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mbiker avatar image
mbiker asked

Easy Start Compatibility Issues with Victron Inverters?

Hello,

Does anyone know if there would be any detrimental effects of using a product like the Micro Air Easy Start with Victron Hybrid Inverters? I have purchased a couple of MultiPlus-II 12/3000/120-50 2x120V that I plan to run in a parallel configuration. I thought the East Start product might be a good thing to put less demand on the inverters when trying to startup the air conditioners on my fifth wheel but I noticed that Johannes from Victron seemed to indicate that certain kinds of soft starters are not good for their Inverters (see ~24 minute mark of his Inverter Overloading video). He made seemed to indicate that VFDs are good, but they are very large, heavy, expensive, and seemingly hard to find for 120V 15000BTU/h air conditioners. Thank you, Mike

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Charger
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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ commented ·

@Mbiker

I have never used a soft starter on a Victron but can comment on their design and use. They usually chop the power as they are triac based and this causes issues in inverters and sometimes a pretty nasty sound too. My one hair dryer has one gave me the fright of my life, not the same thing exactly but I can see why they are not recommended.

Noise equals heat (heat bad) and a host of other issues appear when sine waves are messed with in inverters systems. The ability to read the actual power being drawn using the system will be messed with as well. The neutral earth bonding also has something to do with why the triac based stuff is not liked as well.

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mbiker avatar image mbiker Alexandra ♦ commented ·

Hi Alexandra,

I appreciate your taking the time to give me some astute help. I agree that the the noise created by the controller/triacs performing voltage chopping will create a brief harmonic distortion. I am thinking/hoping that brief perturbation won't hurt anything ( Micro Air EasyStart is expected to only modify the input waveform for about 1/3 of second ). I know that the Victron Inverter needs to be within the expected voltage level within 30 cycles, ie. 1/2 second. I will actually have two of the MultiPlus-II 12/3000/120-50 2x120V inverters in parallel so I am reasonably confident that won't be a problem but empirical evidence is golden!

Best Regards, Mike

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cleaver avatar image
cleaver answered ·

I have one on a 15k btu a/c. no problems. Just follow the installation and setup procedure so it can calibrate itself..

Inverter has no trouble starting and running the A/C.

Here is a quick link of video of the 15K running on battery alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUdLrftA3EA

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mbiker avatar image mbiker commented ·

Awesome - thanks cleaver !!!

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svtti123 avatar image
svtti123 answered ·

hello mbiker,


i installed one of this type.


SoftStartRV SSRV3T purchased on amazon

on a friends multiplus 3000 120 volt unit.

the unit would not start when the ambient temp reached about 80 F .As the temp rises head pressure rises this makes it more demanding and harder to start a ac unit.


he no longer gets a momentary overload light and a bang from a hard starting ac compressor during startup .also always starts now even when its 110 outside. in fact its hard to tell the compressor started with out checking the wattage on the mutiplus . its that quite starting.

installing a second softstart on a mulitiplus 300 within next couple of days .let you know how i make out .

check https://www.softstartrv.com/

they claim no problem at all using on a inverter .

i also installed one on my 3000 watt inverter not a muliplus. for the same reasons and now i have no issues at all . i could not start mine with my gen or inverter when the ambient was above 70 f .it regularly above 95 everyday here this time of year and both ac units working very hard.

there almost a must with smaller gens and inverter for AC

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mbiker avatar image mbiker commented ·

This is good news! Thanks svtti123 !!!

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