Hard start capacitor

Now for the bad news. If you live in the US, this generator is not available. For some reason, the Craftsman 3000i is only sold in Canada. I find this strange, as the Craftsman generator is manufactured by Generac, one of the most recognized American generator manufacturers.

At those prices, you can buy a honda, that is 46 pounds, and will probably last 15 years or more. It's up to you. 

The Craftsman might or might not start the a/c. It could well have lower surge current capability than the Honda. We had a member a few months ago that bought a generator that had higher start and run power ratings than what you are reporting and it wouldn’t start the a/c. It’s inverter protection circuits shut down first. The peak startup power on the a/c is far above 3kw. There is no formal standard on how startup power and current are specified, so it’s up to the manufacturer and how conservative or optimistic they want to be. We know from actual use over the years what the brands like Honda and Yamaha can and can’t do.

The point is that you shouldn’t be surprised if you buy a light generator but then find you still need to get an Easystart to get reliable a/c operation. And you may not know until you try multiple starts on a hot day. Or, get an Easystart and don’t worry about it.

What doesn’t make sense? My Honda did not start the a/c prior to installation of the Easystart. It does fine with it. So what I am saying is that any very light generator, regardless of the claims of the manufacturer’s marketing group, is going be questionable without the Easystart. Go ahead and try it without the Easystart if you want to, the worst that will happen is you’ll be calling Microair if it doesn’t work. Just be sure to try multiple starts in hot weather, the refrigerant back pressure goes up at high temps and after the compressor cycles a time or two.

50% over normal operating current is nowhere near enough. The locked rotor amps (LRA) or the Dometic 13.5K is well in of 50 amps, so around 3X. You will momentarily see currents that high without the soft starter. Some generators can provide that instantaneous startup surge current, some can’t, and you can’t tell without actual testing, but weight is a good indicator because it’s the rotating mass of the generator that provides that stored energy. The energy has to come from somewhere, it’s not created out nothing. The Easystart solves the problem by ramping up the compressor slowly which reduces the startup current to around 1/3.

Try it and see if it works. No reason to return it, just get the Easystart if it doesn’t work without it. Your downside is you won’t know for sure it’s good till you get into some hot weather. You might know right away if it doesn’t work though.

I don’t think the 30A outlet will make an significant difference, might even make it worse because it will have lower resistance which will allow the a/c to draw more current, making it more likely to trip the generator protection circuit.