Air Conditioner Soft Start - February 2024 ($263)

Upgrading the electrical on the Serenity provides enough battery power to run the AC off the batteries if needed. Frankly, I don't plan on doing this a lot but having the option is always nice. AC units draw lots of current on startup which can cause issues with the inverter. There are several companies that offer a solution to dampen the current draw. 

 

I chose SoftStartRV because it was just a bit less expensive and had good reviews. 

https://www.softstartrv.com/

This graph (from the SoftStartRV website) shows how the soft start damps the current draw during AC start.

This graph is from a Dometic 15K Penguin II AC unit, which is the unit we have on our Serenity. 

The install is pretty easy, but does require some rewiring of the AC unit. You basically remove the AC cover, install the unit and rewire using the crimp connectors provided. It took about an hour.

The AC unit without the cover. 

I tucked the softstart in next to the electric motor and secured it with zip ties. It fit pretty easily. It has three LEDs that show status, which are good to verify operation before putting the cover back on the AC unit. 

I ran it for over 30 mins in heat pump mode, since it is winter. It definitely has less of a surge on start. It seems to work as advertised, I will not attempt operating the AC off the batteries until I have my Epoch batteries which are due the end of March. We plan to leave before the end of March and return in the fist week of May, so it will be sometime before I can do the final testing.