microair easy start results
Well, here is a summary of the microair easy start on my coleman MachIII 13.5KBTU AC.
First, the current results before installation. I had the supco soft start cap along with a 10 second time delay on the fan start.
Measured Peak current required to start is 60A,
Results with a single honda 2000
At low altitude, lower temps, with everything else off in the trailer, and the honda eco start OFF.
If I was lucky, the honda would struggle and start the AC, but note something to count on. The honda really struggled. above about 1000Ft or above about 85F, SOL, no way would it start the AC.
With honda 2000 in parallel,
If both had the eco throttle on, usually the honda voltage would drop low enough to have the Progessive Industries EMS relay chatter, even with the PI in bypass mode, voltage was dropping way low,
If one was off eco throttle, then it would start the AC without issues.
So, here is data after the easy start install. Which by the way was pretty straightforward, good instructions. And the easy start removes any start cap on the AC unit, but there IS a start cap INSIDE the easy start, along with the control board.
starting current on a 30A service using the 5 starts recomended before using a generator
No easy start 60A
easy start 1 27.6A
easy start 2 21.5A
easy start 3 22.4A
easy start 4 25.3A
easy start 5 25.0A
now, connected to a honda 2000 in eco mode,
no load honda Voltage 126V RMS
starting voltage sag 116V RMS
running voltage 123V RMS
peak starting current 22.0A
and the generator ramped up the rpm as it started, no overshoot in rpm, start was smooth.
So, IMHO success. We shall see when it hits 90F and 4,000 Ft to see if it will still start in eco mode, but I suspect it definitely will start fine with eco mode off.
Now, all that said, if you want to run the AC and much else you still will be out of luck. the easy start doesn't defy the laws of physics, so running current is still the same, so not much headroom left. But if you run honda's in parallel, running them in eco mode should work just fine.
First, the current results before installation. I had the supco soft start cap along with a 10 second time delay on the fan start.
Measured Peak current required to start is 60A,
Results with a single honda 2000
At low altitude, lower temps, with everything else off in the trailer, and the honda eco start OFF.
If I was lucky, the honda would struggle and start the AC, but note something to count on. The honda really struggled. above about 1000Ft or above about 85F, SOL, no way would it start the AC.
With honda 2000 in parallel,
If both had the eco throttle on, usually the honda voltage would drop low enough to have the Progessive Industries EMS relay chatter, even with the PI in bypass mode, voltage was dropping way low,
If one was off eco throttle, then it would start the AC without issues.
So, here is data after the easy start install. Which by the way was pretty straightforward, good instructions. And the easy start removes any start cap on the AC unit, but there IS a start cap INSIDE the easy start, along with the control board.
starting current on a 30A service using the 5 starts recomended before using a generator
No easy start 60A
easy start 1 27.6A
easy start 2 21.5A
easy start 3 22.4A
easy start 4 25.3A
easy start 5 25.0A
now, connected to a honda 2000 in eco mode,
no load honda Voltage 126V RMS
starting voltage sag 116V RMS
running voltage 123V RMS
peak starting current 22.0A
and the generator ramped up the rpm as it started, no overshoot in rpm, start was smooth.
So, IMHO success. We shall see when it hits 90F and 4,000 Ft to see if it will still start in eco mode, but I suspect it definitely will start fine with eco mode off.
Now, all that said, if you want to run the AC and much else you still will be out of luck. the easy start doesn't defy the laws of physics, so running current is still the same, so not much headroom left. But if you run honda's in parallel, running them in eco mode should work just fine.
