Stay Cool In Your RV This Summer With The Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze

During the dog days of summer, boondocking or staying in campsites with limited power can be a challenge if you want to keep cool. As you probably know by now, boondocking is our favorite way to camp. So, how do WE stay cool when we don’t have shore power and want to run our air conditioner? We use a product called the Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze, and in this post, we’ll explain why.

Whether you’re boondocking in the classic sense (out in the middle of nowhere) or simply in a campsite with no (or limited amperage) electric hook-ups, it can be difficult or even impossible to run the air conditioner in your motorhome or travel trailer. You can always use a generator, but having one that’s large enough to handle the start-up surge an air conditioner compressor needs may not be practical (they’re large and loud!).

If you have a large enough battery bank and inverter in your rig, you can use them to run your air conditioner. Additionally, solar panels can help replace the power being used. However, anything short of a substantial solar and battery bank won’t be capable of powering RV air conditioning for very long… and will likely leave you with low battery power once you’re done (which now may not be enough to get you through the night).

Even if you have a 30-amp connection available at your campsite, larger RVs often have two air conditioners. The power spike from two RV air conditioners trying to start up simultaneously on a 30-amp connection can trip the circuit breaker (of course, with both A/Cs running you’ll have to carefully monitor any other 120V AC power usage carefully… two air conditioners running at the same time can pull about 25-28 amps of current, leaving very little for other devices).

All this is where the Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze comes in, eliminating the start-up power spike and getting RV air conditioners up and running like a champ. And with the version that includes Bluetooth, you can also access your system’s start-up performance & technical data, diagnose and fix problems without having to climb up on the roof, access fast & effective technical support through the built-in submission feature, and more! Let’s take a look.

What is a Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze?

The Micro-Air company has been designing air conditioning control units for marine and RV applications for years. Their EasyStart Breeze soft start module was designed to utilize lower amperage power sources to start and run air conditioners for extended periods. Additionally, this control over the amount of energy used allows for the simultaneous operation of multiple appliances.

This soft-start mechanism is designed for use with single-phase motors, allowing RV air conditioners to operate on smaller generators, inverters, or limited shore power.

How Does a Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze Work?

Installing a Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze soft start module on an RV air conditioner steps down the high-power currents usually required to start the compressor. These seemingly magic little devices reduce AC start-up current by 65% to 75%, allowing you to:

• Run a single air conditioner off a small portable generator
• Run a single air conditioner off a 15/20-amp shower power connection
• Simultaneously run TWO air conditioners off a 30-amp connection (again, being aware that the power draw from 2 A/Cs running will eat up MOST of the available current on a 30-amp connection, so you’ll have to be very careful of other power usage – switch your water heater and/or refrigerator to propane if possible, and limit the usage of any other 120V power)

Benefits of the Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze

There are several benefits to having a Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze on your RV’s air conditioner(s), including:

1. Avoiding the power surge typically required at startup, which can trip breakers and overpower small generators.
2. Being able to run a single air conditioner with a smaller portable generator.
3. Having the ability to run two air conditioners while hooked up to 30-amp shore power. (SEE NOTE BELOW)
4. Reducing the added noise associated with compressor start-up (the EasyStart Breeze ramps it up smoothly and more quietly).
5. Allowing you to power your air conditioner from an inverter or alternate low-amperage power source.
6. The Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze Bluetooth model enables you to diagnose any issues without having to go onto the roof, view start-up and technical data about the system, and submit any support requests directly through the Micro-Air app (our discount code below will work for this version, too!)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Two air conditioners running at the same time can pull most of the capacity of a 30-amp breaker. To have any chance of this working successfully for you, you’ll need to reduce/eliminate any other 120V AC power usage (switch your RV fridge to propane, turn off or switch your water heater to propane, disable your battery charger, etc). Two air conditioners running at the same time can pull most of the capacity of a 30-amp breaker.

Additionally, during peak demand in full RV parks on hot days, voltage sag on the incoming shore power means that your air conditioners will need even more current to operate, which may mean that you could exceed 30-amps of draw and trip the pedestal breaker. This is why we carried a Hughes Autoformer on board our motorhome, so that we could utilize its ability to boost the voltage (using a smaller amount of additional current) so our air conditioners could run without tripping the pedestal (and even then, in parks with particularly bad voltage sag, that wasn’t enough and we could only run a single A/C unit).

How to Get an EasyStart Breeze (or two!) for your RV… and Save!

We recommend purchasing your Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze soft start modules directly from the factory. Be sure to use the code “RVGEEKS” when you do to receive $25 off. The discount applies to each unit you buy (either the standard model or the Bluetooth version), so you can save $50 or $75 if you have two or three air conditioners.

DIY or RV Tech for Installation

Installing a Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze isn’t as complicated as you might think. Of course, if you’d rather not do it yourself, a mobile tech or service center should be able to help you out. We just recommend that you read online reviews when selecting your mechanic.

DIY Installation of the Micro-Air EasyStart

If you feel confident in your electrical abilities and handyperson skills, there are a few things you’ll need to install your Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze! They include:

• Wire Crimper & Stripper 
• Multimeter 
• EasyStart Installation kit
• A tool to open your air conditioner cover, depending on the model (usually a screwdriver or socket wrench)

Once you’ve confirmed that you have all the necessary tools, you’re ready to install your Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze. We’ve laid out the steps for you below for how we installed ours in our motorhome’s Dometic Penguin Heat Pump Air Conditioners (some steps may be different for your make/model of air conditioner… follow the correct instructions as supplied by Micro-Air):

1. Turn off all power, including shore, generator, and inverter, along with the A/C circuit breaker(s).
2. Remove the outer cover/shroud from the air conditioner.
3. Identify the compressor and main capacitor.
4. Touch the tip of an insulated screwdriver across the terminals of the capacitors. This will discharge any current still held in them, preventing you from getting zapped with an electric shock while working on them! Just be sure that, while doing this, you don’t accidentally touch the metal of the screwdriver.

6. Identify an appropriate location and mount the EastStart using the double-sided tape included in the optional installation kit.

7. Locate the “R” wire (usually white) on the compressor and follow it to the main capacitor. Disconnect the end of that wire from the main capacitor terminal.
8. Crimp that wire to the brown wire on the Micro-Air EasyStart.
9. Connect the white wire from EasyStart to the top of the main capacitor, where the original wire was just removed.
10. Find the “S” wire (usually red) on the compressor and follow it to the terminal it attaches to on the main capacitor. This is the “Main Terminal Group.” Attach the orange wire from the EasyStart to that same terminal. If there isn’t an empty post in the Main Terminal Group, you may need to put both the “S” wire and the orange wire on the same post. There’s a “double” post in the installation kit for that purpose, if needed.
11. Locate the “C” wire on the compressor (usually blue on newer models, but were black on our older A/C unit) and follow it to the end, where it’s attached to a relay. Disconnect that wire from the relay.
12. Using the same relay terminal from which you just removed the blue or black C wire, connect the short black wire from the installation kit to that terminal.
13. Using an end-splice, connect together all of the following 3 wires: 1) the short black wire you just attached to the relay, 2) the blue or black wire you disconnected from the relay (the one that goes back to the compressor), and 3) the black wire from the Easy Start.
14. Locate both wires that connect the run capacitor to the start capacitor. Remove both ends of both wires from both capacitors, and discard both wires. The start capacitor can either be removed, or left in place, disconnected, as it will no longer be needed.
15. Replace any covers that you removed, including the outer A/C shroud.
16. Then put the fuse back in place and turn on the power breaker.
17. Turn your air conditioner unit on and off 5 times, waiting 5 minutes in between each start. This trains the EasyStart to your air conditioner’s characteristics.

If you’d prefer to see us complete our installation before tackling your own, watch this step-by-step tutorial video:

And as we mentioned above, don’t miss out on your opportunity to save $25 on each unit when you buy your Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze units direct from Micro-Air using the coupon code “RVGEEKS“.

Conclusion

In short, the Micro-Air EasyStart Breeze eliminates the “spike” when your air conditioner(s) compressor starts, which is particularly beneficial for boondocking or 30-amp sites (or even 20-amp ones).

Also, in case you missed our recent addition of Micro-Air’s EasyTouch thermostat, here’s a post and a video all about it:

And you can save money on the EasyTouch RV Thermostat, too (honestly, it’s one of our FAVORITE upgrades we’ve made on our RV)!

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