Air conditioner advice?

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The_Amateur
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:17 pm
Location: NW Atlanta

Air conditioner advice?

Post by The_Amateur » Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:35 pm

Down where I live in north Georgia, everything's in full bloom and the roads have turned yellow with pollen. This means one thing: summer. I bought an air conditioner and it's all installed and such (story within itself). I plugged it in and flipped it on, and the compressor won't kick on because its startup surge is being limited by my 600 watt pure sine wave inverter (surge 1200). The air conditioner asks for 460 watts with the compressor running. The wires to the inverter are around 12 inches long and are either 2 or 4 gauge, and I literally can not get it any shorter. Is there anybody out there who could help me with this situation? Maybe a way to bypass this startup surge or have the compressor slowly turn on? Any advice is appreciated! It works off of grid power perfectly fine. I've been using that to run the AC now as the leaves aren't thick enough to block the sun from getting in and warming up the place to 94 degrees while 80 outside yet, and my 5 gallon bucket conditioner can't cool off all that heat- it just keeps it from getting hotter and melts the ice very quickly.

Jc01
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:14 pm

Re: Air conditioner advice?

Post by Jc01 » Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:02 pm

Ok from the a/c part of it you can try a couple different things if you turn the stat all the way up then start the window unit so the fan can start by itself and the turn down the stat to bring on compressor so they aren't both starting at the same time

Or you can by a http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=C4PV ... SEASPP_d_5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And wire it in by jumping on the run cap. Or between r and s terminals on the compressor it will help start the compressor you can pick one up if you have a Locke supply or another a/c parts house locally.

cold
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:15 pm

Re: Air conditioner advice?

Post by cold » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:18 pm

I've heard of some people adding a capacitor to help with the start up surge.

The_Amateur
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:17 pm
Location: NW Atlanta

Re: Air conditioner advice?

Post by The_Amateur » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:18 pm

Thanks for the help! Are you sure that the capacitor you listed will work with the specific air conditioner, Jc? If you're sure, let me know and I'll buy it as soon as you reply. I tried your tip with the fan and the buzzing wasn't AS bad, but it still didn't let the compressor turn on.

Cold, thanks. I just began discovering these capacitors while learning about these soft-start and hard-start techniques.

cold
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:15 pm

Re: Air conditioner advice?

Post by cold » Sun Apr 27, 2014 12:09 pm

I'm no expert, but looking at the link provided, I wouldn't hesitate to give that cap a try. The majority of the people here wouldn't intentionally lead you wrong. Good Luck ;)

mr bugsier5
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2013 12:36 pm
Location: Brielle , west coast of holland(europe)

Re: Air conditioner advice?

Post by mr bugsier5 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:21 am

y think the main part of your problem is just the inverter that is not doing that the say it can do, most times ive helped people with these problems is thus a way to smal inverter , and second is thin feed wires from the batterys to the inverter , use welding cables, dont know the american awg , but here in europe its around 70 or 95 mm proffesional welding cables.ýou cant have to thick wires!
the bigger the better! 8-)

if you have good and good sized and good wiring you do not need a capacitor, but it can help by high start up currents and old, undercharged or to smal battery's.

buy a big and good inverter, not the cheap car inverters.,cheap is mostly crappy. ;) and a well sized battery bank. ;)
dont be afraid to ask!, a stupid question does not exist!
forgive me my bad English!, as long as you know what i mean it,s fine for me!
(you thry dutch, wont be easy to! HA HA!)

mr bugsier5
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2013 12:36 pm
Location: Brielle , west coast of holland(europe)

Re: Air conditioner advice?

Post by mr bugsier5 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:30 am

and remember , a car start battery is not to be drawn more than 80 % to stay healty
a semi traction not more than 50 %
a real traction max 80%

thats to say, a 100 ah strt battery is only 20 % usable , so 20 AH!
in semy traction is 50% so 50 ah
in traction its 80 amp hours

to keep your lead acid batteys healty you see that if you think that you have 100 amp houres , its way more less in the way you use it as a battery! :(
dont be afraid to ask!, a stupid question does not exist!
forgive me my bad English!, as long as you know what i mean it,s fine for me!
(you thry dutch, wont be easy to! HA HA!)

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