Micro Air Easy Start 364-XP installation

[rmnpcolorado]

I installed a Micro Air Easy Start 364-XP on our Furrion AC unit and it has been generating issues from the start, making me wonder if I had installed it incorrectly or something else.

For starters, I was trying to run/test the unit on our 15amp outlet. Turns out the Furrion draws 15.35amps when running, so of course on the small breaker and smaller extension cord the compressor would fire up, run for a minute or so, and then shut down/stall out. Makes perfect sense.

Next test was to get a 25’ 30amp RV extension cord. Plugged it into a 20amp outlet. Fired it up, the compressor ran for about two minutes (I was getting excited) and then shut down. The fan ran for three minutes, the compressor kicked in, ran for 30 seconds and shut down again. This time the error lights signifies an over current situation, saying the device was not able to support the load. Not sure I buy that.

Any thoughts? I’ve been working directly with Micro Air Support, but curious if anyone has had any issues with installing this unit on a Furrion 15k btu AC unit? I’m pretty sure the way it’s running that everything is wired correctly, but just have that sneaking suspicion something’s not right? I don’t know where to go with this. And it’s 100° here in WI. Of course.

[3_tons]

Well per my recollection, the manufacturers say it takes about 4-5 compressor start-stop cycles for the device to learn the most optimum operating parameters…

3 tons

[rmnpcolorado]

Interesting info on the soft starters-thanks for sharing.

I was able to get it running although of course I haven’t been able to do an extended test since it’s now 70° here in Wisconsin. Everything looked good, and it ran for 8+ minutes before the compressor shut down due to the internal temp dropping. The fan did keep running and it cycled up a little later as expected. All stats looked good on the Bluetooth app, so that was really encouraging. It’s supposed to be in the 90s this Labor Day weekend, so it will get some use!

Essentially what I had to do was put all of the compressor and fan wires together on one post. That’s not how I had it and it didn’t like it. All seems good and both the external fan and compressor were performing well.

[3_tons]

The Why and How of Soft starters:

https://realpars.com/soft-starter/

And here:

https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/machinery-tools-supplies/motor-soft-starters/

[rmnpcolorado]

Interesting- Micro Air has authorized a return of the 364-XP starter and wants me to order the Bluetooth version. Not sure if that’s because they can see the diagnostics on it or what. My understanding is that the Bluetooth and non Bluetooth versions were essentially the same.

[ktmrfs]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
My understanding of the THEORY OF OPERATION of the Easy Start, once the A/C is running, it has no impact on the operation !

Call Micro Air and see what the say.

that's almost correct. The micro-air is a START aid, not something that reduces running current, it doesn't.

BUT The easy start does in some way try to detect a power source overload that could affect the AC. If it thinks the circuit is overloaded it will drop the AC for a few minutes and then start up again.

I've experienced this when I was using my honda 2000 at high altitude to run the coleman AC. That 2000 was maxed out, above continous rated power and into the short term power limit, and instead of having the honda drop into it's overload the micro air would shut off the ac for a short period of time, honda would idle down, then about 5 minutes later ac would start up again, The mico air manual talks about how it handles what it thinks is an overload.

BTW, once I switched to a honda 2200 the high alitude problem went away.. the extra 200VA and the 25% larger motor saves the day. Mostly the larger engine.

[theoldwizard1]

My understanding of the THEORY OF OPERATION of the Easy Start, once the A/C is running, it has no impact on the operation !

Call Micro Air and see what the say.

[TurnThePage]

I installed the MicroAir easy start on the Dometic Brisk II 15k btu A/C on my new trailer. It helped right away to allow my Champion 3400 to start it in economode. However, I've had some strange behaviors from the A/C where the fan will shut off, then come back on, or shuts off and doesn't come back on. The compressor is running the whole time either way. Recently the Champion overloaded when trying to start the A/C in economode. I've only done minor troubleshooting at this point, but I am concerned. One thing I noticed was how lousy the install of my A/C was. There were huge gaps allowing cold air to vent directly into the attic. In fact foam pieces were so loose in there, they were actually redirecting a lot of the air into the attic. I've HVAC taped them into place and haven't had an error since then, but haven't actually used the gen since then either. Definitely not impressed with this A/C at this point.