Fried charger: Part Deux

[Deep Owl]

On my previous thread, I said that on a campsite in France, there was a power overcharge in one of the two main electric boxes on site.
Another English motorhome had its charger fried (a Carthago) and a tenter with a portable power unit had his USB charger set on fire.
My Sargent charger was smoking, and I had no main power in any sockets. So far, it is a catastrophe; I have plugged both the fridge and the microwave directly into my home supply on a long lead - neither work! The charger is kaput as is my USB charger and electronic kettle (variable power).
I have sent off the power supply unit to Sargent as I must assume that is damaged, but I think the time has come to get a Motorhome garage to sort it all out.
The good news is that the campsite has accepted responsibility in writing; they are now waiting for me to tell them how much damage before they pay themselves or put it to their insurance. It feels like a biggish bill.

My question to you electrically-minded people: how could all this happen without the RCDs and fuses blowing first?

 

[daveclare]

Can't help with rcd answer, but consider getting a surge protector fitted. For future protection. Something like an AVS 30. I took advice from here and fitted one. On this trip to France it has been 'tripped' three times.

Be careful and buy a genuine one. There are fakes out there. Don't be fooled by a bargain price.

 

[autorouter]

Fuses and MCBs don't protect against over-voltage. They only protect against over-current. If the over-voltage results in an overcurrent, they will trip, but the over-voltage is likely to cause damage to the internal electronic components before they trip. An RCD doesn't protect against over-voltage either.

In parts of Europe that have regular lightning storms, like the Alps, people install over-voltage protection, but here in the UK we are very much less exposed to lightning, and less aware and prepared for it. For example, Hymer have OverVoltage Protection (OVP) as an option, but many don't take it up.

I'm not saying that lightning was the problem in this case, but an OVP unit would have protected your MH from a voltage surge.

OVP devices are available, and there have been a number of threads on here discussing them, like this one:

EHU surge protection

What devices do you use to protect your motorhomes electrical systems from electrical surges/fluctuations whilst connected to an EHU supply. Both in the UK and elsewhere.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk