The 23 amp reading your getting is propably not that unreasonable or probably very acurate , from what I understand is the amp surge at compressor start is very fast and hard to measure . Its so fast that a gen can bog slightly and recover . The amp surg can be 4 + tines the amp load . A 9201 D Polar cub has a commp full locked rotoramp draw of 45.6 amps as per the data sheet .When you start an AC the comp doesnt have full head pressure and is easer to start than if it builds pressuere and restarts like when cycling . The soft start cap is meant to store energy and smooth the milasecond surge in power , I have tryed supco cap on my 11000 btu penguin ac that had a start cap already with no benifit .
My original post was not ment as a hijack , I just wanted you to make sure you had an older 9201 and not the 09-10 model 49201 with `green` refrig that pulls more amps
Do you know anyone that you could borrow a eu 2000 from to rule out the gen, anyone local to you here on this forum?