A. Compressor motors are connected in a way that lets them draw as much power as required to get up to speed quickly. Because of this design, the motors require a massive current surge when they start. On each motor identification plate, there is a notice called LRA. This is an abbreviation for Locked Rotor Amps and is the maximum current the motor can draw – according to the manufacturer. During a typical start, you can expect your compressor to draw this current from the supply.  RV rooftop 16000 BTU compressors are rated around 50 to 60 amps LRA. A standard 2000 watt inverter generator is appraised at 2000 watts peak which is about 16.7 amps at 120 volts AC. The generator will not start a load that draws four to five times its peak rating! The solution is to reduce the peak LRA so we created SoftStartRV™. It is designed to connect directly to the compressor motor and reduce the power surge that occurs on startup. It achieves this by supervisory the power provided to the windings of the motor on each AC cycle. SoftStartRV™ gradually increases this power until the compressor is running. This increases the time it takes the motor to get up to speed and creates a very smooth start that reduces the peak current by 50 to 70% or more. An RV rooftop 16000 BTU, 120-volt compressor can now start with under 20 amps of current.