13500 A/C on 2000 watt inverter?
My brother is having issues with a 13500 btu A/C starting while using a 2000 watt inverter. This is installed on a cake delivery van. The fan motor will turn on but not the compressor. He is using ...
Forum Discussion
Chum lee wrote:You appear to be contradicting yourself. You're saying I'm "correct", but at the same time you're saying the 50-68 amps of LRA "is not true"?
otrfun wrote: "All the Dometic and Coleman spec sheets I've seen typically show LRA's of 50 to 68 amps for their 13.5k BTU a/c's."
Yes, you are correct, for several microseconds during startup. Think about what you know! If it took 50 to 68 LRA'a to start a single 13,500 BTU A/C unit, then the smallest RV generators would be 6,000 to 8,160 watts. You know that is not true. As I previously said, under certain conditions you can run a 13,500 BTU A/C unit on a 2,000 watt genny, just not reliably without playing a bunch of load management tricks. If thats what like doing, more power to ya!
Chum lee
This 50-68 amps of LRA/inrush current IS real, alive, and does exist--even if it's only for a very short time--no smoking mirrors. I've measured it numerous times with a clamp-on, inrush current capable meter.
If one used a generator that had no (zero) inrush current capability, then yes, one would need a generator with 6000-8160 watts of "continuous" current to provide the 50-68 amps of LRA. However, that's not the case with an EU2000i.
A Honda EU2000i is capable of providing up to 54-55 amps of inrush current (Eco mode off; 50 amps with Eco mode on). This 50-55 amps of inrush current is sufficient enough to start (and run) more efficient 13.5k BTU a/c's with LRA's at the lower end of the 50-68 amp scale.
Bottom line, no load management tricks necessary if powering one of the more efficient 13.5k BTU a/c units with an EU2000i---it's simply a generator with massive inrush current capability (relative to its rated continuous current output).
