My experience with a Leto Senville 12,000 btu 110v mini split

[MarkLeid]

Started on my solar journey about a year ago and naturally looked at installing a small mini split to reduce the load on my main HVAC. I have run into a number of issues and a couple of solutions that you may find helpful.

Installed the Leto model of Senville's 12,000 btu unit with 110v. Went with 110 to make running power a little easier but beginning to regret that decision. I chose the LETO as its cheaper than the more expensive Auro version by about $600. Aura also requires 220V.

Then the fun began. Install was easy enough. I flared my own lines for a cleaner install and bought my own vacuum pump for about $100. Only installation issue is that I did not wear gloves when vacuuming the lines and the hose adapter was sticky. Almost froze my fingers off trying to get it off and lost some 410a in the process. Was able to correct this though.

It was the beginning of spring and the unit was cooling well but when the outside temperature spiked the indoor unit would freeze over and start spitting ice. As summer started this became a common occurence. Senville sent me a new control panel but it didnt help. Turned out that the fan on "Auto" would not run fast enough for proper air flow. When I set fan speed on "high" it worked great with no more freezing. However that defeats the purpose of an auto fan and I found myself manually resettig fan speed every day.

Winter has just set in and the Leto is supposed to provide heat down to 5F according to their Amazon information. It does not! Stops heating at 32F. This is very disappointing as its not going to supplement my heating as much as I hoped. I live in Upstate South Carolina and pretty common to get into the 20s and 30s at night.

Apparently the Aura version will heat down to -22F. I also have found that the Pioneer Diamante 230V also have an auxilary heater strip that will work down to -13.

Its not worth the time and effort to replace the unit but knowing what I do now I would opt for the Aura and run a 220V line.

 

[BentleyJ]

Thanks for sharing, very instructive. Proof once AGAIN. The lowest price product is rarely ever the best Value.

 

[Quattrohead]

It kind of sounds like it may be a little short on refrigerant still.

 

[Crowz]

One thing you didn't mention and never see anyone else mention either for that matter is that 220v has another BIG advantage for anyone running a split phase inverter which is load balancing.

Every 110v thing you add causes one leg of the split phase to get more off balance. By going with 220v units you are automatically balancing the load. Very important for a split phase inverter setup.

I was marveling at how well my stuff was balanced just this morning with the heat pumps running and it being 21F outside.

 

[740GLE]

As for 120v vs 240v, if you’re feeding off a non grid tied, standalone 120v PV system there’s no such thing as unbalanced it’s all 120v

As for the OP and the unit freezing up in AC mode, it looks like placement is in a corner and very close to the ceiling, both of these things negatively impact the air flow and the ability to suck in warm air at the top to cool down the room.

 

[ChrisG]

I have the Senville Aura 24k at my cabin, It was down to 13 degrees outside last night and kept heating. We're not there, monitoring remote and temp was off by 5 degrees (set at 60 but temp was averaging 55-56). Still consider it a success. I have 16 foot ceilings and forgot to leave the ceiling fans on, bet that would have helped overall. It averaged 2kw of power last night/this morning. Overall happy with it.

 

[Crowz]

As for 120v vs 240v, if you’re feeding off a non grid tied, standalone 120v PV system there’s no such thing as unbalanced it’s all 120v

As for the OP and the unit freezing up in AC mode, it looks like placement is in a corner and very close to the ceiling, both of these things negatively impact the air flow and the ability to suck in warm air at the top to cool down the room.

Well since the OP said :

Its not worth the time and effort to replace the unit but knowing what I do now I would opt for the Aura and run a 220V line.

It seems 240v is on the table for this one so on or off grid you can imbalance an inverter that is split phase with 120v loads.

But I agree if its all 120v you can't imbalance it.

Main thing I think is a must on these is to get the ones with the backup heat function if it's going to see very cold temps. The ones I have that don't have the backup heating function are useless when it gets in the 20's and stays there long enough.

 

[MAC20121]

Started on my solar journey about a year ago and naturally looked at installing a small mini split to reduce the load on my main HVAC. I have run into a number of issues and a couple of solutions that you may find helpful.

Installed the Leto model of Senville's 12,000 btu unit with 110v. Went with 110 to make running power a little easier but beginning to regret that decision. I chose the LETO as its cheaper than the more expensive Auro version by about $600. Aura also requires 220V.

Then the fun began. Install was easy enough. I flared my own lines for a cleaner install and bought my own vacuum pump for about $100. Only installation issue is that I did not wear gloves when vacuuming the lines and the hose adapter was sticky. Almost froze my fingers off trying to get it off and lost some 410a in the process. Was able to correct this though.

It was the beginning of spring and the unit was cooling well but when the outside temperature spiked the indoor unit would freeze over and start spitting ice. As summer started this became a common occurence. Senville sent me a new control panel but it didnt help. Turned out that the fan on "Auto" would not run fast enough for proper air flow. When I set fan speed on "high" it worked great with no more freezing. However that defeats the purpose of an auto fan and I found myself manually resettig fan speed every day.

Winter has just set in and the Leto is supposed to provide heat down to 5F according to their Amazon information. It does not! Stops heating at 32F. This is very disappointing as its not going to supplement my heating as much as I hoped. I live in Upstate South Carolina and pretty common to get into the 20s and 30s at night.

Apparently the Aura version will heat down to -22F. I also have found that the Pioneer Diamante 230V also have an auxilary heater strip that will work down to -13.

Its not worth the time and effort to replace the unit but knowing what I do now I would opt for the Aura and run a 220V line.

any update please?
i just bought one. Upstate SC too.
my first unit was hybrid 220V. paid lot for 220 v install. so chose 120v this time. also hoping to use battery system to run the unit and charge with solar.