Air Conditioner startup capacitor? - Page 3

**Larryjb** · 03-31-2018, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigrrr

Most cpaps are capable to run off 12 volts, check online for a 12 volt acc. kit for her model cpap. When we camp in the desert and going cross country the AC would be a nice feature to have running in the summer, as the desert camping goes it's on blm land and if someone wants to be that close they have to deal with the generator. But then it is a Honda and it is quiet .
here is just camping in the campurban,would like to have a roof top ac on this thing too. lol

Campurban... I love it. It would sound rude with my Tahoe. Why, oh why, did I get a Tahoe?

I was also wondering about sound enclosures and heat. Obviously Brittany had trouble with heat and a long extension cord, which was solved by a very short extension cord. (Why not plug the trailer cord directly to the generator?)

Would it be advisable to plug in a small fan circulating air into a sound enclosure?

Brittany Dogs · 03-31-2018, 12:31 PM

Sure Bill, I converted my cable pull out to the Marineco connector. Then I put the female Marineco on the end of the factory 30 foot black power cable that came with the TrailManor unit.

In addition, I bought a Ridgid brand 10AWG extension cord from Home Depot, snipped off the ends leaving about 14” from both the male and female ends to later use for pig tails I might need. The remaining extension cord was used to put the standard 30 amp RV plug ends on it allowing me to have options in powering up the camper.

So that I can pre-cool down my refrigerator a day ahead of departure from home, I use this short pig tail that is a male 15 amp three prong on one end and a Hubbell female 30 amp on the other. I then plug a standard but short extension cord to an outlet in my garage where the TrailManor is.

In my troubleshooting of the Honda not working on hot muggy days I put the Honda on a stool at the height that would allow the generator to plug into this pig tail, then into the TrailManor, thus having only about 12” of cord length.

The very short extension cord obviously had such little voltage drop that allowed the AC to run. That clued me in that the cord length was enough to be a factor when the Honda 2000i was on the very upper edge of performing when it was warm, and I should also say when operating in 1200 foot elevations which also derates the generator.

Does this explanation help?

Brittany Dogs · 03-31-2018, 12:35 PM

Oh, yes, I just happened to have a photo of that pig tail on my iPad. Somehow I knew there would be a day I needed it for this forum

**Bill** · 03-31-2018, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brittany Dogs

Sure Bill, I converted my cable pull out to the Marineco connector.<snip> Does this explanation help?

It helps a lot. Very clever - I like it a lot. Thanks for getting back to me.

Bill

**rickst29** · 04-05-2018, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigrrr

Most cpaps are capable to run off 12 volts, check online for a 12 volt acc. kit for her model cpap.

That's true for Phillips, but not for Resmed. (24V-27V main power, plus a funky low-voltage sensor pin in the middle.)
I built my own 12V->Resmed adapter, and it involved several parts: A Boost Converter for the 24V main connector, linked also to a Buck converter + Resistor connector for the Sensor pin. (And a couple of big "smoothing" caps). It work great, but it wasn't simple.

The "Official" Converter costs about $80, and it isn't a bad solution at all - it's just a bit costly.

**Kidkraz** · 04-08-2018, 05:45 PM

I use the ResMed AirSense 10 connected to a Goal Zero Yeti 400 Lithium battery, and the Resmed 37297 Air10 DC-DC Converter.
I just returned from a dry camping trip which started on Wed. I still had power for a 5th night. My pressure averages at about 13, but the Goal Zero battery works great. My set up isn't cheap and not for everyone, but I feel it's the best money I've spent when it comes to being able to dry camp and still sleep well.

**rickst29** · 04-08-2018, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kidkraz

I use the ResMed AirSense 10 connected to a Goal Zero Yeti 400 Lithium battery, and the Resmed 37297 Air10 DC-DC Converter.
I just returned from a dry camping trip which started on Wed. I still had power for a 5th night. My pressure averages at about 13, but the Goal Zero battery works great. My set up isn't cheap and not for everyone, but I feel it's the best money I've spent when it comes to being able to dry camp and still sleep well.

Sounds good. But, since I already have about 90 lbs of "SLA" batteries on the tongue, I chose to skip buying another battery, and saved some money with a purpose-built 12V converter. The 'homebuilt' Resmed Convert uses just 4 parts and a box, and I think it's more reliable than the Resmed:

sacrificial cord from a 120VAC aftermarket supply ($13).
a regulated Voltage Boost converter, output 24V. ($16 or so.)
a $2 variable "Buck" Converter, creating 3.3V from the 24V.
( I forgot to add into the picture) a 2.7K resistor. costs a quarter.
a 12V input cord and connector - maybe expensive, you should be able to support 90 watts (almost 8A).

With this wired up and boxed, I can use a high-power 12V outlet to drive the Resmed. (Most cigarette-plug connectors are inadequate to provide the power, I created a new twist-lock for this.) It uses the TM batteries, recharged from Solar or the 4Runner if cloudy days leave insufficient battery charge. The big advantage? No limit on number of unplugged days. The big disadvantage - my box only works WITH the TM.

(Hint: if anyone wants to buy one, the pictured parts are spares, from which I can build a second box.)

BrucePerens · 04-08-2018, 10:26 PM

Rick I'd be a little careful about offering to sell medical devices. I know it's a simple power supply, but technically I think you need FDA approval. The liability issues are not trivial either.

Craigrrr · 05-06-2018, 03:12 PM

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered the Micro Air soft start, it arrived a few days ago, so today I got up on the tm and installed it, I found that the micro Air unit is quite large, really hard to fit behind the electrical cover but I got it in there after relocating the other 2 capacitors and it still hung outside at the lower end but out of the weather. I did 6 starts on house current and then plugged into the Honda EU2000i companion generator. It Started up and ran nice, cycled off but would not kick on the compressor after the first cycle... so I waited 5 min. it tried again, nope...no start just fan is running. now on the third try it started up ( this btw is set on ECO mode) but then again after it cycled off it would not kick on the compressor..waited 5 min. again, waited again ...and again.. this time it would not start the compressor on ECO mode. I had to switch eco off and then it would start the compressor... At this point I am not a happy camper after spending almost 300 dollars on this soft start kit.

I can only imagine how hard this will be to start when it gets over 100* out here in the desert. I plan to call Matteo at Micro Air Monday AM. My other thought was to install a new run cap in case the old one is just weak and it pulling one or so extra amps. Oh the Honda eu2000i generator I think is still under powered for a 13.5 ac unit cause when I ran it with the eco mode off the genny revs high and actually more than what I think is normal when the eco mode is off.

Brittany Dogs · 05-07-2018, 07:10 AM

Craig, I believe there needs to be a period of time, perhaps longer than 5 minutes, from when the last time the compressor shut off. I am no HVAC tech but I believe the AC unit wants to bleed off the high pressure side before the compressor turns on again. Otherwise the compressor has too difficult of effort to start up again when the last cycle was too recent. If the AC unit does not protect this then perhaps the Micro Air unit is using the computer it has to safeguard this. The other concern might be that perhaps the cabin internal temperature was chilly enough for the thermostat to NOT sense a need to turn on the compressor.

When I trained my Micro Air, I gave it 20 minutes between training cycles. Maybe that was overkill. After the compressor was on for say 8-10 minutes, I would turn the cool setting very low to tell the compressor to shut off, then wait until 20 minutes, then turn up the cool setting a little past the time I heard the relay click, which turns on the compressor again.

I will say this; once trained and on the 2000i, it is really neat how the relay clicks on, the generator then ramps up over perhaps three seconds, enough for the Honda to reach upper RPMs, then the compressor kicks in.