ICM493 Line Voltage, Single Phase Motor Protection w/ Surge Protection, 60A contactor

The product came in very well protected and in a sturdy box, and quick delivery. My tech / electrician has not yet installed it, but he told me about the features. My Heat Pump tech told me my computer fried because of power surges and power brownouts. Here where I live we have quite a few power outages unfortunately, and this is a 'must-have'.

This has been a great company to do business with. The first unit I ordered did not work when connected per the attached instructions which I later found needed further explanation in order to connect the Contactor correctly. I returned the first unit and as soon as I submitted a return request they were in the process of shipping me another new unit which after a call to their Technical Service Dept to clarify the installation instructions works great. The thing I liked most about this product over a Surge Protector is the fact that it monitors the input voltage and opens the circuit between the source and the load in case of over/underr voltage or a surge.

The product itself works great but the enclosure is absolutely horrible to work with. There is no reason why I should have to beat the knockouts like they owe me money to get them out.

I saw this product recommended by "HVAC Influencers" and I decided to install one after my heat pump's inverter board destroyed itself with an arc during a power outage. I can only speculate, but based on what I saw, but I'm guessing fluctuations in the input voltage (either too low or slightly too high) caused this, so the voltage monitoring protection is the most valuable (compared to the surge protection, MOVs). The unit is back up and running with this protection box installed so time will tell. The box is quite big, but I had the space so no issues there. The instructions said side T goes to load and side L goes to line but that ended up being reverse of what was needed. No big deal to swap the connections. You can program it, but the defaults looked good to me. The 24V transformer and 60A contactor coil draw a continuous 15 to 20W which is not helping when you are going for maximum efficiency, but at the end of the day it is not that much and worth it if it prevents the machine from dying when you need it most. You may want to look into the smaller versions for a smaller heat pump, for both the physical size and the idle draw.

Overall it's great. I have 5 installed at my shop on all the high-dollar equipment, and it does exactly what it's supposed to do, at least the electronic parts. The instructions are okay. For the price, I'm sure they could either put the right sticker onto the contactor or just remove it altogether. Leaving the wrong sticker and labeling on is a little weird. That said, while the functional electronic parts are great, the same cannot be said about the metal enclosure. Don't get me wrong, they are very heavy-duty with thick gauge metals, but the craftsmanship seems sloppy at best. One unit arrived with a crooked enclosure, which is kind of surprising considering how heavy the enclosure is, and there are no signs of shipping damage either, so I suspect it is a manufacturer defect. Three out of the five units came with a slightly bent door where the unit mounts to, making it difficult to install it into the enclosure. Also, the knockout plates are super hard to get off on some units but normal on others. Anyway, I would love to be able to buy just the electronic parts inside and provide my own enclosures. But even with the crappy enclosure, I'd still buy it because it just works, I have yet to find any alternatives that works just as well as this.

the programmable phase protection with the surge protection helps fine tune parameters for the equipment safe operation range . Read instructions fully and follow proper commissioning for the ICM 493

I added the ICM517a to the line side of this ICM493 which makes it as good to their upcoming Sentry 3n1 minus the CB and the different box. Installed and setup is straight forward and relatively easy. This is a must have for the Condensers especially the Inverter type such as the BOSCH IDS. I set the MOVs to fail to 3 and 5% line voltage tolerance.

ICM is the only brand I will install with my heat pump installations. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this thing will protect my heat pump from overcurrent events. It might cost a few more bucks, but you get what you pay for.

I bought this for our mini split HVAC unit. All of these units are subject to failures if you get any electrical surges. The standard surge suppressors, even the whole house units will not protect the mini splits. This unit monitors the voltage and disconnects the mini split is the voltage goes either higher or lower than the nominal AC line voltage. You can set both the high and low disconnect limits which is a great feature.