Always enjoy reading your stuff. I enjoy the theory of operation commentary you make. Do you ever attempt to make a soft start apparatus on your own? I’ve purchased soft starts for my home only to find out they were only a capacitor and a relay. Can you explain any, on how the softstart you refer to ramps up the current through electronics and why these device are so costly.
SoftStartRV is a fairly complicated circuit that uses a pair of SCRs and a sawtooth generator to ramp up the start winding current over 300ms or so. It’s really not a DIY project.
Knowing very little about fancy electricity, how come the stock capacitor needs that huge peak to get started and the Soft Start does not? I see what's going on but can't see why. Nevertheless, I had a Soft Start installed in my ac on my trailer several years ago. Just for grins I attempted to start my ac on batteries only (two 100 ah lithium units) and it actually worked. But it is not my intention to run ac on batteries. I just wanted to see if it would work. I quickly shut it down. We do a LOT of boondocking. If it's THAT hot that we need ac, we're in the wrong place. I do not ordinarily carry a generator along.
Mike, you emphasize that the soft start technology is appropriate for use with a generator. We don't have a generator and only use air conditioning when 120 volt service is available. What do you suggest for us? Would soft start enable us to use lower amperage service? Is there any value for us in a hard start capacitor?
Yes, you can run more things at once on shore power and still have the air conditioner start without tripping the circuit breaker. This is especially helpful on a 30-amp pedestal.
Thanks, Mike. I always enjoy reading your material. You must be sitting in front of your computer to respond so quickly. Take the rest of the weekend off.
Always enjoy reading your stuff. I enjoy the theory of operation commentary you make. Do you ever attempt to make a soft start apparatus on your own? I’ve purchased soft starts for my home only to find out they were only a capacitor and a relay. Can you explain any, on how the softstart you refer to ramps up the current through electronics and why these device are so costly.
SoftStartRV is a fairly complicated circuit that uses a pair of SCRs and a sawtooth generator to ramp up the start winding current over 300ms or so. It’s really not a DIY project.
Knowing very little about fancy electricity, how come the stock capacitor needs that huge peak to get started and the Soft Start does not? I see what's going on but can't see why. Nevertheless, I had a Soft Start installed in my ac on my trailer several years ago. Just for grins I attempted to start my ac on batteries only (two 100 ah lithium units) and it actually worked. But it is not my intention to run ac on batteries. I just wanted to see if it would work. I quickly shut it down. We do a LOT of boondocking. If it's THAT hot that we need ac, we're in the wrong place. I do not ordinarily carry a generator along.
Mike, you emphasize that the soft start technology is appropriate for use with a generator. We don't have a generator and only use air conditioning when 120 volt service is available. What do you suggest for us? Would soft start enable us to use lower amperage service? Is there any value for us in a hard start capacitor?
Yes, you can run more things at once on shore power and still have the air conditioner start without tripping the circuit breaker. This is especially helpful on a 30-amp pedestal.
Thanks, Mike. I always enjoy reading your material. You must be sitting in front of your computer to respond so quickly. Take the rest of the weekend off.
Actually, on my phone…
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