage Switch for adjusting the input voltage for the region where it is being used (Example: Russia - 220 V, Denmark - 230 V, United Kingdom - 240 V)." Obviously the manual I found was for a European version of the product. So yes--as you said, for the US version the 120 V setting would be the one to use.

Andy, sorry I thought I posted the link to the Mexican Home Depot web page for voltage regulators and didn’t.

Here is the link.
It is in Spanish, google translate app is our friend - there is a camera icon, choose it and point the camera at your screen with the Spanish text.

Resultados de tu búsqueda (https://www.homedepot.com.mx/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&storeId=10351&catalogId=10101&langId=-5&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSource=Q&pageView=&beginIndex=0&pageSize=20&searchTerm=Voltage+regulato#facet:&productBeginIndex:0&facetLimit:&orderBy:&pageView:grid&minPrice:&maxPrice:&pageSize:&);

The picture in the article looks like this one
REGULADOR DE VOLTAJE 800 W GRIS KOBLENZ | The Home Depot México (https://www.homedepot.com.mx/electrico/extensiones-y-multicontactos/regulador-gold-er-2000-va-8-contactos-109638)

Exchange rate right now about 18.50 or 18.75 pesos for 1 US dollar.

   The manual for this Progressive  EMS says:"  • RV wiring is different than house wiring. In an RV, neutral and ground conductors are isolated whereas in a house they are bonded at the service panel. Therefore;
never connect neutral and ground as this can result in a ground fault condition, electric shock, and/or a fire hazard."        In my power distribution box, ('99 TKB), just like in a house, the neutral and ground are connected together, so not true!   Every trailer or motorhome I've ever worked on is connected the same as the Lazy Daze electrical.  I haven't worked on that many, but still....  I don't know who wrote that manual, but that 'blanket statement' seem to not be the case.   RonB
[/quote]
I have read that somewhere about neutral and ground not being tied together within the RV, but stating they would be tied together as soon as you plug the RV in to a (correctly wired, good luck with that) RV park or whatever outlet were the ground and neutral will be bonded at the electrical panel for where you are plugging in.  I don’t recall ever checking if neutral and ground wires are tied to each other within any of the three RV’s I have owned.

A Progressive industries EMS is the solution that many of us have chosen. Yes, it's inconvenient to have shore power suddenly cut off on a cold morning or a hot afternoon, but it beats buying a new air conditioner after low voltage causes yours to burn out.

Over the years I've camp in all sorts on RV campgrounds.  From cheap to high end.   I have found there is NO relationship between price of campgrounds and 'clean' electric hookups.   I was told by a Disney ($100 a night) California licensed electrician my electric hookup was ok when my EMS showed it wasn't.   When we moved to a different site on a different loop all was ok.   Later that day another electrician told us we were correct and the other person was wrong.   The lesson is always check and use safety gear.  It cheaper in the long run.  

glen. 

Hi Jay; well I have to retract my comment. I opened up my power distribution center and the grounds are Not connected to the neutral.  Indeed the place I plug into, either a pedestal, or my 30Amp connection on the house, at the load center are the places where the the neutrals are connected to grounds.  I think a lot of misinterpretations are caused by the negative side of the 12 volt system being connected to chassis grounds, but not the neutrals of the 110VAC. 
   Many places on the internet did state that the ground and neutrals are connected (bonded being the word used for a connection). But only at a distribution point.  I'm not sure that a pedestal is bonded either. More likely that also is connected at the incoming power line where an actual earth ground is present. Usually a grounding rod driven into the earth.  (Water pipes are an unreliable connection, depending on the chemistry of the pipes in my opinion.)
   If I were designing an RV park distribution system, I would want any possible ground current caused by a fault at a particular RV, to be contained in a local area instead of traveling underground to just one grounded area at a main panel. I would have multiple real ground connections spread out, especially locations with frequent lightning. A very rare occurrence here in Southern Cal.    RonB

     edit: And of course just hours after I wrote this, a storm cell went by with at least one known lightning strike!

Here is the text for the link of the actual product at Home Depot Mexico:

Product Information
Koblenz voltage regulator, cares for and protects electrical appliances from discharges or voltage variations within the home or office.

elaborate with a gray housing made of resistant plastic with 8 outlets (3-prong), suitable for screens, from 19 to 50 inches, DVD, Blu Ray, radio, videogames, monitors, speakers, modems and audio equipment.

It has a capacity of 800 watts, surge suppression of 134 joules and input range from 95 to 145 volts, also has disconnection high voltage automatic.

Technical specs in picture attached.  The picture would not attach I will try again when I get back to our starlink.

Does this seem like the same one as found in Amazon?

Inicio - ISB Industrias Sola Basic (https://www.isbmex.com/)
The 4kva is 30amp the 8kv is 50amp
(https://www.isbmex.com/producto.php?id=43)

We have a Hughes Autoformer.  Can provide up to a 10% voltage boost to help protect against the dangers of low voltage, in additional to surge protection.  Very well-built product.  We've been very happy with it.

As I understand it it autotransformers trade volts for amps and vise versa.  Seems to me low amps are just as bad as low volts.  
My thinking would be to move or demand 'clean'  electricity.   
I do understand filling the gaps for a small amount but in the long run I'd feel safer if I didn't have to compensate  for others short comings. 

glen.