The SRX has been tested

[blackheart]

A big thank you to Joshp83 who brought his Rainbow to the area and allowed me to run my tests on it. It's not quite what i was expecting, but I do really enjoy this new power head the vibration it produces is rather strong despite the soft brushes.

Still don't have the video embedding down....either way enjoy.

 

[ralph123]

Seems disappointing for a $3000 vacuum. Thanks for your review. It's sad that Consumer Reports hasn't rated Rainbow for several years.

 

[vaclab]

This test wasn't run at full speed?

When I saw the slightly less than 800 Watts power reading I immediately compared the motor pitch to one of the other existing SRX videos on YouTube.

Blackheart Lower Speed SRX

Listen around 0:50 mark

Colter Cardas High Speed SRX

Listen around 4:10 mark

You can plainly hear the massive pitch difference.

Bill

Can your friend re-test and do two things differently:
1) Attempt to get closer to 120 VAC under load and
2) Make sure the SRX is set to full speed

You would think that the SRX would beat this E2 with PN12 setup.

Bill

 

[blackheart]

Wattage

Hey Bill,

Josh will be replying a bit later when he gets home to verify the wattage. Unfortunately I did not test the wattage with the PN running either. I know the plate on the bottom of the PN said 3 amps but that's probably not helpful. When I messaged him about it here's what he had to say

"I’m pretty sure it was on high. We didn’t do any changing of the speed and it auto-starts on high."

 

[ralph123]

It's a little odd how much leakage there is in the pipes and the elbow of the power nozzle. It is a curious design with the air vents.

 

[joshp83]

Wattage

I don't have a kill-a-watt, but I have a Wemo smart outlet that displays realtime watts consumed. Here is what my machine uses:

On High speed:
- no hose attached: 756 W
- hose attached: 765 W
- w/ PN running: 975 W

With no hose attached:
Speed 3: 392 W
Speed 2: 150 W
Speed 1: 23 W

Note: My machine has had the recall service completed, but nothing electrical is performed as part of the recall.

 

[ralph123]

thanks for checking Josh.

 

[vaclab]

Thanks for your testing and continued responses Josh

Could you verify what Rainbow rates the SRX for power consumption? Usually, it's printed near the separator. I looked at the manual and wasn't able to find the power usage.

Based on the limited info we have so far (subject to change as more comes in), Rainbow has pulled a "fast one". Their very own advertising clearly claims a 30% increase in airflow over previous models. Of course, they never say where that 30% increase takes place, whether at the canister base, hose or nozzle.

With less than 800 canister Watts and less than 1000 total power nozzle running Watts, it certainly appears (so far) that Rexair has completely "made up" bogus specs and this latest iteration of water based filtration may not be any better than an E2 with a PN12. In fact, it could be worse unless the agitation has been pushed completely into the stratosphere. Some stick vacs have more nozzle CFM.

So far, the SRX appears to be quite an embarrassment, especially considering the $3000 price tag. A third party emailed me pics of the controller board and I was shocked to see an active cooling fan placed on a heatsink. This reminds me of a cheap heatsink fan setup on old Pentium computer CPU's. What happens when that fan fails and thus the active cooling fails?

I am actively working with a third party to obtain additional SRX measurements. The question is will they match or differ from what's available today.

Bill

 

[blackheart]

Will the data match?

That's a very good question. Josh has a relative who also purchased an SRX so there may be a 2nd data set for the electrical usage within....a month or so if i remember correctly. It really would be somewhat of a relief if there was an issue with the one tested, after all it's still under warranty. I guess I had expected more than what I was getting but, it just is what it is.

 

[joshp83]

Bill

My “embarrassment” is rated “11.5 amps, 12.0A with appliance outlet”. (120v)

I agree it’s strange to be using so little electricity, when it’s performance could surely be improved with increased power. Perhaps the heat issue came up late in development and they tuned down the motor in hopes it would avoid a costly redesign or delay.. if so, it’s frustrating to own one right now when a more powerful setup may be coming in future iterations. Had we not measured it, I’d have had no reason to believe anything was off, and have not been displeased with it’s performance. I actually really like the machine.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[vaclab]

Thanks for the update Josh

Rexair rates the SRX as follows then:
Canister (maybe with a hose attached?) -- 11.5A x 120VAC = 1380 Watts
With PN -- 12A x 120VAC = 1440 Watts

Your measurements:
- no hose attached: 756 W
- hose attached: 765 W
- w/ PN running: 975 W

Barring some weird PF (power factor) which might exist, your SRX is running at somewhere between a little over half to two-thirds of rated power. Something appears to be amiss. Possibly Rexair has turned down the power to mitigate potential overheating and ovoid a costly re-design.

And zero nozzle suction will mean airflow will drop like a stone when running on actual pile carpet. Suction is required to prop up airflow when under a load (carpet).

Thanks again for test #1 of the SRX. I hope we see more tests of the SRX by others soon.

Bill

 

[ralph123]

I hope the venture capitalists that purchased Rexair understand the importance of building a high quality product, and the need to protect the products reputation. I have to wonder what changes the venture capitalists have made at Rexair.

"On 26 February 2019 Newell Brands announced it would be selling its Rexair business, the maker of Rainbow vacuum products, to private-equity firm Rhone Capital."

https://www.globallegalchronicle.com/rhone-capitals-acquisition-of-rexair/

 

[ralph123]

To those of you that sell Rainbows, have there been many changes with the sale of Rexair to Rhone Capitalists? Are there any plans to move away from in home sales?

 

[tolivac]

I would think with Covid-all DTD vacuum and product companies would be moving to other sales methods.The Rainbow dealer here in Greenville still does DTD sales.But for how much longer?Kirby was looking for other options.

 

[ralph123]

so has anyone else with an SRX checked the power draw on their vacuum? Does the load increase under real world use (i.e. on carpet rather than no resistance)?

 

[tekjunkie28]

Those power numbers are less then my E2 Black and it is the ones that’s rated less than earlier models. There was a thread about this at one time. I may have been the one to bring it up.

 

[ralph123]

tekjunkie28 - Do you have actual measurements? Are they slightly lower, or are they significantly lower like the ones reported above?