Of course we all know the importance of staying safe around electrical systems and equipment. Making sure the electrical system in your motorhome is functioning properly will avoid damage to equipment, as well as possible injury to yourself or others. Even if your RV's electrical system is working correctly, you may not be certain of the campground's power supply and connections, which can create a possible hazard. Being able to keep an eye on the condition of your circuits, outlets and connections will go a long way toward avoiding accidents. There are a number of RV products that can assist in this task, and this article will go over a few examples of what is available.

One of the easiest things you can do is to test your outlets. RVUpgrades carries several different types of voltage meters, including some with digital displays. The Hughes Autoformer digital AC volt meter is a very simple way to make sure RV's voltage is at a safe level. It plugs into any outlet and gives an accurate reading of the AC voltage coming through it. The large digital display is backlit and easy to read. Voltage levels that go below a 108 VAC can potentially cause damage to your electronic devices, and is just as much of a hazard as high voltage. To test other conditions in your outlets, Prime Products offers a circuit tester and a polarity tester. The circuit tester fits into 3 prong outlets and checks for faulty wiring conditions, giving you an easy to understand readout of potential problems. The polarity tester not only checks for hazards such as reversed polarity in an outlet, but also gives a digital voltage readout as well.

The importance of surge protection has been discussed here before, but it is always worth re-emphasizing. Surge protection can keep your devices protected from power surges. This can be caused by such instances as faulty connections, electrical storms or questionable power sources at the campground. There are many types of surge protectors available, so if you need help in making a decision, we have a surge protector comparison chart that gives an overview of the different features. As an example, the Surge Guard Plus RV monitor will watch the shore power and shut down when it detects certain hazards such as incorrect voltage, reverse polarity, open neutral situations or incorrect wiring in the pedestal. The remote display can indicate the current state, including source voltage, load current and other information.

By Julie T

RV Accessories that help with electrical safety include: