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

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!

First delivery was excellent, same day, had a problem with thermal overload and compressor was making a horrible sound, having experience in AC, we had power surge a few times that week, I decided to purchase this soft start kit, it's excellent investment and this being a 5 tonnes unit as well, the kit is easy to install, great video on how to install, took me 15 minutes,and it works magnificent, no hard start and no more dimming lights, great value for your money and adding more years to the life of your compressor and actually save on your light bill. Highly recommended, my personal opinion is that every home owner should have this installed on there AC unit 👍

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.

Works exactly as they say. Install takes 15 min. Reduced my 2.5 ton Goodman heat pump LRA from 72 to 14.4 amps!! Running amps was reduced as well to 4.8 amps.

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 :)

was great! Easy to install for a novice. Just in time for a snow and ice storm in Virginia.

Living in Florida, I have a larger (10000 kw on natural gas) generator that has seen use in the past few years, after storms. However, that machine would not power my central air due to starting amperage requirements. Now, with this unit installed, it does power the central A/C system which happens to be a reversable heat pump. Further, the install directions were able to be followed. But equally important, I could ask the manufacturer questions and they got back to me very quickly. So nice. My biggest issue was the capacitor had rusted to the point where the terminals were not marked, if they ever were labeled. So internet research was necessary to figure that out. All in all I am a happy customer.

The EasyStart Flex was incredibly easy to install. The video they provide with box clearly and competently described what to look for and what to do. Took me less than 15 minutes to complete, and that includes the time it took to find a suitable place to mount it (it comes with the hardware for that, too!). And it works! Before installing, every time our AC kicked on, all the lights in the house would dim and flicker, and the compressor kicking on would be obnoxiously loud. We have a Goodman GSX13 that's only a few years old, but it felt like it was dying when starting up. Now with the EasyStart installed, the compressor makes virtually no noise when starting, and my lights don't even notice. I think this product will easily add several years to the life of my AC. And with us going to solar in the next several weeks, I don't have to worry that the ACs starting load will overwhelm my inverter. Why aren't these standard on all AC units?!? Seriously, if you're contemplating getting it because of the price, I get it. But it is worth it for the peace of mind it's bringing me. What a fantastic product, wish I had done this sooner.