ICM203F Delay on Break Timer, 6" Wire Leads (.03-10 Minute Knob Adjust. Delay)

We have 2 central air units and a Generac backup generator. The generator picks up the house load about 45 seconds after loss of utility power. The thermostats for both units have 5-minute cycle protection, but a power outage is not detected by the thermostats. If either or both units are running when the power goes out, the thermostats continue to call for cooling. When the generator restores house power, the compressors would try to restart with a 45 second short-cycle and impart a huge, simultaneous start-up surge load on the generator. Not good for either the AC or the generator. Installed one of these "delay on break" timers on each AC unit (cut into the control wiring in the basement) and they work great. When I cut power to the air handler (mimicking a power outage), the compressor shuts off with the thermostat continuing to call for cooling. Restore air handler power about a minute later (mimicking the generator taking over). The timer delays compressor restart for about 5 minutes. Plus, since the five minutes is "more or less," there is no chance the two units restarting at exactly the same time. No short cycling. No huge power surge. One caution: don't take the minutes delay dial too literally. 5 minutes on the dial turned out to be about 8 minutes in real time. A little trial and error resulted in 2 minutes on the dial being just over five minutes real time. YMMV

Need this item on my ac since I had a standby generator installed

This product will protect your compressor from short power failures