MICRO-AIR EasyStart FLEX 398 - Bluetooth Soft Start Kit for Home Air Conditioner, RV & Commercial Use, Works with Generators, Reduces Power Surge, Efficient Start-Up - Up to 6 Tons w/Installation Kit

Expensive maybe, but well worth the cost. If you're comfortable working with residential electricity this is easy-peasy. Two reasons I purchased. Easier on my AC system at start up and ability to run it with a whole house generator. It fit both needs. Directions were near perfect, an inquiry to their customer support regarding wiring resulted in a timely and accurate response. The unit now starts up quietly (for those that may have the duct work rattle) in addition to dropping my start up current to around 17 amps, well below the 70+ on the advertised locked rotor rating on the unit. This enables me to run the ac from a 9500 Predator with room to spare. Excellent long-term investment.

The MICRO-AIR EasyStart FLEX 398 - Bluetooth Soft Start Kit for Home Air Conditioner, was very easy to install. I had some questions about the app. So I called Hutch Mountain. They were very friendly and professional. install my easy start on my 4-ton Carrier A/C, which required 108 initial starting amp to start the compressor. After installing the easystart, it reduced the starting amps to 49 from 108 amps. within the five cycles for the easystart to learn, the starting amps went down to 28.9 amps. A week later the starting amps are 27.7 to start the compressor. The MICRO-AIR EasyStart FLEX 398 has reduce the starting amps from 108 to 27 for my A/C. A reduction of 75%. I know I will see a cost savings on my electric bill. Also, my A/C unit operates a lot smoother and quieter. Before installing the MICRO-AIR EasyStart FLEX 398 you could hear when my A/C was starting. Today it is so quiet that I have to go outside to check my A/C to see if it is running. My A/C turns on, runs for about 15 to 20 minutes then shuts off and may turn back on 4o to 60 minutes later. I feel and I am noticing my A/C is running more EFFIECENTLY!!! I strongly recommend this product for all to install in their A/C units. What an AWESOME PRODUCT!!!!

EDIT: I installed this item one week ago today. It has worked as advertised. While returning from running errands this morning I received a notification on my phone that the power was out at the house. The first real world opportunity to see if this piece of kit is worthy of the cheddar. I arrived home in about 10 minutes and confirmed much of the neighborhood was out. It's hot, DAMNED HOT, outside today and this will never do! It took about 15 minutes total time to get the gennie up and running and arrive at the moment of truth. I flipped the breaker for the gennie and powered the panel, then energized the furnace circuit (Ecobee thermostat controls), then energized the A/C circuit and waited. It took right at 2 minutes for the Ecobee to come online (wifi is on UPS) and call for cool. The fan on the A/C started first, seconds later the compressor started, the gennie shouldered the load like a CHAMP, and the A/C was running! I energized the rest of the circuits according to my emergency power plan and monitored cycle performance in cool air conditioned comfort. "I love it when a plan comes together!", Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith. Purchase with confidence! OE Review... Meets and exceeds expectations. Simple, straightforward four wire installation. Easy enough for a handy DIYer. They even have a short YouTube instruction video! I purchased this so I could have AC when the power goes out. I have a 4 ton HVAC that drew 106a inrush before installation. Too much for a modest portable generator in a power outage. After 6 learning cycles it only pulls 26.xxa! A bona fide 75% reduction in startup draw! It’s also much quieter now too. I highly recommend!

Update after 8 months .. device workin perfectly fine, total starts in the past 8 months is 4498 ( see attached picute ) I have a 3Ton , 35000BTU Goodman DSZC180361 heat pump with a Two-Stage Copeland UltraTech scroll compressor ( RLA 15.3Amp , LRA 83Amp, FLA 2.8Amp) , installed MICRO-AIR Easy Start FLEX 398 - Bluetooth Soft Start Kit few days ago , followed the instruction from the install guide " Easy Start Home AC Wiring Installing The Micro-Air Easy Start" section 5 , page 11-12, installation took less than 15 min. I have the Emerson comfort alert board " Late Model " . In rush current is reduced from around 80Amps to around 32-33 Amp during start up, after 5 "learned starts and 34 total starts with zero fault. (as of today) The easy start perfectly fit in the condenser housing, so its hidden from elements :) !!! BUT !!! I ran into some issues ... The soft start device killed the Heat Pump start capacitor after the first 2 successful learned starts. Heat Pump wasn't able to start , fan was working fine , of course no cold air , "open start circuit " error on the thermostat screen. First thought is the easy start what causing the issue , so i uninstalled the device , but still no working compressor, no cold air , same error on the thermostat ... same symptoms.. Replaced the start capacitor (Titan Pro 40+5 MFD 440 V), Heat pump up and running ... re installed the easy start device ... heat pump up and running ... In rush current is around 32-33 Amps. Not sure why or what happened , the manufacturing date on the start capacitor was 2014 , so it was to time to replace anyway :) Contacted Micro Air customer service via email 3 times before purchase , to make sure the device is compatible with my unit , never ever received any responds, so decided to give a try :). Contacted Micro Air customer service about the issue i faced after the first installation, i received answer on the same day. Contacted Micro Air customer service , after capacitor replacement , asked if i should re install the easy start device ( worried its going to kill the new capacitor i just installed), did not get any answer yet , so i went ahead and re installed the device ... so far everything working as its should now :) as of now , 5 star for the device 5 Star for the super easy instalation 5 star for the device functionality 5 start for the online instruction , installation manual 3 star for customer service Thats a 4.6 stars :) Going to update my review if " something " happening in the future :) Update : Micro Air Customr service contacted me , next day after i submitted my review , and suggested to re install the easy start device :)

I purchased this to reduce the starting load from my AC unit so I can run my house on my backup generator. I'm a very technical/handy person and found the installation instructions very easy to understand. I don't think you need to be very technical/handy to install this device. The installation was quick. The product works GREAT. Prior to install, my AC would not start on generator power. Now it all starts and I'm ready for the next storm. Great product!

This little unit works like a charm. They even have the connectors already placed onto the wires so all you have to do is snip one wire and connect the two ends to the connectors along with putting one wire onto the HERM connector on the capacitor and one on the power relay and you're up and running. My inrush amps went from around 120 down to 32, which is right at a 75% reduction. You also no longer get that annoying loud Ka-Chunk noise when the compressor starts. So far its been running for about a week and I am very happy with the results. The installation videos on the website are excellent. I installed the unit with total confidence that I was installing it correctly after watching the videos.

This thing is awesome! Installing it took less than 10 minutes after watching Hutch Mountains install video, and my air conditioner starts up so much smoother now! I am currently running most of my house off of 3 Ecoflow delta pro ultras and about 15kw worth of solar panels. With this unit I was finally able to move my A/C system over to solar power. My air conditioner initially required almost 120a to start up which was overloading all three of those units. I found that the start/run capacitor in the unit had started failing. I replaced that and it dropped the startup down to around 60a. This Soft Start system cut that even further down to about 18a. With this unit you could actually use a generator to power your home AC if needed. It also features a bluetooth diagnostic system to let you know if something is wrong with the unit during startup. I've noticed that my running wattage is about the same (maybe slightly less), but starting surge is about 1/3 of what it was. So I would think this should cut a little bit out of my power bill. It is a little on the expensive side, but for something that is made in the US (and made with high quality components, it has nippon capacitors installed in it!), I was willing to spend a little more. It is also a fairly small unit that is weather sealed. It will mount just about anywhere with the included double sided tape, or you can repurpose the panel screws that covers the relay/capacitors on the unit like I did. The front cover is clear plastic, which allows you to see the internal status LED's for a quick check to see what the unit is doing.

Reduced starting amps from 60 to 18. Much quieter on start up, easy to install. Took less than 30 minutes to complete installation.

I run two geothermal heat pumps - one 6 tonne and the other is 3 tonne. No more harsh startup sounds or light flickers on startup. On first startup in learn mode saw 66% reduction in startup current.