Easy Start By Micro Air

[1L243]

I wanted to run my 13.5 Dometic AC on my generator but having only a 2000 watt Honda EUI, it was either buy a bigger generator or try the Easy Start from Micro Air.

I decided to go with the Easy Start. Installation was straight forward a youtube video was a great help.

After installation you have to go though a learning process for the Easy Start.

After the learning process I connected to my Honda 2000 and it ran the AC just fine. Prior to the Easy Start it would just trip the generator.

I tested amps at sartup prior to Easy start and it was around 32 amps. Now keep in mind this is just for a second when the compressor kicks on but enough to kick off the generator.

After Easy Start the start up amps are around 15 to 18 amps. It's so fast it's hard for the electrical monitor to record it.

The Honda has to be run on fast or run mode and not econo mode when using the AC .

For fun I thought I would see if the AC would run on my 2000 watt inverter and it did!

It was no different than running on the generator as far as the start up is concerned. Once the compressor kicks in the AC is running on about 12 amps.

I have a 500 watt solar system with 2000 watt Renogy inverter. My battery bank is 340 amp hours of lead acid.

I know I can't run the AC long on the battery bank that I now have but it will be interesting to see what happens when I'm dry camping in two weeks and see what the draw is on ac when solar is at it's peak of about 25 amps.

When ever I run a big appliance like microwave or coffee maker off my lead acid batteries my battery voltage drops to about 11.5 volts and it stays there until they appliance is turned off. Then the voltage creeps back up to the actual voltage. I understand this does not happen to Lithium batteries. It makes it difficult to monitor the battery voltage when under a heavy load.

So a big thumbs up to Easy Start by Micro Air

[ktmrfs]

3 tons wrote:
“ I've found even at 8000ft I can start the AC with the generator in eco mode w/o any fuss. But then I don't have a inverter transfer system in place.”

That’s good news…What size is your air conditioner?…Easy-Start??

3 tons

easy start. I have a coleman MachIII 13.5K BTU from around 2010 and my brother has a dometic 13.5K unit, also with easy start and a honda 2200.

On both our units a honda 2000 would start on eco, but the easy start would cycle the AC on and off due to generator overload above about 3500 ft or so. run for 20 minutes or so, then cut off the AC for 5-10 minutes, then start back up.....

The coleman power cub 9000BTU unit on my small trailer runs fine on a 2000 even at 8000 ft or so w/o any mod's, starts fine runs fine, but only draws about 9 amps IIRC and has a much lower LRA.

[3_tons]

“ I've found even at 8000ft I can start the AC with the generator in eco mode w/o any fuss. But then I don't have a inverter transfer system in place.”

That’s good news…What size is your air conditioner?…Easy-Start??

3 tons

[ktmrfs]

3 tons wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
Several dry campers we know including us have installed the easy start on 13.5K BTU AC units with very good results. However I will point out one thing to consider regarding the honda 2000 and the easy start. The honda 2000 engine is pretty much max'd out so output max power goes down with altitude. We found that around 3500ft density altitude the 2000 is likely to overload, luckily the easy start just shuts the AC down for about 5 minutes rather than having the honda completely kick out. This is with all other 120V loads including the converter power turned off.

solution honda 2200. it has a much larger engine and even at 8000+ft it can run the AC unit and still have about 300watts to spare. As a check with a honda 2200 we ran our AC at around 8000ft in 100F temps and I turned the fridge on AC just to see what would happen, 2200 kept on running, no overload.

Before the easy start I was lugging around two honda 2000's, paralleled for AC, when the honda 2200 came out i bought one, gave one 2000 to our son, and for a while carried around a 2200 and 2000 as a "just in case" for AC when boondocking. Gave that up, never have needed more than the 2200 even at very high altitudes. Solar charges the batteries,

Agreed, me too…At high altitudes and temps (100d/f) my 2000 struggled - Eco mode was not an option…The difference between the 2000 and 2200 is much more than just the 200w, mainly because of the 2200’s larger GX commercial engine and viable Eco operation…

However, I later discovered that my pass-thru PSW inverter was the single biggest culprit at preventing Eco mode operation because it would ‘disqualify’ in coming genny power upon compressor starts when in the (low RPM) Eco mode…

So after a ton of study and consternation, I did a workaround by adding a dedicated, corded genny-eco ATS switch around the ‘too smart’ inverter (at it’s output), and all was resolved, except that now with the LFP’s, solar and Easy-start I haven’t had much of a need to run the genny for quite some time…I still carry it just in case…

3 tons

yes the 2200 has a 125cc enginve vs the 100cc or less on the 2000, What I've found is that the 2000 can put out the continous or peak power at sea level and goes down above sea level, even at altitudes <1000ft while the 2200 seems to be able to put out continous or peak rated power even at 8000+ft w/o installing the high altitude jets.

I've found even at 8000ft I can start the AC with the generator in eco mode w/o any fuss. But then I don't have a inverter transfer system in place.

[3_tons]

“ 3Tons - not sure your 11kBTU AC experience applies very well to most that have 13.5 or 15kBTU ACs… ”

Your Correct 🙂

[MNRon]

Our Westinghouse i4500 has a generous gas tank and ran both our 15kBTU ACs (with EasyStarts) at 9400ft a month ago (didn’t need it nearly as much as the week before at 6000ft when temps were near 100 🙂 It is 100lb instead of 50 though…

3Tons - not sure your 11kBTU AC experience applies very well to most that have 13.5 or 15kBTU ACs…

[3_tons]

“What dies that tell ya?”

Maybe, you get what you’re willing to pay for??

3 tons

[Skibane]

3 tons wrote:
Well FWIW, with our onboard converter-charger switched off, the 2200 Honda runs our 11kbtu Coleman (with Easy-start) in Eco without a hitch - but my understanding is that what happens (at least with a single Honda) is that it’ll handle brief excursions to max wattage (say to 2000w), but rated at 1600w on a continuous basis

The EU2200i is rated at 1800 watts continuous.

That's the same continuous rating as a lot of other manufacturers' models equipped with 33% smaller engines.

What does that tell ya?

[ReneeG]

3 tons wrote:
Well FWIW, with our onboard converter-charger switched off, the 2200 Honda runs our 11kbtu Coleman (with Easy-start) in Eco without a hitch - but my understanding is that what happens (at least with a single Honda) is that it’ll handle brief excursions to max wattage (say to 2000w), but rated at 1600w on a continuous basis - this to allow for such things as compressor starts - I’ve not heard of a ‘30 min rule’ (makes no electrical sense to me…), so it still seems a bit odd that two paralleled Honda 2000’s would not be designed to replicate this same common sense and practical feature??

On a slightly different note, motors do tend to draw more running amperage after initial warm-up (20 or so minutes), and at temps rising above about 95d/f, while altitude will slightly de-rate generator output…

3 tons

And that may be the issue. Same test will be done when we install the SoftStartup.

[3_tons]

Well FWIW, with our onboard converter-charger switched off, the 2200 Honda runs our 11kbtu Coleman (with Easy-start) in Eco without a hitch - but my understanding is that what happens (at least with a single Honda) is that it’ll handle brief excursions to max wattage (say to 2000w), but rated at 1600w on a continuous basis - this to allow for such things as compressor starts - I’ve not heard of a ‘30 min rule’ (makes no electrical sense to me…), so it still seems a bit odd that two paralleled Honda 2000’s would not be designed to replicate this same common sense and practical feature??

On a slightly different note, motors do tend to draw more running amperage after initial warm-up (20 or so minutes), and at temps rising above about 95d/f, while altitude will slightly de-rate generator output…

3 tons

[ReneeG]

3 tons wrote:

ReneeG wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
We have two Honda eu2000i generators paralleled running a 15k AC. Honda generators paired like this will only provide 4000 watts for first thirty minutes, then they dial themselves back to 3200. The 15Kbtu requires 3800 watts for initial start, so test failed about 40 mins in after about the 3rd or 4th kick-on.
Soft start should reduce this below the required threshold. Parts are on order, should be here within the week and we'll do another test after installation.

An additional note, with our two eu2000i Honda's, with AC running we were able to put up the satellite and watch TV too, but as I said, after 30 min the power went down, but once the SoftStartUp is installed, that will be resolved.

Well, it’s not clear to me what you mean by “the power went down”, but (assuming no other loads) if your talking strictly about the 15kbtu air conditioner, I’m a bit surprised that the two Honda’s couldn’t momentarily surge to 4000w (per their spec’s) to handle this uber brief compressor start surge, maybe this was while in eco-mode (I donno ??), but it sounds like more info is needed…Yes, Easy-start will help out…

3 tons

What I should've said was that two 2000's provide 4000 watts at the start and for the first 30 minutes, then they dial themselves back to 3200. A 15k AC requires 3800 watts to start. So outside of the initial 30 minutes when the AC cycled on again, we lost power to the satellite and TV. It wasn't in eco mode, but know the SoftStartUp will fix that. Nice to know that we can watch TV though. A coworker has two off brands of generators to run his 13.5k AC and he says nothing, absolutely nothing else can be running for him.

[3_tons]

ReneeG wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
We have two Honda eu2000i generators paralleled running a 15k AC. Honda generators paired like this will only provide 4000 watts for first thirty minutes, then they dial themselves back to 3200. The 15Kbtu requires 3800 watts for initial start, so test failed about 40 mins in after about the 3rd or 4th kick-on.
Soft start should reduce this below the required threshold. Parts are on order, should be here within the week and we'll do another test after installation.

An additional note, with our two eu2000i Honda's, with AC running we were able to put up the satellite and watch TV too, but as I said, after 30 min the power went down, but once the SoftStartUp is installed, that will be resolved.

Well, it’s not clear to me what you mean by “the power went down”, but (assuming no other loads) if your talking strictly about the 15kbtu air conditioner, I’m a bit surprised that the two Honda’s couldn’t momentarily surge to 4000w (per their spec’s) to handle this uber brief compressor start surge, maybe this was while in eco-mode (I donno ??), but it sounds like more info is needed…Yes, Easy-start will help out…

3 tons

[ReneeG]

ReneeG wrote:
We have two Honda eu2000i generators paralleled running a 15k AC. Honda generators paired like this will only provide 4000 watts for first thirty minutes, then they dial themselves back to 3200. The 15Kbtu requires 3800 watts for initial start, so test failed about 40 mins in after about the 3rd or 4th kick-on.
Soft start should reduce this below the required threshold. Parts are on order, should be here within the week and we'll do another test after installation.

An additional note, with our two eu2000i Honda's, with AC running we were able to put up the satellite and watch TV too, but as I said, after 30 min the power went down, but once the SoftStartUp is installed, that will be resolved.

[3_tons]

ktmrfs wrote:
Several dry campers we know including us have installed the easy start on 13.5K BTU AC units with very good results. However I will point out one thing to consider regarding the honda 2000 and the easy start. The honda 2000 engine is pretty much max'd out so output max power goes down with altitude. We found that around 3500ft density altitude the 2000 is likely to overload, luckily the easy start just shuts the AC down for about 5 minutes rather than having the honda completely kick out. This is with all other 120V loads including the converter power turned off.

solution honda 2200. it has a much larger engine and even at 8000+ft it can run the AC unit and still have about 300watts to spare. As a check with a honda 2200 we ran our AC at around 8000ft in 100F temps and I turned the fridge on AC just to see what would happen, 2200 kept on running, no overload.

Before the easy start I was lugging around two honda 2000's, paralleled for AC, when the honda 2200 came out i bought one, gave one 2000 to our son, and for a while carried around a 2200 and 2000 as a "just in case" for AC when boondocking. Gave that up, never have needed more than the 2200 even at very high altitudes. Solar charges the batteries,

Agreed, me too…At high altitudes and temps (100d/f) my 2000 struggled - Eco mode was not an option…The difference between the 2000 and 2200 is much more than just the 200w, mainly because of the 2200’s larger GX commercial engine and viable Eco operation…

However, I later discovered that my pass-thru PSW inverter was the single biggest culprit at preventing Eco mode operation because it would ‘disqualify’ in coming genny power upon compressor starts when in the (low RPM) Eco mode…

So after a ton of study and consternation, I did a workaround by adding a dedicated, corded genny-eco ATS switch around the ‘too smart’ inverter (at it’s output), and all was resolved, except that now with the LFP’s, solar and Easy-start I haven’t had much of a need to run the genny for quite some time…I still carry it just in case…

3 tons

[ReneeG]

We have two Honda eu2000i generators paralleled running a 15k AC. Honda generators paired like this will only provide 4000 watts for first thirty minutes, then they dial themselves back to 3200. The 15Kbtu requires 3800 watts for initial start, so test failed about 40 mins in after about the 3rd or 4th kick-on.
Soft start should reduce this below the required threshold. Parts are on order, should be here within the week and we'll do another test after installation.