This guide shows how to reset an air conditioner from Kelvinator, Actron or Bonaire. Three Australian brands, three completely different answers to the same question. On a Kelvinator the reset starts with doing nothing for ten minutes. On an Actron it can mean waiting two hours. On a Bonaire it is a button held until you hear two beeps.
Get the wrong one and at best you waste an afternoon. This page gives the documented procedure for each, taken from manufacturer material, and says plainly where a brand publishes nothing.
The short version
| Brand | The documented reset | The wait that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Kelvinator split | Wait ten minutes, then switch the power off and on. | Three minutes before the compressor will run. |
| Kelvinator window wall | Restore power, then wait before restarting. | Three minutes, to prevent tripping the compressor overload. |
| Actron Air | Isolator off, then on. | Two hours, if power has been off six hours or more (LR7 and LC7). |
| Bonaire touchpad | Hold the RESET icon for about four seconds until two beeps. | Note the fault code first. |
| Bonaire slimline | Hold the up and down buttons for five seconds. | None published. |
| Bonaire manual control | Turn the control off, then on. | None published. |
The Actron row is the one that surprises people. Switching a system back on too soon after a long shutdown is specifically what Actron tells you not to do, and it matters most at the start of the season, which is exactly when everybody does it.
Kelvinator
The reset sequence
Kelvinator publishes a two step instruction, and the first step is the one everybody skips.
- Wait about ten minutes. Kelvinator states the fault may be removed automatically.
- If it has not cleared, switch the power supply to the air conditioner off and on.
- Give it three minutes. The protection circuit blocks the compressor for about three minutes after a sudden off and on.
On window wall units the wording changes slightly. When power is restored, reconnect the power, switch on and wait three minutes to restart, which Kelvinator explains is to prevent tripping the compressor overload.
Running it without the remote
Kelvinator splits have a manual control switch under the front panel. Open the panel until it locks, and Kelvinator notes there is a click when the mechanism engages.
- One press. Forced auto operation.
- Two presses within five seconds. Forced cooling, shown as FC on the display.
Forced cooling is not something to leave running, and Kelvinator has handled that for you. After about 30 minutes in forced cooling the unit switches to auto mode by itself.
The codes that need no reset at all
Three Kelvinator displays look like faults and are not. FP is the 8 degree heating mode. FC is forced cooling, which means somebody pressed the manual switch twice. D1, D2 and D3 are the demand response function, which Kelvinator describes as normal operation initiated by your power provider to minimise demand on the power grid.
If the display shows any of those, resetting achieves nothing because nothing has gone wrong.
The one Kelvinator code that is a real fault with a published meaning is EC, which indicates refrigerant leakage has been detected. That needs a technician rather than a reset.
The keypad lock
On a Kelvinator split, hold Turbo and Clean together for more than five seconds to lock the keypad and about two seconds to unlock it. On window wall units it is the plus and minus buttons together. A remote that has stopped responding is more often locked than broken.
Actron Air
The two hour rule
This is the most important thing Actron publishes about restarting a system, and it catches people out every spring.
ActronAir’s LR7 and LC7 manuals state that if the main power has been off or interrupted for 6 hours or longer, no attempt should be made to start the system for 2 hours after power is restored to the outdoor unit.
So the sequence at the start of the season is switch the breaker on, walk away, come back in two hours, then use the controller. Flicking the breaker and immediately pressing the wall controller is the thing to avoid.
The five minute safety timer
Actron includes this in its own before you call checklist. Check that five minutes has passed from turn on time, as the system has inbuilt safety timers.
Separately, Actron documents a three minute protection feature on its splits that prevents the unit from overloading, stating that the unit cannot be restarted within three minutes of being turned off.
Between the two, an Actron that appears dead for the first few minutes after any power event is almost always just waiting.
The isolator reset
Actron documents an isolator reset for one specific symptom. If the louvre has been manually moved out of sync, reset the mains power supply isolator to restart the unit, which resets the louvre.
It also gives the general safety instruction to turn off the power from the main isolator before proceeding with any service and maintenance work on the unit.
What Actron does not publish
Worth stating so you stop looking. There is no button sequence or factory reset published for the NEO, LR7, LC7 or QUE wall controllers. The Actron error code pages for these controllers are videos rather than written procedures, and its installation manuals contain no reset sequence at all.
If somebody online has given you a button combination for an Actron wall controller, it did not come from Actron.
The words on an Actron display that are not faults
Actron uses words rather than codes for normal states, and several get reported as problems.
- Boot. The unit is starting up.
- oFF. The unit is off, or turning off if it is flashing.
- CooL or HEAt. The current mode, flashing if it is starting.
- dEF, or dEF1, dEF2, dEF3. Defrost, or a countdown of minutes to defrost.
- oiLr. Oil return operation.
- dr 1, dr 2, dr 3. Demand response management. Your electricity provider is limiting the unit.
- ohP, dtP, cPP, hSP. The unit derating itself under an overheat, discharge temperature, condenser pressure or high suction pressure protection.
- dF, CL, FP, ECO plus. On the Serene range, defrosting, active clean, freeze protection and the eco feature.
None of those needs resetting. Several of them, particularly the derating ones, mean the unit has noticed a condition and reduced its own output rather than failing.
Actron codes that are faults
Actron publishes a consolidated fault code document covering every product family. The ones most likely to appear on a home ducted system are E51, a communication error between outdoor and indoor unit, E52, a communication error between the indoor unit and the wall controller, E56, no master wall controller detected, E09 and E11, the low and high pressure switches tripping, E01, an indoor fan feedback error, and E03, a room temperature sensor error.
One genuine automatic reset exists. On certain envelope protection errors, Actron documents the controller auto resetting after 180 seconds and starting again in the user defined mode.
The before you call checklist
Actron publishes one and it is sensible. Check the thermostat settings, confirm the set point is low enough for cooling or high enough for heating, check the zones are switched on, inspect the return air filter for blockages, make sure the outdoor unit inlet and outlet are not blocked, and close the doors and windows.
Zones are the one people forget. A ducted system with most zones closed is not broken, it is being asked to push all its air through two outlets.
Bonaire
Which controller do you have?
Bonaire makes evaporative coolers and ducted gas heating, which means a wall controller rather than a handheld remote. The reset differs by controller.
- Touchpad. If the reset icon appears and the clock area is flashing information, the unit has stopped as a result of a fault. Note the fault code shown before doing anything, then press and hold the RESET icon for approximately four seconds until two beeps have been heard.
- Slimline. An error is reported by Er on the screen and the controller stays in that state until the error is removed. To remove it, press and hold the up and down buttons for five seconds.
- Manual control. A fault appears as Err with a code. Bonaire says the reset function is only required if the system has had a problem and reported a fault code, and the reset is to turn the control off then on. If the unit does not reset, call for service.
Note the first step on the touchpad. Write the code down before you reset, because resetting clears the display. Bonaire notes its manual control can recover the last four faults the diagnostics have stored, which is a useful thing for a technician to be able to read.
Bonaire does not publish what its codes mean
This is a deliberate choice by Bonaire and worth knowing before you spend an hour searching.
Bonaire manuals do not list code meanings for owners. Their instruction is that should you require a service call, have the code ready for the service operator. Every Bonaire fault code list circulating online comes from contractor blogs rather than from Bonaire, so this page does not print one.
What Bonaire does publish, for its gas heaters, is a category system on the controller LED. Long pulses indicate a lockout, and the number of long pulses tells you the category. One long pulse means a lockout caused by external switches and sensors. Two means the controller hardware, the ignition, or a valve. Three means a safe start fault or a ground connection fault. Short pulses alone mean normal operation with no lockout.
That is enough to tell a technician roughly where to start without pretending to a precision Bonaire has not published.
No wait time is published either
Bonaire publishes no instruction to switch off at the isolator for any particular number of minutes. If you find a figure online for a Bonaire, it did not come from Bonaire.
Evaporative behaviour that looks like a fault
Two of these cause more calls than any real fault on a Bonaire evaporative system.
Water running from the cooler is by design. Bonaire explains that evaporative air conditioning cools with water by evaporation, and that mineral build up as water evaporates has to be managed by bleeding or dumping water. Finding water at the drain is the system working.
Windows have to be open. Bonaire states that you must always ensure there is an open window or door through which the air can exhaust, and that this constant air exchange is essential. A sealed house with an evaporative cooler running will not cool, and nothing is wrong with the cooler.
Bonaire also recommends cleaning the unit once in the middle of the year and again at the end of summer.
When a reset is not the answer
- The same code returns within hours of every reset. That is a fault with a delay on it.
- Kelvinator EC, which means refrigerant leakage.
- Actron E09 or E11, the pressure switches tripping.
- Bonaire showing two or three long pulses, which points at the controller, the ignition or a ground fault on a gas appliance.
- Any gas smell around a Bonaire or any ducted gas heater. Leave the building and call the gas emergency line from outside.
- The breaker tripping every time you restore power.
Matching the reset to the brand
None of these three brands has a single magic button, and two of them are mostly about waiting. Kelvinator asks for ten minutes before you do anything. Actron asks for two hours if the system has been off overnight or longer. Bonaire asks you to write the code down first.
Do the waiting, then the power cycle, then give it three more minutes before judging the result. Worth knowing too is how often you should service your air conditioner, since a system that needs resetting regularly usually has something physical behind it.
When the reset only buys you a few days, that is the point where guessing costs more than asking. We send a licensed technician who works on split, multi head and ducted systems across Melbourne, and the price is confirmed before any work starts. If a symbol rather than a code is the puzzle, our guide to air conditioner symbols covers those by brand.
If the reset is becoming a monthly habit, the system is telling you it is overdue, and our guide on how often to service an air conditioner in Melbourne covers the interval.
If the reset will not hold on any of the three brands, our air conditioner service in Melbourne covers all of them, and you can request a quote before booking.
For your model’s manual and warranty details, see the official Kelvinator Australia website.
Reviewed by AC repair and service specialist on 22 October 2026. How we write our articles