navegator
My rig comes with one. But just shuts down power source for protection. You need a voltage corrector on top of that.
The ISB has lowered the voltage for us. The park we stay at there are times when the voltage is at 137 my rig would cut the power off if not for the corrector.
Chuck n Sandy
Roxy the Kelpie and Kiki the cat.
Warranty? Just try and get that from a small builder unless you have a holdback
Pipe: In Canada and the USA water pipe must meet a standard. It is either UL or CSA or some other testing standard. Ordinary PVC water pipe in Mexico is very thin and has no standard printed on the pipe. It is junk. Schedule 40 is available and is marked as such There are many electrical items for sale in Mexico that do not meet any standard. Those 100 volt plug in devices that you attach to a shower head is a good example. They are dangerous and a person in our town was electrocuted from that device. Home Depot, Lowes and the electrical/plumbing stores do carry approved items. Cheap contractors don't shop at those outlets. There is a reason why some stores advertise items as Calidad de Exportacion. The best stuff is exported NOB. When my Plumber or Electrician in Canada does any major work he takes out a permit. The inspector may choose to visit the work site before any work is done and he explains how he wants the work to be performed. Or he may choose to inspect after the job is done. Neither inspector takes mordida. Tradesman in Canada and the USA are required to attend classes and upgrade their "ticket". I will take some photos of really bad workmanship when I return to Mexico and post a few. They are shocking (pun intended).
Moisheh
* This post was edited 09/04/17 07:02pm by moisheh *
The problem I foresee with a grounding stake is the length that needs to be buried. 10 feet would be good, and 4 feet continually soaked in water might be ok. But pulling a stake that long--and storing it, and then deploying it are going to be a bit of an issue.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
A voltage regulator can change incoming voltage to an acceptable level. It is not a surge protector.
An EMS can tell where the voltage is coming from and distribute it to the correct place - ours is supposed to know if we get power from shore or generator etc.
A surge protector can protect against surges in voltage that exceed safe levels. This could even mean lightning bolts.
A UPS is an uninterruptible power supply that is mostly used to protect computers from crashing if there is a sudden loss of power - with today's laptops containing their own batteries some people do not see the need for a UPS. But there is another factor - some UPSs have AVR or Automatic Voltage Regulation which is like a voltage regulator (ISB Sola Basic) but generally not for high demand devices - mostly only computers and electronics such a TVs - they are more precise than the larger size voltage regulators - we once even had one for our refrigerator to protect sensitive circuits.
There are other devices and some of these manufacturers will have a few different things that may be of use to RV owners. Learning about some of this stuff could be useful no matter where your travels take you.
http://trci.net/products/surge-guard-rv . . . . SURGE GUARD and other stuff
http://www.progressiveindustries.net/our-products . . . . SURGE GUARD and EMS
http://www.isbmex.com/productos/corrector-de-voltaje-8-y-4-kva . . . . . . . ISB Sola Basic - keep in mind - this is important - this is the only one I have found that can both raise and/or lower voltage as needed at levels where higher power needs are desired - can run things like air conditioners and microwaves (though maybe not at the same time). This was covered previously in this thread. By the way - we see both residences and businesses in Mexico with these devices mounted on their buildings. Plenty of people in Mexico have lost valuable devices to varying voltages. They can be ordered from almost any good hardware store in Mexico - though few stock them - should only take a couple days at most as they have distributors all over Mexico.
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-uninterruptible-power-supply-ups/ . . . . opinions vary and there are other brands in the market place.
Even those with no knowledge of electricity at all should have basic circuit checking devices such as the Prime Products I brought up previously in this thread. Even battery chargers can get fried if connected to the wrong circuit (learned this one - bad experience).
http://www.briansue2.blogspot.com
I really hate getting zapped by stray current, I did notice that when the ground (green wire on the outlet) was not hooked in the house or outlet, that is when the zapping occurred, so I started experimenting to see how I could alleviate the situation, a dedicated ground to the chassis cured that and I tested all the metal around the unit and bonded them.
Why bond the ladder, we had a lightning strike the ladder in Arizona in a thunder storm before it was bonded, made a pin hole where it hit and where it exited after that we decided no more surprises, lightning is unpredictable and that is the desert for you, then we had to peel the cat from the ceiling.
navegator
moisheh wrote:
Chris: Minisplits are available in 110 volt. Many of the small tract houses actually have a 30 amp 220 volt service.
Warranty? Just try and get that from a small builder unless you have a holdback
Pipe: In Canada and the USA water pipe must meet a standard. It is either UL or CSA or some other testing standard. Ordinary PVC water pipe in Mexico is very thin and has no standard printed on the pipe. It is junk. Schedule 40 is available and is marked as such There are many electrical items for sale in Mexico that do not meet any standard. Those 100 volt plug in devices that you attach to a shower head is a good example. They are dangerous and a person in our town was electrocuted from that device. Home Depot, Lowes and the electrical/plumbing stores do carry approved items. Cheap contractors don't shop at those outlets. There is a reason why some stores advertise items as Calidad de Exportacion. The best stuff is exported NOB. When my Plumber or Electrician in Canada does any major work he takes out a permit. The inspector may choose to visit the work site before any work is done and he explains how he wants the work to be performed. Or he may choose to inspect after the job is done. Neither inspector takes mordida. Tradesman in Canada and the USA are required to attend classes and upgrade their "ticket". I will take some photos of really bad workmanship when I return to Mexico and post a few. They are shocking (pun intended).
Moisheh
Chris: Minisplits are available in 110 volt. Many of the small tract houses actually have a 30 amp 220 volt service.
Warranty? Just try and get that from a small builder unless you have a holdback
Pipe: In Canada and the USA water pipe must meet a standard. It is either UL or CSA or some other testing standard. Ordinary PVC water pipe in Mexico is very thin and has no standard printed on the pipe. It is junk. Schedule 40 is available and is marked as such There are many electrical items for sale in Mexico that do not meet any standard. Those 100 volt plug in devices that you attach to a shower head is a good example. They are dangerous and a person in our town was electrocuted from that device. Home Depot, Lowes and the electrical/plumbing stores do carry approved items. Cheap contractors don't shop at those outlets. There is a reason why some stores advertise items as Calidad de Exportacion. The best stuff is exported NOB. When my Plumber or Electrician in Canada does any major work he takes out a permit. The inspector may choose to visit the work site before any work is done and he explains how he wants the work to be performed. Or he may choose to inspect after the job is done. Neither inspector takes mordida. Tradesman in Canada and the USA are required to attend classes and upgrade their "ticket". I will take some photos of really bad workmanship when I return to Mexico and post a few. They are shocking (pun intended).
Moisheh
You're old school. You'll never see things in any other way. 110 minisplits are not common. You'll dispute everything I say so it doesn't seem to matter much anymore. Small builders? Are they the majority? No.
Your knowledge of old Mexico is vast, your knowledge of the new Mexico is minimal.
Goodbye.
2005 Dodge Durango Hemi
2008 Funfinder 230DS
Living and Boondocking Mexico Blog
Quote:
I carry small metal tent pegs to insert in the ground, they are cheap enough to leave if I can not pull them out, granted not the best but there is a path to ground with some water around the peg
I carry small metal tent pegs to insert in the ground, they are cheap enough to leave if I can not pull them out, granted not the best but there is a path to ground with some water around the peg
Trick I learned long ago - leverage - wrap a small chain around the grounding rod - could be rebar or other length of rod - it may not work on an 8 foot length but will work on smooth rod up to 4 feet maybe - then wrap the other end of chain around some kind of stiff pry bar - 2x4 will work - things can be figured out if someone has tools - maintenance guys might have something - I have pulled some pretty serious stuff out of the ground with a couple feet of chain and a 2x4 - just takes a couple inches to get it started - keep in mind wet ground is better ground.
![[image]](https://i.imgur.com/E8EuDc8.jpg )
More commonly called an autoformer. Surge protection can be added.
briansue wrote:
A voltage regulator can change incoming voltage to an acceptable level. It is not a surge protector.
A voltage regulator can change incoming voltage to an acceptable level. It is not a surge protector.
Not from a direct lightning strike, unless you are quite lucky.
briansue wrote:
A surge protector can protect against surges in voltage that exceed safe levels. This could even mean lightning bolts.
A surge protector can protect against surges in voltage that exceed safe levels. This could even mean lightning bolts.