Softstart

Well, I installed the micro-air soft start.  I did NOT use the ladder attached to the PC.  I have a little giant I extended.  Much safer.  Anyway all went well, but I did have to call the company to ask ask a question about 2 wires.  Talked me thru it while I was up on the roof.   Ran it according to instructions.  Works great.  Will try the gen tomorrow with both ac and mirco wave running.

I took the bottom half of my ladder off as well. Having a luggage rack on the roof and a ladder to access it is just silliness in my opinion. If you put your suitcases on the roof they would get wet every time it rained. And who would want to go up and down that ladder to keep getting underwear and socks out?

Don't understand a luggage rack on top of an RV.  1.  It is only about 4-5 inches tall.  2.  There is only 3 sides to it.  Not very practical.  Oh well, some people like them and some people don't.  That's what's great about this country-choice! (for now).     

Quote from: Bangorbob on February 26, 2021, 10:22:13 am

BTW- I do not like the attached ladder.  I already removed the bottom half.  Am thinking about removing the rest.

You and I are in the minority.  Everyone else likes their ladder and I am happy for them.

I ordered our PC with the roof rack and ladder placed inside the house as a kit, just in-case I later changed my mind.  I sold them just last year.  I like the clean look without all that and in my particular case, I avoided all the drilled holes in the rear wall and roof.  At home I use a 10 foot step ladder.  So far during trips, I have never had a reason to go on the roof.  I got close to buying a telescoping ladder to have on-hand, but I backed out before reaching the cash register.

The way my universe is known to work, if I removed the ladder, the next time I went on the road there would be a hail storm, or a big branch would blow onto the roof in a windstorm in the  middle of the night, or I'd hear a big bang on the roof as I went under an overpass or passed a big rig, and I'd have no way to check for damage without climbing a tree. Or I'd be wishing I could get that photo from a position 15 feet higher than ground level.

Or the 10' stepladder I use  to climb and then transition to the rear ladder would tip out from under me since there was no ladder or roof rack to grab as I climb up with a 40# RV cover balanced on my head like a sherpa.

As you say...to each his own...

I watched THIS VIDEO of a fellow installing a Softstart in his older Coleman a/c unit.  He mounted the Softstart unit horizontally with the wires coming out the side of the unit.  That is a very bad idea.  Any water that gets on the wires will flow down them right into the Softstart unit.  Make sure to mount the unit vertically or at least at an angle so that water on the wires cannot travel into the Softstart.

That guy's particular Coleman a/c unit, his cover has ventilation louvers near the wires.  Wind-driven rain could drench his wires and prematurely kill his Softstart.

Ron,

I just installed my SoftstartRV today.  Both MicroAir and SoftstartRV say it can be mounted vertically or horizontally as long as the wires come out the bottom or the back.   I just got back from a trip to Texas where we had a fair amount of rain going and coming.   When I took the shroud off the Penguin 2 unit... There was  dust/dirt under the shroud, but zero evidence of any water tracks or pudding or anything else to indicate water, rain, car washes, snow, etc. has ever gotten under the shroud in 64,000 miles of use.

Don

I don't care for the ladder either but might come in handy if needed sometime. Main use is to support a bicycle. Last summer I installed a Micro Air EasyStart on a P2 and it worked as advertised to keep the gen breaker (at the unit) from kicking off when AC was cycling. I read where a fellow mounted a second AC and made it work off 30 amp with an EasyStart. My plans are to add another P2 AC this year but think I'll wire it separate from the house system to be safe. We do a lot of dry camping throughout the summer and 90 degree temps make the one unit struggle. I carry a 7000 watt generator in my car trailer I tow and use it to power the trailer and motorhome. Gen set on the 2910 is mainly a backup and rarely used but when it is it struggles sometimes.

George

Thanks for all of the comments and updates. I may install a soft start sometime in the future just to make sleeping easier.

RonJ

I installed the Soft Start RV to my 15kw AC w/heat pump today. So nice to have AC runing when packing the PC at home pluged into a 20amp circuit. Tech support was great they called me after putting in a ticket online and walked me through the installation, called me back after to make sure everything was working okay.