Everything You Need To Know About Soft Starters
"Ask The Expert" Q&A With Mike Sokol + Engineer Danny Rahner Live Video Interview
Interested in purchasing a soft start for your RV, camper, trailer, or Airstream? Fortunately, SoftStartRV’s Director of Technical Support Danny Rahner sat down with Mike Sokol of RVElectricity to answer frequently asked questions from RVers, Airstreamers, and campers on the SoftStartRV, covering all aspects of installation. Watch the livestream video, or get all the information in this transcription. This is Part 2 of our 2 part blog post series on Mike Sokol’s “Ask The Expert” video livestream. To read part 1, click here.
In this guide, we will review:
Table of Contents
Mike (00:43:35):
Okay. So here’s a good one..very straightforward questions. Dave Lambert, “Does the installation of the soft start decrease the full load cooling of the air conditioner unit at steady state?”
FAQ 12: Does the installation of the soft start decrease the full load cooling of the air conditioner unit at steady state?
In this section, Danny will answer:
How does the year of my air conditioner affect the cooling process?
Danny (00:43:53):
It does not affect anything as far as the cooling.
Mike (00:44:01):
From you could see within hurdle, the only thing that it’s working on is that first quarter or half a second. And after that, it’s off and running – that thing’s out of the circuit completely. Your air conditioner is your air conditioner.
Danny (00:44:14):
Okay. Now here, here’s another thing that people kind of need to know. Your new, your air conditioners as of 2012, now 2011… We used to use R22, R22 is a fantastic refrigerant. We switched over to R410A – R10A does not cool as well. And therefore it gives you, sometimes it can give you the feeling that it is not cooling as well. And that, that would be because of the refrigerant. It has nothing to do with the compressor.
The compressors were all changed to run the refrigerant, but it is just the nature of the beast.
Mike (00:45:13):
Okay. So here’s another interesting one: “I would also surmise the SoftStartRV would also work on a home air conditioner unit. Is that correct?”
In this section, Danny will answer:
How would the installation of the SoftStartRV in a home differ from an installation in an RV?
Danny (00:45:26):
That is correct. We actually have a residential soft start that is built for the home air conditioners.
Mike (00:45:38):
I know a number of my readers out in California have thought about this for home air conditioners, because they’ve have rolling blackouts, you know, during, all the, a lot of the fire issues that they’ve had out there, and they have to install some sort of a portable generator. And, you know, they’re worrying about creating.. a safe haven, especially if you have a senior citizen that can’t stand the heat. And I know that’s what they’re looking for.
Danny (00:46:08):
Yes. we do make one. I have not to this point installed any, but it would install exactly the same way.
Mike (00:46:20):
A compressor is a compressor, isn’t it? Pretty much
Danny (00:46:23):
A compressor is a compressor. Like I said, I install them on Marine. I’ve installed them… Like I said, all ACs have a compressor. All of them have a run capacitor. It would work.
Mike (00:46:43):
Okay. So Bob asks, “We just ordered an Alliance RV. It has three 13,500 BTU AC units. Would it make sense to put the soft start on all three of them?”
FAQ 14: Do I need a SoftStartRV on all three of my AC units? I have an Alliance RV with three 13,500 BTU air conditioning units.
In this section, Danny will also answer:
Do I need multiple soft starters?
Why would I need more than one soft starter?
How many soft starters do I need on my RV
Danny (00:46:57):
Yes, you have to. Yeah. You need one on each.
You need one on each AC, otherwise you really you’re really defeating your purpose, because you would still have one that’s going to require that extra bit of power to you know, get it going and it’s going to drive your amps up and therefore you wouldn’t do it.
So with the soft start on all three of them, they’re going to be able to run… it’s going to get them up going and maintain them at an optimal running amperage, like you’re saying, in just a few tenths of a second.
Mike (00:47:42):
So here, and I can answer this one, “Where can you buy these SoftStartRV units?”
FAQ 15: Where can I buy a SoftStartRV?
In this section, Danny will answer:
Where can I purchase a SoftStartRV online?
Is the SoftStartRV product currently in retail stores?
Do RV repair dealers sell SoftStartRV?
Do RV dealers that sell the SoftStartRV charge an installation fee?
Who do I call when I’m ready to install my SoftStartRV?
What hours can I call Danny regarding a SoftStartRV installation?
Can you help me with a special request with my SoftStartRV installation?
Down in the comments section, I actually include a link to discounted page that you can that you can go ahead and purchase them. But these are not sold in any kind of camping stores or anything I believe, right?
Danny:
They’re strictly right now online. There are some RV repair dealers that are now selling these, they do charge my service. If you go into the SoftStartRV webpage, you’ll see a phone number, a 915 area code. That is my personal number.
I tell people my phone is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Don’t feel bad about calling me. This is my passion. I want to see people get these installed, and installed properly. I’ve camped all my life. Nothing ruins a trip more than when things don’t go wrong. So I want to make sure you get this installed properly. I will take care of you. I answer to special requests.
Danny (00:49:15):
I actually received a request from a gentleman kind of late one night. He had a new type of AC out there that, I even went on while we were talking I had gone into the manufacturer’s webpage.
They had absolutely nothing on this air conditioner. They had no schematics on his unit. This thing looked like a styrofoam ice box with a packing strap wrapped around it. But in the, in his book, it said, if you touch that packing strap, you void your warranty.
The only thing you could see that that was an air conditioner was the top cap of the air conditioner. That’s the only reason why you knew, that, and the coil in the bag and the one in the front too. I said, do me a favor, take a picture of your electrical box and send it to me.
The reason I did this is that this special request, is the gentleman’s wife was going through cancer. And it was her dying request to go camping one last time. And so I had to get that, because that kind of hit that kinda hit home. I’ve been down that road. So I understood the need for that.
So we worked on that unit until 12:30 that night. I asked him, I said, “Well, you know, if you can go to a hardware store in the morning and get these fittings, we’ll get it going.” And he goes, “Hey, I’ve got them.”
So like I said, we worked on it until 12:30 that night. Got it going. Three days later, he called me and said, thank you. Their trip went well. They had AC the whole time, kept her cool.
And that was gratification knowing that I was able to help the gentleman. So that’s just the service that I’ll give you. So if you see the number there, I’ll go ahead before we’re done here, I’ll give you my number. You’re welcome to call it at any time.
Mike (00:51:30):
You’ve been around a lot of air conditioners. So Kristin Gardner asks “What’s the best AC unit in your opinion?” Who makes the best one? What do you think?
FAQ 16: What brand makes the best RV AC unit?
In this section, Danny will answer:
What AC unit is the most low profile?
How does a Coleman AC unit differ from a Dometic AC unit?
Danny (00:51:47):
Well, it depends.
Mike:
Who do you like?
Danny:
I’m kind of, I’m kind of partial. I hate to say it, but I’m kind of partial to Dometic. Dometic, they’ve got less changes in their schematics and stuff. So it’s, it’s really kind of easy to work on theirs.
Coleman, what I’ve noticed in their drawings, is each year they changed their schematic. But now Coleman though, if you’re after something that is extremely low profile, you’re not going to get any lower than what Coleman has done.
The only problem I see with the Coleman: the difference between a Dometic and a Coleman is Doometic, their shroud covers the top of the AC. The Coleman units, now their condensing fan is right on top of the AC. So your electrical box is right underneath the fan.
And I actually had a gentlemen that was in North Carolina when they had the big hurricanes there a while back. And, and so he turned, he turned his air conditioner on during that storm, his electrical box was literally underwater when he did that. And I asked him to send me his capacitor. It actually blew the guts of the capacitor out.
That’s the only thing I’ve got against the Coleman units is that their electrical box is exposed because of that fan being straight up to atmosphere.
Mike (00:53:50):
Okay. So here’s a quick question. I have cycled back here. I saw that David, he says, “Are there instructions on how to modify the switch setup with the kits?”
Danny (00:54:06):
To switch, set up?
Mike (00:54:08):
What do you think that means? I’m not sure the switch set up.
Danny (00:54:14):
We’re not, we’re not doing anything with any switches.
Mike (00:54:20):
If you want to just sling me another thing here and extrapolate, expand on that a little bit and say what you mean. We’ll try to help, but right now, I don’t know what that means. Let’s see.
So Michael Bracewell, the travel trailer guy: “Do you know how many amps are drawn at start-up and amps down to with a 2016 Coleman 13,500 BTU air conditioning unit?” Do you have any numbers at the top of your head or is that something we can research for later?
FAQ 17: How many amps are drawn at start up? I have a 2016 Coleman 13,500 BTU air conditioning unit.
In this section, Danny will answer:
How many amps does a Dometic unit use?
How many amps does a Coleman unit use?
How does the SoftStartRV affect the amps?
Can you run a 13,500 BTU unit off of a 15 amp breaker?
Danny (00:54:53):
Typically, startup is anywhere from 30 to 55 amps.
Running amps? You’ve got, okay, this is something people also need to understand. You got a compressor that’s running anywhere from 12 to 13 amps.
Now, Dometic uses a single motor for the condenser fan and for the Ebac fan, which is what you got inside that fan motor pulls about 3 amps. So you add those two together, you’re right at 15 amps.
Coleman, that is one thing that I do like about theirs, is your compressor is the normal 12 to 13 amps, but their condenser fan pulls 1.8 amps. And the Ebac fan is only pulling 1.3 amps.
So it still evens out pretty close, you know? Figure you’re running normally about 15, 16 amps, but with the soft start, that takes that down so that you’re able to run that 13,500 (BTU).
I’ve set guys up with a 13,500 (BTU) and it off of a 15 amp breaker, I wouldn’t recommend running it off the 15 amp breaker permanently, but a 20 amp breaker, it would run it all day long.
Mike (00:56:35):
Okay. So David has cycled back to us and he says, “I have a switch that changes which air conditioner is operating.” So that’s what he wants to know about. Remember he asked the question, will you have instructions on how to modify the switch? Does that make sense?
Danny (00:56:55):
Yes. I know what he’s talking about now. And I don’t know why. I don’t know why they did that. I don’t have anything for that. I just don’t understand why they did that.
If he wants to, I’ll give him my number and, and he can call me and we can work this out. I love problems like this. This is my background as an engineer, give me a problem. Hey, I won’t sleep until I figure it out.
Mike (00:57:32):
This is like a dog with a bone. Just worrying that bone.
Danny (00:57:36):
Oh, you did that. That’s something that just, I sit. I keep a pad of paper and a pen next to my bed. Things hit me in the middle of the night. I’ve got to get up and write it down. And, and my wife thinks that I’m a little bit off, but hey, I made bombs for a living. So that tells you I’m off anyway.
Mike (00:58:02):
Okay. Here’s one from the great white North. Rick says, “Being from Canada, will Danny ship to a U.S. based RV park? When I order one or two soft start RVs, I would pay by VISA in U.S. dollars.”
FAQ 18: Could I have my SoftStartRV shipped and delivered to a U.S. based RV park?
In this section, Danny will answer:
Does SoftStartRV ship to Canada?
How long would the delivery time be to ship to a U.S. based park?
So he wants them. He wants to pay for them from Canada. They’re going to convert it to U.S. dollars. And they’re going to ship to an American site. What do you think, this is going to work?
Danny (00:58:30):
Well, we ship to Canada. But yeah, I don’t see why it wouldn’t. If you’re going to be in a campground, I don’t care where you’re from, we’ll ship them to you.
Okay. Here’s the thing. If your soft start was to go bad, I’ll ask you, “Hey, we’re where are you?” If it doesn’t match what I could do, I’ll ask you to tell me where your next stop is, and if you’re going to be there for a couple of days okay. I call the office and ask them to overnight ship one, or, you know, maximum two day delivery. And I tell him when you get there, when you check in, ask for your package, you should have a soft start waiting for you. So in a case like that, we could do it. I don’t see why it would not work.
Mike (00:59:44):
Okay. So we have a lull on the questions. Would you like to go back to one of the other schematics and just talk about that?
Danny (00:59:50):
I want to, I want to go just so that they understand, let’s go to the 613 first.
Mike (00:59:58):
The Coleman Mach connections.
In this section, Danny will answer:
How to read a Coleman Mach Connections wiring diagram?
What is a PTCR?
What does PTCR stand for?
Danny (01:00:01):
Yes. The Coleman Mach connections, the 613.
Like I told you, all air conditioners have a compressor. They all have run capacitors. But, Coleman has decided to use a terminal board, which is okay. But this particular schematic shows you, they ran it from the compressor, your white wire from your compressor went to the C terminal of the capacitor.
Yeah. That was all straightforward. Same thing with your red wire. But on that one, what they did is they ran a red wire over from down to the Herm terminal. But then they also ran a red wire over to what is called the PTCR.
And PTCR is a small little black component on your relay board. And some models, they actually put those directly on top of your start capacitor.
PTCR stands for protective thermal coefficient resistor.
And we would disable that.
In the case of this one here, what you do is:
- You remove that PTC from the board.
- You’ve got your red compressor wire on there, you take and put the red compressor wire back on the terminal that the PTCR just came off of.
- You do have a start capacitor, which is to the right of that, where it says, PTCR on the board.
- You disconnect that
- You tape it
- You drop it
- And you put your yellow soft start wire there.
- Then you go over and you find your black compressor wire, which would be down at the bottom where it said, P U R on your board.
- You disconnect that from the board,
- You plug that in just like you did with your blue wire on the brisk design.
- You plug that into your Brown wire, to the black wire,
- And then put the red soft start wire onto the terminal where it said P U R
- Install is done. It’s always six steps.
Mike (01:02:41):
Okay. So let’s cycle back for a second. So I have Kathie Carter, “Be cautious though” – she’s talking about having the stuff shipped to him – “some campgrounds do not allow deliveries to campers.” And I’ve heard of that, they’ve actually kicked people out because they said ‘We’re not going to accept deliveries.’ I think it’s a little crazy. Have you encountered any of that, Danny?
Danny (01:03:11):
I have not run into that issue yet. Yeah. I know some campgrounds get kinda kind of funny about that. But I mean, if you’re going to, and I don’t know, we could, we could probably work something out. I mean, I haven’t done it, but there, there is no length that I won’t go to help you out.
Mike (01:03:39):
Yeah. So here’s a, here’s an unsolicited testimonial. So Trevor – “I am from Canada. I purchased one, two weeks ago and got it in five days. Great. Can’t install until after the snow is gone. 2.5 feet.” Ugh.
Danny (01:03:59):
That’s no problem. No problem. Like I said, when we’re done here, I’ll put my number up. Doesn’t matter when.
Mike (01:04:11):
Does the snow melt in Canada?
Danny (01:04:13):
Well, I got news for you. I’ve got a guy that’s up in Alaska. I started dealing with him probably a little, I guess it was around September, something like that. He’s got my number. I did give him the schematic. And I told him, well, when you can get back up there, don’t worry about it. Call me, we’ll go through it.
My offer to everybody is: you’ve got my number. You’ve got my name, call me. And if you’re traveling through, hey, you’re welcome to give me a call. If you were traveling through El Paso, call me, I’ll tell you what exit to get off of. There’s a Lowe’s parking lot. There I’ll come down and I’ll install it for you.
Mike (01:05:08):
Okay. So Rick has said the reason why he was talking about getting it shipped to a USA campground is, “My reason for asking is only because I have paid outrageous customs, brokerage fees for other items shipped from the U.S.”
Danny (01:05:25):
Yes. Okay. Good point. Good point. Does he have any friends that live down here?
Mike (01:05:35):
Canada’s a friendly place, man. You got to have some friends down here in the USA somewhere.
Yeah, so I think part of that, part of the idea of, of what SoftStartRV is offering is a service, not just a product. If you need help, they’ll provide help. If you need a way to ship, it, they’ll find a way to ship it.
If you have a question on some specialty type of connection, they’ve never seen before, they’ll draw a schematic that makes them smarter too, because I’m sure Danny keeps a copy of every schematic that he’s drawn up. Right? You just don’t do one and done and throw it away. I’m sure you hang on to,
Danny (01:06:18):
I actually encourage people. Do me a favor, send me your schematic. I study them. But what you’ll see in my schematics, like the ones we posted up here, a normal schematic has like three times more wires than you’re seeing here.
My schematics are drawn so that it takes some of the intimidation out of it because you’re only going to touch the wires I tell you to touch.
Now here’s another thing. And, and one poor gentleman, that had said, look, you gotta an RV place wants to charge me an arm and a leg to have this thing installed. I went, okay, yeah, I know. And he said, but I can’t find anybody that’ll install it for me. I said, okay, I haven’t seen a problem yet. And he says, well I, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I said, well, I guess there’s only one thing left to do.
I said, if you can count from one to six and you know colors, you’re going to do the install. He’s I said, come on, you can do it anyway. So I told him, there’s one thing that I’m going to tell you, but I’m going to wait until we’re done. I said, then I’ll tell you what you shouldn’t do.
And he went, okay. So we were going through it and I like to try to make the mood light. I like to play around with people. I love talking to people from all over. So we’re going along and he’d go, “okay, next, next”. I said, “dude, you’re out of wires. Your install is done. You’ve been done.”
And he says, “Okay, well you told me you were going to tell me something I shouldn’t do”. I said, “Well, that capacitor, it’s got a C terminal and the Herm terminal. You don’t want to touch those both at once because it’ll make your hair stand straight up”. And the guy says, “Oh, if you’d have told me that I never would have touched this”. I said, “That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
Mike (01:08:31):
That’s right, man. You don’t want to know. You don’t want to know. Oh, so here’s a great question here. Oh, go ahead. I’m sorry.
Danny (01:08:37):
Okay. I’ve seen videos out there and they do tell you that you can take an insulated screwdriver, make sure your power’s off and put an insulated screwdriver between those two terminals. It will short it out. It’ll discharge it.
But I have learned a long time ago on older capacitors. Sometimes they don’t like that and you’re, you can short your capacitor out.
So basically when you do these installs, I suggest using a pair of needle nose pliers to gently pull them up. It gives you a little more leverage on the video when you’re doing it. Because man, they’re on there. Good and tight. And, and you’ve got really, as far as taking it apart, you you’re with the insulated pliers. You know, it makes it easier. So you don’t worry about touching anything and then putting it back on, you can get in there with your fingers and get it at least started on there and then push it down on there, tight with the pliers. So the chances of hitting the two terminals, because you’ve got generally four terminals up there and you’ve always got at least one open. So the chances we’re hitting, the two terminals are slim. But it does bite if you do touch it.
Mike (01:10:07):
Okay. So here’s a, here’s a good question, Sean Rafferty, I joined late this evening, so please disregard it. No, this is a new question. Is there any benefit to install a soft start on a mini split AC unit? I knew many splits are getting really, really common. What do you think?
FAQ 20: Is there any benefit to install a soft start on a mini split AC unit?
Danny (01:10:26):
It would? It’s going to be the same. I mean the split. Yeah. It doesn’t matter. It ACS and AC it would ha it’s going to help any AC. And, and the splits. I mean, I read it, I, I don’t know at this point how many manufacturers are really going to do that? They, I, I requested this years ago when I was working with Dometic and, and the answer to it. And some of the manufacturers that I was getting the RV manufacturers was, yeah, they don’t really want to do that because that means they gotta run copper wires up. The, they don’t want them exposed on the outside because they’re too to things, hitting them, people doing Vandal, you know, doing things. So they didn’t want to run them on the outside. It’s gonna take a lot more copper. It’s going to take a lot more refrigerants. So the, the split systems that they were looking at that’s why they were against them. The new ones. I have not seen how they’re doing these now, but you know, it’s still,
Mike (01:11:44):
We’re getting ready to install one myself at my house. So I’m going to find out real quick in a couple of weeks. Okay. So here’s a two-parter Tim said, do I need to remove the PTCR from a circuit board? Or is there a connector from the board? And then he follows up with, where do you say that? Here it is. PCDC positive temperature coefficient. Thermistor I guess, do you need to?
FAQ 21: Do I need to remove the PTCR from a circuit board?
Danny (01:12:15):
Yes. Yes. You, you, you carefully removed that from the board. You put that in a safe place in the trailer, in a, in a drawer somewhere. Because if you have to go back to factory settings, you have to have that, or your AC will not start.
So you, you just remove that from the board. You take the wire that your red wire off of there and put it directly back on the terminal that, that came off to the right of that. There’s going to be a single red wire. That is your start capacitor to wire that you remove tape the end of it and drop it. You don’t have to remove any other wires.
That’s why I said, there’s only six steps to this. You, you tape the end of that wire. You drop it that way. It’s accessible. If you ever need to go back, your, your yellow soft start wire would go on the terminal where the start capacitor red wire is. It’s easy. Is that okay?
Mike (01:13:27):
Okay. So we’re winding down. I’ve got a couple of thank yous. So Michael Bracewell, the travel trailer guy just wanted to say to Danny, thank you for your excellent customer service. The world needs more people like you. I like that. Thank you very much. Thank you. We have one from Fraley. It says, thanks both of you. Excellent information. And thank you. I love helping people as well. You know, I I’ve had a 50 year run here so far of doing all kinds of electrical stuff. And, and I love spending time answering questions as does Danny.
FAQ 22: How do I contact SoftStartRV tech support?
In this section, Danny will answer:
What phone number should I call for SoftStartRV tech support?
What email address should I use to contact SoftStartRV tech support?
Danny (01:14:10):
Yes. I don’t know if there’s a way you can do that, but if you’d like, if you’ve got a way of writing my phone number down and putting it up they’re more than welcome any questions.
Mike (01:14:38):
Okay, Danny, I think I tell you what I can do. Give me your phone number. I’m going to, I’m going to replace your name with your phone number underneath here. How’s that? What’s your phone number?
Danny (01:14:48):
Nine +1 591-523-5605
Mike (01:14:58):
Six. Let me see, is that work? Is that, is that you? So, okay. That’s the Bob Seger song feel like a number, right? Okay. So there, Okay. Let’s see. He said, okay, one thing, Trinidad, Dave notes. And this is what I’m seeing on mine. At least he says mini split compressors are DC motor. Some of them are in fact, some of the newest ones, ones that I’ve got, it looks like it is in fact, an inverter DC motor with its own little world of ramp ups and everything. So that’s not going to be relevant for that.
Danny (01:15:42):
No, that would, yeah, that would the soft start. Wouldn’t work on that one,
Mike (01:15:46):
Right? Oh, let’s see. So we’ve got all get more stuff here. As we’re winding down, we get a thumbs up from Sean Rafferty. K Kathy says, echo what others have said. Thank you, Danny. Thank you, Mike, for setting this up. Excellent. We appreciate that. Trevor says thanks from the frozen North. I may be in touch when things warm up. Yeah. Well, all, all of those numbers there, all of us are hoping we’re hoping for that. And I wish he wouldn’t share his weather with me,
Danny (01:16:25):
Man. Keep it up there. Keep, keep it up there. Wow. Wow.
Mike (01:16:31):
I’m not, I’m not, I’m not used to that kind of stuff this far South.
Speaker 2 (01:16:35):
I, I know many years ago I was down in Alabama on a seminar tour and I think they had about a quarter of an inch of snow and they really didn’t know how to deal with it. People was spinning off and crashing into each other and all kinds of stuff.
Danny (01:16:51):
El Paso, El Paso, El Paso. We typically, if we’re, if we were lucky we get five inches of rain a year. Right. so therefore, when w if you, if you dropped a drop of water on the, on the freeway, you’re going to cause a a hundred car pilots because they would spend out on that drop of water. And right now with this weather here that we’re having right now let’s see. Today’s Wednesday. It was Monday. No, it was such Saturday. Saturday went down to five degrees here and, and then we had 30 mile, an hour winds on top of that. I’m like I’m like a bird I had South. I I’m ready to go further South than this.
Mike (01:17:41):
Okay. So Trinidad, Dave says, cannot wait for that phone number, the phone numbers right there. You go back and look for it out. Now someone wants your email. Okay. Can you give that to me? You want me to stick that down on the screen or is it simple?
Danny (01:17:53):
Sure. You can do, you can do that. Sure. It’s easy. danny.rahner@yahoo.com.
Mike 01:18:02):
Let me, let me see what I can do here. danny.rahner@yahoo.com. Is that right? Yes, sir. There you go. Is that correct?
Danny (01:18:19):
That is correct.
Mike (01:18:21):
Man you know, my, I took exactly one typing class back in high school because I thought it was an easy class and I played keyboards, a piano and already, and I can touch type. How you like that? Not bad. Huh?
Danny (01:18:34):
Not bad at all.
Editor’s Note: To contact customer support, open a ticket on the support page, or email us at support@softstartrv.com.
Final Livestream Wrap Up
Mike (01:18:36):
Okay. So there’s just a couple of quickie questions here and then we’re going to wrap it up. Les Elmore says on the Coleman, Mach 15 installation, struck instructions. Step six says to cut the wire. Is there an update to this? So you don’t cut the why?
Danny (01:18:55):
Yes. I asked him to call me I will tell him what he needs to do. I do not put that up for reasons that the manufacturers see this. I don’t want them crying.
Mike (01:19:12):
Okay. So Trevor also asks, do you take text on that phone number for Danny? Is that your
Danny (01:19:20):
Yes, I do all day long.
Mike (01:19:23):
All day long. Okay. I’m coming up on almost quarter after my actual Nixey tube. You can’t see this, but I mean, I’ve got this really cool digital Nixey tube stuff. Russian tubes from like the seventies sitting on my desk and my wife got me for Christmas. I actually have a synced up with two WWV. So it’s within a fraction of a second of real time. This is the best of, best of fun technology. I can’t help myself lava lamps. Nixey tubes, you know, rock and roll microphones. That’s what I do.
Danny (01:19:55):
Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I just so that everybody knows, Hey, I do installs all day long. I’ve done them during dinner at a restaurant. My wife loves that.
Mike (01:20:09):
All right. Well, I think we’re going to wrap it up for tonight. Is there any last minute instructions or anything you want to tell people, call you? If you have a question, right?
Danny (01:20:19):
I just call, call, call me. There’s no question that’s dumb. There’s no question. I love problems. You got a problem. I’ll do it. I’ve got RV techs that they’re not even installing the soft start, but call me for, for AC problems. So call me.
Mike (01:20:44):
Okay. So Tim Kim asked a question, I’m going to ask him to call you about this. He says, I agree in instructions. It says to cut in certain spots. If you’ve got questions about cutting wires, call him and he’ll help you walk through that.
Danny (01:21:00):
Like I said, like I said, I do not like cutting wires. The simple thing is, is just so that, you know, so it could be your blue wire, your black wire, which would be your C wire of your compressor. Though one of those, the blue or black is one that would have gotten cut. So instead of cutting that wire, you go up, take your compressor, tap off, you take the black or blue wire off of the overload. And you, instead of the, like the instruction, say put a Brown wire on the soft, I mean, put a male on the Brown soft start wire. Instead you would put a female. And on your red compressor, I mean on the red soft start wire, instead of put in a female, you would put a male. So your female Brown wire would go on top of the overload where your blue or black wire was. Your red soft start is going to go into your blue or black compressor wire. That way you do not cut wires.
Mike (01:22:08):
Very good. Okay. So I just like to thank Danny for spending an hour and 16 minutes here with us tonight. He’s at, he’s at his home thing here, so he’s taking, he’s doing this on his own time. I really, really appreciate that. I want to start thank RV travel.com for helping publicize this. And we’ll see that if you have more questions follow up with Danny maybe in a couple of months in the spring, when it thoughts at we’ll have him back again to answer some more questions and certainly, you know, sling me any, you know, ideas for more of these, ask the expert things, anything you’d like, I’m here for you, Danny. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time.
Danny (01:22:50):
Pleasure. It has been a pleasure. I, I, my goal is to make sure I make it as simple as possible for people to install this and, and be as accessible as possible so that I’m always here for them.
Mike (01:23:06):
All right. Very good. Thank you all good night to everybody and stay warm out there. See y’all later have a good night.
This is Part 2 of our 2 part blog post series on Mike Sokol’s “Ask The Expert” video livestream. To read part 1, click here.
Read more testimonials of the SoftstartRV from Airstreamers and RVers here. Have a review you’d like to share? Email us!
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Become a member of the NetworkRV family and order a SoftStartRV. We deliver on our promise to keep your Airstream or RV cool. With free tech support, free extended warranty, and 100% money back guarantee for 90 days, our special discount beats competitors and gives you the peace of mind to buy with confidence.
Trust has to be earned and we want to earn it
We appreciate the faith and trust you have placed in us in purchasing and using our SoftStartRV. More and more we’ve come to understand that we are a referral-based business. Hence, we appreciate and encourage anyone in your life right now such as a father, mother, son, daughter, uncle, cousin, neighbor, or fellow camper that has a need to be cool anywhere in their RV, and needs THE BEST expert opinion or soft start solution. We promise you we will give them our preferential service. And even if they choose to NOT buy our products, we will still try and help them solve their RV cooling issues.
Because you referred us, we are ready, willing, and passionately able to serve the people that are important to you. We want to help make smart campers smarter by giving them the most thorough, most meaningful, professional soft start advice. We will provide for them solutions, recommendations, videos, diagrams, plus LIVE rooftop tech call support. We will treat them in an incredibly special way on how to stay cool anywhere, anytime in their RV.
So please feel confident in your recommendation of us. Trust has to be earned, and we hope we have earned that in you to a degree you feel at ease in suggesting that special person, or special dog or cat who may need camper cooling in hot weather. We trust our help will be sought without reservations, thanks to your sincerest recommendations.
Glossary of Terms For RV + Airstream Owners
Your air conditioner, or A/C as it’s abbreviated, circulates the air within your RV, 5th wheel, Casita, Airstream, trailer, or motor home. SoftStartRV serves as an accessory that works with your RV air conditioner to provide a more evenly cooled space, that starts smoothly and runs with the power needed to keep you cool.
Airstream is a popular brand of travel trailer built out of aluminum, on the road since the 1930s. It is one of the top known RV brands in the industry.
Amp, or amperage, is the base unit of electronic currents. Most RV air conditioners
A camper, also called a campervan, motor caravan, or caravanette is a van that has been converted in some way to accomodate basic living necessities, like beds and a kitchenette. A camper van will typically sleep 2 or 3 people.
A capacitor is a device inside an air conditioning unit. It is small, cylindrical and it supplies and controls electrical energy. The capacitor provides a high-voltage jolt to the blower motor, compressor, and fan motor. The high voltage jolt is around 400 to 600 volts.
Casita is a top brand of small travel trailers that are easily towed with small cars and trucks. The Casita brand was established in 1983.
A Class A Motorhome is defined as a conventional motorhome. It’s the largest and most luxurious of the motorized RVs.
Class B Motorhomes are often referred as camper vans. Best suited for small groups, they’re smaller and more fuel efficient than Class C motorhomes.
A Class C motorhome is similar to a traditional automobile. It looks like a van from the front and is built with a cab or a cut-away chassis.
A compressor is one element inside of your RV air conditioner, working with the condenser and evaporator to keep your AC blowing cold air.
A generator is typically used with an RV, Airstream, or other motor home to power your air conditioner unit. The most common portable generator brands you will see at campsites include Advent, Armstrong, Atwood, Carrier, Coleman, Dometic, and Furion.
A 5th Wheel is a type of RV that has a hitch, allowing the driver to tow it behind a larger vehicle. A 5th Wheel is preferred by many because it provides the space of something larger, without being a “house on wheels” like many RVs.
A trailer is a separate vehicle that is not motorized, meaning it will need to be towed by a motorized vehicle or RV. Trailers are split into many categories, most notably travel trailers, fifth wheel trailers, popup trailers or truck campers.
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