mini split on a mechanical timer?

[Vegan]

hey all ,
im having a situation where my minisplit is runnin basically when I don't want it to. im trying to reason my power usage down and I figure if I keep my nighttime lows a bit higher I may save quite a bill.

so basically I have a six hour window when the lights are all out . now the unit rums the ROOM down to a chilly 72, with no lights on, a bit to low for my needs I would be fine with 80deg at lights out,
so I figure if I run the unit for 15 min every hour it would save me some power in those 6 hours I don't need the unit running 100 percent.

still with me?
so if I kill the 240 power on the minisplit (interrupting power at the junction box)
on restart it goes into auto mode ( 77deg) and runs fine.

question
Will this hurt the unit doing this once a day, im pretty certain the circuit boards wouild not like it, but it seems to have a delay start causing me to think there is a amp regulator. making the process not harmful?


also
when I turn the unit of with the remote the head powers down first and the compressor fan turns of after a minute or so
as opposed to when I interrupt the power, everything shuts down at the same time..


so

can I / would you run a mechanical timer to a minisplit system ?


and yes the unit has some kind of timer on the remote , which has never worked

thanx

 

[Treetroit City]

Have you looked into a wired programmable thermostat?

 

[Jhhnn]

Why not just turn up the thermostat? The only thing that'll run when the thermostat is satisfied is the evaporator fan. You can verify the low power consumption with an inductive ammeter. You'll save little more by turning the unit completely off.

 

[whatthe215]

Third Coast said it, 1 week programmable thermostat from home depot for $20 wired to the handler.

some googling should get you the instructions on how to do it for your brand/model minisplit.

 

[Puscifer]

What brand/model mini split we talking?

 

[Jhhnn]

I don't quite understand the advantage of a programmable thermostat unless Vegan is trying to run a higher temp during lights out than during the lights on cycle.

He says the unit pulls the temp down to 72 during lights out, indicating that 72 is the setpoint. If the setpoint is higher, then the lights out temp will be higher. If the unit fails to reach the setpoint during lights on, it won't make any difference if a higher setpoint is used- the unit will run all out trying to keep up regardless.