Dometic RTX 2000 Rooftop Air Conditioner | Full Test & Review
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- Опубліковано 29 лип 2021
- In this video I test the the Dometic RTX 2000 rooftop air conditioner. Is this the best AC unit for van life? Is it worth the $2,700 price tag? How much does it cool the van? How much battery power does it consume? I answer all these questions and more!
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*Works so well **Fastly.Cool** for rv that it only requires daytime operation until high temp and humidity are overnight. It is difficult to get to side filters, but back is easily accessible.*
Thank you for posting the results of this test. The presentation is excellent and enjoyable to watch.
loved the video.very rarely I see you videos that are not full of unnecessary comments. yours are fine. informative. thank you for taking the time. great job.
Thank you for the test...great to know how much solar and batteries you need to have this run overnight. Look forward to the usage in the wild. Great job in including what modes to use for maximum efficacy, perfect.
Great video! Everything I needed!
Great test and review! Thank you for doing this. I'm getting a travel trailer that comes one 15K AC but is AC ready and hole cut for another in the bedroom. I think I will be putting this 12v unit in that hole to just cool us while sleeping if boondocking or a power outage. Thanks again for doing this!
Thank you for the info! Straightforward and to the point is the way to go for these kinds of products- we're wanting to know what the power draws are, not what cool secluded beach you found while waiting for sealant to dry lol
Thank you!
Well done sir!!
Thank you for the information. Very helpful
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This was very insightful! We’re in the middle of our van conversion and were worried about the toll this ac unit would have on our electrical system. Thanks for taking the time to make this video! :)
Glad it was helpful!
Nicely done and well explained 👏
Thanks for showing the detailed data! it gave me a lot of confident on RTX2000.
It’s a great unit. I think you’ll really like it.
This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for this review. 😊
Super informative and well put together video. Thanks for such a comprehensive real world test. Exactly the info I needed.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much. That was a lot of useful information.
you're really matter of fact... thanks for this... its helpful.
Very well done. Data is king.
Definitely great video, the only thing I would add is to factor in a few key things that could be throwing off the numbers. 1. the windows appears to be open which is a huge factor in heat exchange, so I would a imagine a significant influx of heat from the outside is taking it much longer to cool the van to 70 F, if you had some reflectix covers, I think that would give you some better numbers.
I just started my build today! Sprinter 2500 170wb HR. My wife and I were going back and forth on buying a 12V AC or not. This video helped support a full go decision. Thank you. We are enjoying our journey.
Good luck with your build!
At night with the outside temperature equalizing with the interior temperature the unit should cycle as needed. I'm going to order one soon. Thanks for the great follow up review.
Only way to control heat is with Gold Mylar window tint. That goes on the outside of the windows. As Gold will reflect heat away from glass. Why Space helmets use it. I use it to stop heat from ever getting in my RV. As windows are a heat sink..
I full time in Florida. I always recommend well insulated, “no windows” van builds with a bulkhead and door to separate the driving compartment.
This would work twice as well in that type of van.
I'm in Canada And we do get extremes of both temps #1 item is insulation I took a year to really dig deep to find the best method took in all the Pros and cons And to have the very best is closed cell spray foam applied AFTER you coat 90% of the van with Rubber guard spray We have a Canadian brand But Gorilla makes one too Apply it everwhere on the inside but the lower 3 to 4 inches of the rocker panels at the bottom. As for spray foam Its harder to explain where it needs to be...You need a layer at the bottom that is breathable outside.......I < Air > I I.....Inside A thermal break And it also has alot to do with moisture The end result my SUV has R-16 in just 2.5inches I run a modded Chinese diesel heater in the winter And Thick 7 layered window covers I'm using 11watts/hr And 0.05/hr diesel on a thermo switch
If you were spending most of your time in bed or in that area.. I wonder if you could put a thermal curtain divider to isolate the bed area.... I would imagine that you could reduce the time to cool that area by a lot... forsaking the rest of the van, but giving you a nice night's sleep and not wasting cooling the rest of the vehicle down. I am mapping out my build now, and the rear area will be a U-shaped work area/bed conversion... i would think that would be ideal.
I am considering the RTX 1000 for a micro camper and looking to do just that... A thermal curtain at the end of the bed to make the cooling area smaller hoping it reduces the time to cool down
At night this thing will work a lot better. Cooling in the day is the hardest thing you can do in a van.
The nights actually is not that bad to sleep with some fan... It's the day when you need AC and in direct sunlight van becomes boiling so it's a struggle for AC
I may be wrong but I think a 20 degree difference in temperature is very good for an AC. Ty for this Video.
Yay I've been looking at this unit as a potential chill M.O.... great information thank you sir. 😁 I was wondering if the unit would work just as a fan.. does it vent to the outside or does it just circulate the inside air through its own system... long story short... would it work as maxxfan and ac instead having 2 units on top of the van? Appreciate your efforts getting us this demo.
Thank you for this video. I’ve been wondering how this A/C would perform in a real world scenario with that battery set up. Well done
Thanks ! I am close to van life....well part-time any ways, and the AC is my main concern in Florida.
Thank you, very informative. I'm looking into a 12V AC for a 15ft travel trailer.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for vid. I saw someone say it’s like a swamp cooler. If so, wondering if this AC works better in dryer areas (like swamp cooler) or if in fact it’s more of a true AC? Thanks 🙏
Good demo. It is obvious that this unit is not practical for use in extreme summer conditions at low elevation and in full-sun. I don't think it really practical even at mile-high altitudes in full-sun conditions either. How has your experience been? The footprint and low-profile is nice, but I don't think it will be adequate for most van-dwelling applications without shore-power/generator. This would be a nice model for supplemental addition to passive cooling (shade, elevation), but if you are cutting a hole in your van, we might what to have a more scalable solution. Just for those considering. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the video.... Is there any kind of divider or curtain in-between the front cab and the back of the van? How many windows do you have?
Thanks for the awesome video!
I'd be curious what the average power draw over an entire day is. Obviously it won't be continuously running all day once the temperature get's down to a comfortable level. With your insulation, I'm curious what the amount of time on vs off would be for a hot day (90F).
Well, it was a 30 amp continuous for one hour in this video alone. This is not very practical on a 12v system
Hello all. Is it possible to have this ac running on eco mode and setting temperature at 78 degree running all day? Plus next day during summer heat in Nevada? Thinking of getting 4 solar panels at 100 watt each, 2000 or 3000 inverter with a 40w or 60 w charge controller. Need to use ac while solar charging 2 gel batteries ( 200 w each) at the same time for next day use. This is going to be for a chevrolet express cargo van with insulation walls and floor.
Real test would be in direct scorching sunlight midday. My treeligo mini split ac barely gets temps down to 26C when outside is 34-36C direct sunlight. Van is metal so gets really hot and AC struggles. Full blast 60amps draw with solar doing a lot of work of course.
I use my Vehicle AC system to get the temperature down. Then switch on Eco Mode. I get 15 hours of run time on 400ah Lithium batteries. If I need to charge the up real fast. I can switch on the Vehicle Alternator. Using the Renogy DCC50S Dual Input DC-DC MPPT controller. There idiot proof install. Connect Solar, Connect Alternator. Connect to batteries. Set type of batteries. The MPPT controller takes over. As it's a true smart controller..
You mentioned that you don't have much solar today and your van is still just a shell. If you were out in hot sun and had the van fully equipped with all furniture and other contents, your cool down time would have been two or three hours. You're the first guy I've watched that even mentioned Eco Mode, let alone use it for a half hour to see if it would hold the temperature, and it did.
In real life with a fully loaded van and hot sun, I think you would want to run the vehicle A/C in the cool down period to minimize cool down time and battery draw. Once the van and contents are cooled down, you've shown that Eco Mode will hold temperature, even when it looks like you had the van door open. Overnight, when there is no solar load and you have your window covers on and doors and windows closed, I suspect the Dometic would be cycling on and off, so the average battery draw would be much lower than 20 amps. If used in this way, I think you could get by with 200 watts of solar and a couple hundred ah of battery, if you're willing to set the temperature in the high seventies.
Do you have a video on how you wired this to your system?
I am curious to know how this was on condensation? Did you have any dripping inside the van or issue on top? And does it have a fan mode that would be compatible with another fan, as in, put one fan on a mode that pulls air and the A/C fan pushing air in without cooling it? Thanks for a great review!
It's got a swamp cooler. It takes the condensation and tosses it over the coils.. To carry heat away. With the builtin catch tray and fan..So it doesn't waste anything...But these also heat. Not just AC...
Thanks for the informative video! I do have one more question though, how does it work in fan/vent mode without any cooling? Does it move as much air as a fantastic fan or Maxx air fan?
It does not have a fan only mode.
I wish you shown how your setup is wired install is simple and easy I have 2 renogy 12v 200ah lithium iron phosphate batteries w/ bluetooth I may buy 1 or 2 more i don't one a van but buying a 5x10 sundowner cargo to build out for offload camping as a base camp. And I plan to but a truma gas heater , I don't see the point of buying teardrop trailers that cost 40/50 k when I can build cargo out all in 15k or less
What is the BTU output of this unit at max and eco? Sincerely, Richard Goodman
Love this video! Super helpful. Just a little confused because whenever I run mine in eco the lowest pull I get is 24-25amps. Was hoping it would run around that 19-20 range it claims it's supposed to run in eco.
Hmm. Not sure. I've installed several of these and they all pull around 40-45 amps in regular mode and 19-20 in eco mode.
Have you checked the voltage drop at the terminals on the RTX? If your voltage is low your amps will increase.
Wow
they have a dometic 1000 ac how many watts would that pull?
I'm assuming I missed it but how many AH is your battery bank?
What is your battery setup didn't see a video
Life Can Be Good on the road😊, with that setup. $4.5k of batteries and $2.5k for the AC, in a rig that’ll last 10yrs.
this video was excellent thank so much. What fan speeds did you use during this test?
Thanks. I honestly can’t remember. I usually don’t adjust the fan speed. I either set the AC to Eco or Auto and let the setting determine the fan speed.
@@OurThrivingLife thanks, I think you will find that you will get lower wattage draw if you run it in manual mode and reduce the fan speed.
I curious why you selected the RTX 2000 vs the RTX 1000? Thanks for your response - your website, videos, and delivery are all wonderful
Good question. I can't find anyone installing the 1000 on UA-cam. Would like to know if either could be run on a Bluetti AC200P in the 12v/10a connection.
The RTX 2000 is only a few hundred dollars more, with almost twice the cooling capacity.
Do these types of units let air in or out from the cabin to outside? Can they double as an exhaust fan? I'm wondering if for my van build I will need both this and a fan for ventilation purposes. Thanks!
They do not act as an exhaust fan. AC only.
I think 77f 25c is still way to hot for me. 64f
B
I just bought a van and I was just going to put a fan in. I wonder if this just could be used as fan and how much power it uses in fan mode{ if it can be done?} I have a chevy express extended and I wonder if I should get 1000 or 2000
It does not run in fan only mode. I think the 2000 is a better deal. For only a few hundred dollars more you get almost double the BTUs.
Does this have a 110v as well just so when you are plug-in to shore it uses shore power instead of the battery?
It does not run off of 110v, but you can plug into shore power and your inverter charger will convert to DC to run it.
What inverter are you using? Is there information as to what size circuit breaker to use?
I’m running a Victron inverter charger, but the air conditioner is running off 12 volt DC. I’m using this 60 amp breaker: amzn.to/308DRst The AC does come with a fuse, but I used a breaker instead.
HI, I am watching your van built. I bought RTX 2000 same as yours and paid more than what you paid. bought it because I can either 12v or 24v. parts came 12v part, and 24v. there was no 12 V connection to the main A/C unit.
there are any ways to connect to 12 V to the main A/C unit. could you advise me if you have any idea? thanks
I’ve purchased and installed 3 of these. All came with wiring for both 12 volt and 24 volt. The larger wire bundle is for 12 volt. It has a connection on the end that connects to the grey plug that comes out of the AC unit. If yours didn’t come with this wire bundle, I’d contact the company you purchased it from.
How many amps is it drawing. How big of a fuse do you use. Will this work for a 30 amp load center?
It usually draws between 20 and 40 amps, depending on the setting. I think it comes with a 60 amp fuse, but I used a Blue Sea breaker instead.
Will this ac run with a Bluetti AC200P (2000wh) using the 12v/10a connection? Or does this have to be connected to the driving battery in a Promaster 3500?
Not sure about the Bluetti. We connect to a 400 amp hour lithium battery bank. It pulls 20 to 60 amps, depending on the setting.
I'm glad I watch this video. Honestly I'm not impressed with the results after a hour
I have a Penguin roof top AC and it will blow ice out the vent is the 12 volt Dometic AC work as good or better and do I need a soft start for the 12 volt Dometic AC ?
I don’t have experience with Penguin, so I can’t compare the two. The RTX 2000 is a great unit and doesn’t require a soft start.
You do nice work! You mentioned that you have 500aph of lithium in the van to power the AC unit. Have you ever heard of 'Trophy server rack lithium batteries', I'm thinking of purchasing their 48/51.2 volt, 220aph, heated lithium battery. But, if I understand you correctly, I would need to install two of the Tropghy batteries to achieve close to the same operating time of the AC unit as your 500aph battery bank, is that correct? Also, would you care to share your opinion on using this type of battery for full-time van life?
I've heard of Trophy batteries, but i'm not familiar enough to give an opinion. You would probably want two of them. Good luck with your build.
@@OurThrivingLife Thanks for the response, keep up the nice work,
Does this unit EVER shut off? I mean if you had it cooling a smaller space and it wasnt 100 degrees will it shut the unit off when it reaches desired indoor temp? Can the unit used as an attic fan type fan to just move air and not run the compressor? I am considering buying this and everyones tests only talk about electric consumption.
It does not work as a fan only. The compressor kicks on and off to maintain the set temperature.
Is it quiet ?
How has the AC been doing since the installation, especially nowadays with this heat wave?
Still going strong.
Niceee. Are you using the recommended 40a fuse? Has it tripped on you?
I’m using a 60amp breaker, and it hasn’t tripped.
When people review these battery powered ac units, they seem to fail to mention the btu output. A freind told me they are around 6700 btu's? If this is true, that explains why they are capable of running off of batteries. For the private they want for these, you can buy a snapper 3700 continuous watt gas generator for $1,000, and buy a 15,000 btu standard rooftop ac unit for $800.00, and still be ahead of the game, and be comfortable no matter what the temperature and humidity with a unit that won't be struggling like this battery powered unit will.
@@davidlastoria3341 Yes, and your neighbors are going to love listening to your generator run all night. Walmart, Cracker Barrel, and other places you overnight along the way will love seeing you drag your generator out of your van too - hope you have a strong back as well.
Considering the temps, you don’t have enough btus to really work well.
You would be better off to buy a higher btu 120v ac unit, that costs much less, and with the savings, buy more batteries.
They also have some real quiet 120v units now.
@Mike you need to run a high power dedicated second alternator.
If you had the infrastructure to support it, could you theoretically run this 24/7? I saw on their website that this has a 12 hour run time and wasn't sure what they meant. After 12 hours, do you have to give it a break? Great video.
I think that 12 hour thing refers to a semi truck running the AC off of the starter battery. I believe it will run as king as you have power.
Do you ever see the battery symbol flashing on the display screen? I just hooked mine up for the first time today and is running great but the battery symbol is flashing on the display and I’m confused. I’m running a 4x100 ah battle borne system.
400 ah is plenty. Are your batteries fully charged? The only time I’ve seen the battery warning is when the batteries were low. Not sure, but I think around 12 to 12.5 volts is the threshold.
@@OurThrivingLife thanks for the quick reply! Yea the batteries are brand new and fully charged. And the ac is brand new as well.
Hmm. That’s odd. I assume you are using this in a 12 volt system and you ran the supplied 4 awg wire all the way from the AC to the power supply? Did you connect the small set of wires coming off the AC by the Anderson connector? We never connect those.
@@OurThrivingLife yes. I’m running all Victron energy components and have tried connecting both the large and small wires and then just the large wires. The battery symbol still blinks.
You may have mentioned...how many amp hours did your build have when you did this demonstration? Thnx
540Ah
@@OurThrivingLife ok great...I have 400 currently so I feel like I'm in good shape.
Can you tell me about your battery capacity?
540 amp hours lithium.
will honda 2200 generator run this ac?
It's a 12volt AC...So no.
Can the bluetti 200 max can run this ac ?
You could probably run it for a few hours in Eco mode. It draws around 250 watts in Eco. In regular mode, it draws 500~700 watts, so that would deplete your battery pretty quickly.
To run on shore power, I assume it would be wired to a AC to DC converter
You can plug into shore power and just run the air conditioner off of DC. The inverter/charger takes care of the conversion.
@@OurThrivingLife I didn’t think a LiFePO4 battery could charge and discharge simultaneously
@@OurThrivingLife do you do consulting for a fee?
how many hour you can run AC
Depends on your battery capacity. With 400 amp hours of lithium, we can easily run it all night long in eco mode.
hi whats the dimensions (Length and width) of this unit??
25.4″ long x 33.9″ wide x 6.6″ tall.
@@OurThrivingLife thank you! we have a winnebago solis 59P with a pop top and very little space at the back. thank you for this response!!
Sir, what van do you have?
I'm a van builder. We put them in all our vans. This video is a 2020 Sprinter 144.
Our mini split cools it down in minutes and uses way way way less power. It’s a Cooper and Hunter and it will freeze you out in about ten minutes here in this horrible humidity of Alabama. We have 1005 ways of solar and we run it 24/7 around the clock with no problem. I was thinking of using this dometic but it just can’t compare to the C&H mini split in performance and power draw.
Honestly the test needs to be done with the sun beating down on the van in 95-100+ degree weather.
I understand it was 95 inside the van at the time of this video but that can happen in a 75-80 degree day with the van parked outside.
When the van heats up, the eco mode is not gonna cut it.
My 650 watts of solar on a hot Texas 100 degree day in full sun can bring in anywhere from 35-40amps and could theoretically run this unit off of solar alone but how you replenish the batteries for the next day is the problem.
I could be wrong but please do an ECO run in a hot 100 degree day see if it can hold the temperature.
Great video otherwise!
You are correct. This unit is not scalable for real-world conditions.
So 6800 BTUs is enough?
Works great in our 144 WB. I’ve heard from others with 170 WB vans that it works well in those.
Seems like the tech still needs some work. It shouldn't take an hour to cool down such a small space, IMO.
So for one hour it pulled 37.8 Amp Hours out... that means on average.. Considering at 50% usable.. of the of the 540 amp hours.. you used 7% of your total amp hours so considering cycle times... being unknown ... But the average time you can run your unit from a 100% charged... full 540 amp hours would be around 7,1428 hours.. off a fully charged battery back...
He’s running lithium. They have 95% useable capacity and not 50% like lead acid batteries.
@Mike for LFP lifepo4 cells the advertised cycle life (usually around 3000) is with a complete discharge of 100%. Yes you increase the cycle life if you only discharge them to 80% but you are not damaging the cells if you completely discharge them. That’s what they are designed for.
Sounds terribly loud
That thing isn't worth a sh*t a whole hour to get to 77degrees while it also cooled down outside too... that's not worth $100 much less 3k.
Find another 12volt ac.
Way too loud, never be able to sleep
Just think of it as white noise.
I hope it works out because you have at least $5000.00 tied up in just the A/C unit and batteries 🪫