In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Yup. There's a dang good reason why auto compressors are belt driven and only hybrids have electric compressors.
If it takes 15hp to run the compressor at full chat, that is appx. 11000 watts. Easy with a 200 or 300 volt battery, not so much with only 12v to play with.
I’m thinking a wood panel made to fit exactly in one of the rear door openings. Install cheepo window ac in panel.
Leave one rear door open and install panel in its place when camping. Not perfect but removable, with minimal modifications to the van itself.
If I was spending my hard earned money on an A/C unit I would look real hard at the Cruise N Comfort models.
https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hd-series
They are pretty much just what you are after...modular, self contained, and decent on power. They do draw some nut - 66A on 12V sustained give or take for your 12V version. The Redarc charger I linked up earlier wont work. But this bad boy will.
Nice part is this one works both ways accepts mains power to charge and provides 120VAC output.
Couple that with a single high amp alternator or dual alternator conversion and you are in business.
Of course if you want to run your A/C for a full night you are gonna need some bad ass batteries, probably 4-5 of these bad boys.
Plus you will need to charge up during the day which will be no insignificant task, and if you wanna run your A/C and charge your batteries from shore power you will need another charger....
I don't think (at this point) I'll try to have enough battery capacity to run the A/C. That's a lot of storage which is either large, heavy, and money - or - medium sized, light, and MONEY. My thought is that if I don't have shore power I can either just run a fan on a battery or if I desperately need A/C I have an inverter generator which could run things for 5-7 hours depending on how hot/how many cycles.
Batteries yes. I'm hoping to DIY a LiFePO bank to save a little money compared to buying a pre-made unit.
But the shorter story is that I have access to 120v whenever I want, either from a cord or a generator.
Is there such a thing as a portable generator powered AC , all in one box ?
Asking for a friend :)
In reply to californiamilleghia :
Closest thing would be a truck reefer unit.
Maybe something like this?
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/995909-diy-a-c-window-unit-in-rear-van-door.html
I like it , but buy an extra rear door so you can switch over in the winter.....
CJ said:Maybe something like this?
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/995909-diy-a-c-window-unit-in-rear-van-door.html
The thought has crossed my mind, but not keen on cutting big chunks out of the sheet metal. My left rear door has a ladder on it, and the right door has a license plate holder. I could cut the fenders, but that makes the hairs on my neck stand up.
I would rather try to engineer my own little mini-split, which could include an A/C like that, adding service ports, and passing lines down through the floor to an outside condenser.
The issue with a prepackaged minisplit is they put the compressor on the exterior, which makes sense in a residential application, but doesnt work so well in a mobile application where exterior space is at more of a premium than interior space.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
If I wanted to give up a window to a template, load and unload an A/C unit every time, and take up a large proportion of my floor space, yes. But I don't. :)
It's possible to hack one like that and hide the components somewhere, but I don't want a portable unit taking up space.
93gsxturbo said:The issue with a prepackaged minisplit is they put the compressor on the exterior, which makes sense in a residential application, but doesnt work so well in a mobile application where exterior space is at more of a premium than interior space.
I'll have to crawl under, but I suspect I have room for a compressor. The only thing on the left side is the fuel tank.
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