• Automatic Function— With this new option, you can program the unit to recover, vacuum, leak test, charge, and then walk away without having to operate panel valves.
• Vacuum Leak Test— Will monitor the vacuum level after an evacuation, and informs the technician of a possible leak in the vehicle’s A/C system.
• Automatic Refrigerant Refill— With this latest advance, you never have to stop in the middle of a job to change refrigerant tanks. The unit maintains a user selectable amount of refrigerant in an internal vessel, and signals when it’s time to change the supply tank, so no monitoring is required.
• Automatic Air Purge— Eliminates damaging air without any monitoring of gauges or opening of valves.
• Automatic Oil Drain— The unit automatically drains system oil captured during recovery, and the display reminds you to empty the bottle. Graduations on the container clearly show you how much oil needs to be replaced.
• Refrigerant Charging— Has never been this easy. Select a charge mode from either the high side, low side, or both. Accuracy features eliminate guesswork!
• Refrigerant Management Systems—New and improved, system displays refrigerant use and monitors remaining filter life. Prompts appear when 1/3 of filter life remains.
• Vacuum Function— Defaults to 15 minutes, but is programmable up to 99 minutes. Remaining vacuum time is displayed on the screen.

Setting The Course For Change

In June 2005, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) started a research program to reduce the emissions of R-134a. The program, called I-MAC (Improved Mobile Air Conditioning), was tasked with cost effectively improving R-134a systems while reducing refrigerant emissions. The I-MAC members have pledged to design smaller systems with fewer leak points and improve service equipment. As a result of this program, the SAE recently approved tighter standards for automotive A/C recovery, recycle and recharge equipment. The new standard, SAE J-2788 requires that all service equipment manufactured after November 1, 2007, must recover 95% of the refrigerant and recharge to within 1/2 ounce.

How will this affect ME?

Up until a couple of years ago, R-134a was cheap and plentiful. Today it’s a different story- refrigerant is much more expensive and not always available. The Robinair 34788 recovers up to 20% more refrigerant, which means it will cost less to recharge the system. The best charge accuracy that could be claimed by older generation service machines is +/- 1 ounce, a 3% error on a two-pound system. That same charge accuracy on a 14-ounce system is over twice the error (7%). Early R-134a systems could still provide some cabin cooling when they were 4-6 ounces (12-18%) low on refrigerant. However, new designs are so efficient, they do not have reserve refrigerant, and charge accuracy will be critical. In the shop, the Robinair 34788 will recharge the vehicle to within 1/2 ounce of the charge capacity, and you will avoid the dreaded “call back”. As the shop owner, you will realize more profits per service by recovering more refrigerant and charging less.