Foretravel Owners' Forum

With the mod's permission, I would like to discuss Micro-Air Easy Start (MSE) for both RV and home applications. I have watched/read some info on these but would like some first hand knowledge and I believe many of you run these.

First in our FTs.
- Is it worth the cost? Said another way, is there an ROI?
- It lowers the starting amps obviously, but what are the other benefits? Being that almost all have a 8-12K generator, that is more than ample to power on 2 roof ACs without a MSE.
- I believe they tout better troubleshooting. Is this worthwhile/helpful?
- Or is this more for solar applications to use your house batteries? I can see the benefit for starting but you would be limited to the amount of LiFE capacity onboard.  I recall Elliot's thread on using the front AC while driving on just LiFE, but I think he is the exception.
- Does this prolong the life of the ACs?
- I can see this useful for a TT or 5er without an onboard generator where you may bring yours along. You can purchase a smaller generator which give a lower entry price point.

For the home, I am referring to those with central air (CA). Some questions may be redundant.
- Does this prolong the life of the AC?
- Is it worth the cost? Said another way, is there an ROI?
- The big plus it seems is for those with standalone backup power, ie running a generator. Not having to buy a 12-15K watt generator and getting a 7500-9K generator can save in the generator purchase. 

I am sold on getting one for my house for backup power. Just yesterday a large section in TX went black for 3-4 hours in 100+ temp, and while the FT stepped in as usual, having a generator for the house would be preferred. I am still undecided on them for the FT, so hoping to hear what input you have.

Regarding the RV: I don't think they're worth the cost unless you want to run one of your ACs off an inverter. The only other real benefit is that you will never need a 50amp RV site again, 30amps will run both your ACs with the help of an easy start. In the long run that might pay off I suppose.

Good point Elliot about the 50A vs 30A campground which is not enough of a reason for me.

We installed your products competition "soft start" for the sole purpose of using 30 amp sites.
We have found, especially here in Canada, there are few RV resort/sites that have 50 amp plug ins, especially for sites that accommodate 40 ft or greater coaches.
It really has been a benefit to us to have the capability of running BOTH AC units in extreme heat with a 30 amp plug.
Your situation may be different, but for us it has been great. As a note we also notice the AC units run quieter (not just at startup)
Peter

I have 3 airs on my coach and installed all three with soft starts.  With some RV parks with low voltage and or only 30 amp service, I can run two, just not sure about the 3rd one, as we haven't had to use it unless it is really hot.  Most of that time, we are on generator out in the boonies somewhere!  I purchased all 3 on sale and got a pretty good deal.  Don't remember how much, but saved well over $175 on the 3.  They had a deal on just 2 as well.  Hope that helps!

I bought just one and haven't installed it yet. I am hoping that I can run the front air off the inverter, batteries and solar during the summer months when we dry camp. I have hit 150 amps many times in the Sierra's with the solar. I have 2 controllers, one 70/150 and one 85/150 and 2030 watts of solar. The 600 amps of lithium would help when needed. The Zantrex sw 3012 has no problem with the amps.

I have a Micro Air installed on my rear Furrion 15.5 AC. The main reason was to enable  less stress pulling startup amps in general.

We do a lot  of "mooch-docking" at our kids homes where at best we might have a 120v 15 amp circuit available on a long cord.... With the Victron multiplus, solar and lithium batteries, the AC starts smooth, never pops thier circuit breakers. This is also,  in part due to the Victron Inverter's1 enabled power (amps) boost  utilizing the batteries.

We can run one AC with no external power under the correct  conditions, ( lots of sun) but rarely do...  I will  get a second soft-starrt  for the front AC, these can be had a decent discount typically at the RV shows.

I do notice that the AC with the soft-start sounds less labored on compressor start up... I would assume.a smoth ramp-up is less stress on these compressors. The technology has been around for a while now from various vendors...

J & K

This is actually a really good point that I forgot to mention since we mooch dock less with our coaches than we did with our 30ft 5th wheel. I was never able to get either to run off a 15amp outlet with the easy start but a 20amp garage outlet would do the job.

I've always wondered,,,,,,,,,, is there any negatives to adding the Soft Start?  Do you lose any reliability, or do they cause any other type of issues?
If not, and the ROI wasn't an issue, is there any reason NOT to put one on an AC unit?

You have to "program" the Easy Start when you first install it. If you don't do that on a good electrical service it'll get wonky and not start reliably. Had that happen on my 5th wheel when I tried programming it off the batteries/inverter. The new ones let you go through the programming cycle again by way of bluetooth but back in the day you had to climb up on the roof and jump a wire to a terminal on the easy start to reprogram it.

Other than that, it's just one more system in the way of troubleshooting if you ever have AC problems but that's the only downside I can think of.

Note to all,stayed in many a RV park in the Yukon that only had 15 amp service,running from a diesel generator.

NO programming required for the soft. Install and away ya go

 No user required programming required for the soft start device.
 My unit took a few starts to make a "profile" then get to work, but after install its hands off.

Good info here. For the FT, there is not a ROI at this time with how we use it currently. I did pull the trigger and get one for the house, it will be interesting to see the inrush drop percent.

For us old folks,please define ROI.

ROI--Return On Investment

We added MicroAir EasyStart to both Dometic 15k units on our MH for the sole purpose of being able to run them both on 30-amp (and added EasyTouch for remote operation).

This past weekend we tested it while camping at Twin Dikes campground on Sam Rayburn.

On 50-amp, we were getting 120 vac on both legs with both AC units running (fans on high and compressors cooling), along with dehumidifier, entertainment center, RR, and water heater (121 vac without AC units operating).

On 30-amp, we had 121 vac prior to turning on AC units and dehumidifier. With everything running as mentioned above, it dropped to 114-115 vac. We ran it for nearly 3 hours in near 100 F ambient outside temp and over 80% humidity. This definitely is a plus in my opinion.

Why do you have a laptop on the roof?  Do you need to program these at installation?

No, laptop not needed for installation or programming. I was following directions someone else had written in a blog post. Thankfully it wasn't needed because it is easy to install these EasyStarts.