Solving the AC Puzzle: Exploring Solar Power Needs for AC While Living in a Van, Tent or RV
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
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In this video, I explore the possibility of running an air conditioner (AC) in a van or a tent.
How much solar power do you need to power a small portable AC unit?
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Thanks for watching!
My biggest complaint about this style of AC is something that no one ever mentions. When they first came out they had 2 vent tubes so it would pull outside air in and circulate it through the condenser and then blow it back outside. This is efficient. But now they only have 1 tube so it pulls air in from the space being cooled, circulates it through the condenser and then blows it outside. This creates negative pressure in the space being cooled and that pulls hot air in from outside. This isn't efficient. They actually make kits to convert a 1-vent tube portable AC to a 2 tube.
I'm currently installing a window style 5000BTU AC in the back door of my van. I paid less than $200 for it and it uses between 330 and 380 watts. I happen to have a lot of solar on my roof (720W) so it keeps my batteries topped off. For those that aren't familiar with AC units, a window style unit is built so the condenser (the part that creates heat) is on the outside. This eliminates the negative pressure created by the single vent tube unit like Bob is testing.
That sounds cool thanks for sharing !
This comment right here. I had THREE separate ones all new before realizing the air pressure in my van was chocking it out and shutting it off at high temps during the day. A window unit is perfect for me now.
I get tired of explaining that to people, unless you know how AC works people don’t get the idea behind it
they still sell portable with factory two tubes. just picked one up at COSTCO last month. I have added the second tube on 5 different portables. For sure replace the factory hoses with insulated flexible HVAC hose. also a good idea to put a screen filter on the intake. much easier to clean than the coils.
Thanks for the info
I was a recipient of two solar panels gifted from you Bob.
It made an incredible difference in my life.
Just another thank you to you.
Very awesome! ❤️✨
I could use some help magic 🪄
The new 12 volt mini split ac units are easily powered with a medium sized power bank and solar and are around $700.
Do you have a link to one?
Please give examples?
Can that be used in a tent?
How ?
How many watts are they?
Thank you for sharing another option 🗽🇺🇲 Brooklyn NY ❤️
These type of portable coolers don't work well in the east due to high humidity. It has a single hose that exhausts the hot air from the condenser. The problem is it takes the air for the condenser from the inside and that will draw hot humid air from outside into the living space.
The ones with two hoses or a coaxial hose keep the outside humid air separate from the inside air. A window unit works better as it keeps the inside and outside separate.
Correct. If you think of your engine driven compressor, as your engine is running, single port is open air circulation and dual Port is closed (recycle mode)
We all know recycle mode is more efficient at cooling the inside of the vehicle.
Even if the humidity is low and temperature is hot , nobody wants to pull 95-degree air into the van when it's better to further cool the inside air which is much cooler. Using cooler air means your compressor doesn't have to run as much which means much less electricity.
Im in NW Florida and have had a larger version of one this type...the moisture/bucket is a pain the derriere. I thank you for this comment!!
I'm in the east. Thanks for this information. Much appreciated.
They have a dehumidifier option that is perfect in the humid south. The better brands evaporate the water and no need to empty a bucket. Choose carefully. These are a life saver
The vent hose gets really hot, negating the cool air and forces it to work too hard. Poor choice for humid climate or make sure located where vent hose is not inside.
I really appreciate you doing these tests for us.
Insulating the exhaust hose will help. I used A/C duct over the exhaust hose and there was a noticeable difference in my boat. Portable A/C of 8000 is about the same as a 6000 window unit.
I saw a video on UA-cam a guy had a van for stealth City camping. . he is something like that air conditioner and it was vented through the floor of the van so no one could see the exhaust
What's the name of the video or can you provide a link to it so I can watch it. Thanks
My current favorite is the Dometic RTX-2000 that runs on 12VDC, max 58 amps, normally less. It's for small RV's, preferable ones with good insulation. I would prefer a low-voltage ductless mini-split, but haven't found a workable one yet that will work in sub-zero temperatures.
One thing to keep in mind is solar is becoming much more popular therefore the price will go down making it more accessible to everyone.
Truth.
Can't wait for that day❤
Not necessarily. Supply and demand are probably more at play. Moore’s law has its limits.
A high SEER number AC and a lot of insulation is the best bet. These portable units have a low SEER number, about 15, look for SEER 20 or higher.
I can run my Midea window AC on cool on as low as 150 watts. It has a very efficient motor. When running 150 watts it wont cool a room but it will cool me when I’m sitting next to it.
A couple of tips for helping , Weather on tent [ maybe harder to do ] but on trailer , RV etc. mounting solar panels with at least a couple inches , or 3-4 inches on top makes a huge difference --- now your living environment , is in the shade and you automatically are not going to heat up as much [ so less AC needed ;)
The old engineering principle - keep it simple-stupid ;) = try to lessen your need 1st - before your build something .
Another option behind the same issue , look for garden shade cloth --- to shade the space you want to cool .
Thanks again
Are you meaning to have a gap underneath each panel correct?
Definitely do not use this to cool your RV. It is the most inefficient way to cool.
First, it has an AC motor which uses a lot more power than a DC motor. DC motor is more efficient because it has a permanent magnet instead of a power hungry secondardy winding.
Second, it cools the condensor using cooled air from inside instead of fresh air from outside. Electricity used to cool that air goes to waste.
In conclusion, nothing beats a 12V DC based AirCon system. With a DC unit, less power is needed and therefore less battery and less cost and weight.
DC motor is about 30% more efficient than AC motor, plus some 20% inefficiency in the Inverter. You can reduce battery and solar panels capacity by about 40%. So you spend a little more in a DC mini split, but you saved in battery, solar panel and inverter. Hope this info useful!
What about the people living in their cars in Arizona
Hi Bob, It would be interesting to get a thermometer and note the temperature in the tent before you run the AC, and then mark the temperature after it’s cooled the tent down as well as it can. How many degrees does it actually cool the tent? If it drops the temp 15-20 degrees, it would be worth it. If you only get a 10 degree drop after all that, not sure it would be worth it. Thanks for all you do!
These single house unit’s can’t be real efficient. You are sucking in cool air to discharge it outside. Look at window units and split systems . They don’t suck air from the inside and blow it outside. I know the dual hose units are more expensive but they are more efficient. Why don’t you compare a single vs dual hose unit of the single size.
I bought one last December and have been very pleased with it in my van. I primarily camp at Florida State Parks where there are hook-ups but have a 2K watt Ecoflow that will allow me to get about 3 hours at night if boondocking until the heat has cooled down. I set it between the front seats and vent out the passenger window and it has never failed to cool off the inside.
Thanks for a post from a current user! Do you think a 6000 BTU unit would do the job as well? What size EcoFlow are you using?
Going camping in a few days in Florida and taking one. I will see how it does. It will be 90 degrees here that day
This gives me hope, as I'm in Florida and have been trying to figure out to stay cool in a vehicle
Does the noise from it turning on wake you up?
Parks are quiet; I would imagine the A/C unit might even startle you at night.
I'm in a van in FL too! Thanks to you if you can answer. 🙂
Could you vent it out of your stove jack?
These type work well however mine I cannot clean out the area the water drains from and if there is mold it is unreachable. My window unit evapirates its own condensation, this kind I have to put on a table and run the drain into a gallon jug I have to empty once or twice a day depending on humidity.
I designed a way to use a window AC unit in my van. But it's stealth it goes through the floor. It gets the air and exhausts the air through the floor under the van. It works well. I've been using one this way for about six years. It's a bit of a challenge to replace, but I have done so before.
that sounds handy. can you explain a little more? is it rightside up with some kind of vent that curves towards an opening in the floor?
My poor experience with a portable AC in an enclosed trailer has been posted. It's not favorable. A window unit with venting like mentioned is on the project list. @@mira-sturdivant
What a great, indepth test. Thank you, Bob! You answered all my questions. I appreciate you. Peace!
You should get the active start soft start for your A/C
I wouldn't get a portable unit for a van unless it was a dual hose model
Wow!!!🎉🎉🎉 Thank you. Battery operated portable!🎉 Thank you!!!
Evap coolers are great for energy conserving cool in the dry heat. Humidity is a concern, but if you air out at night it should be ok.
This only works in arid environments.
@@fratermus5502 True, but not everyone is going to be in dry heat.
I just bought the Hessaire 1300 evaporative cooler from Home Depot. 1300 cubic feet of air/minute. It is a reconditioned unit. Probably as good as new. $138 as opposed to around $200 for new. It was on sale for $109 over memorial day. I use it on my patio to cool a mother cat and her kittens. It works great now that the humidity is low and uses 82 watts on the low selling. 250 Watts on the high setting. Low would be plenty for a smaller vehicle like a car or van. Uses about a gallon of water/hour on low. So you'd need access to clean water to run the thing. The AC unit that is being discussed uses 900 Watts? So you could run the evap about 11 times longer than the AC unit based on energy usage 900/82 = 10.9 hours. If you do use the evap in a vehicle, place the evap in a window and seal all around the window with some towels. This insures that fresh air is being sucked in from outside and then blown through the vehicle instead of blowing back out of the open space of the window that surrounds the evap. Then open an exhaust window on opposite side of the vehicle so there is always a flow of fresh, cool air coming through. This unit can be hooked up to a garden hose or filled with water, through a little side opening. The unit has UV protection built in to the polymer so it is made for being in the sun.
Look on UA-cam and just build a small evap cooler. Pretty cheap and seems to use very little electric. Again, only used for dry climates.
Where the humidity is too high for comfort with straight evap cooling, one can still use it to pre-cool the air that flows across the condenser coils, which don't have a comfort sensitivity.
Firstly, thanks for what you do! AC units. My rig is a 16' cargo trailer with about R 11 wall/floor insulation and R24 in the roof. More than most. Black wall exterior color. Yeah, I know. In the southeast, the rig gets hot in daytime summer heat. When the sun goes down, drop the ramp and open windows/door for a quick air exchange. Still it's too warm to sleep. Enter a single hose 8K BTU portable unit for the last few years. It operates via shore power which is a 25' 12-2w/ground extension cord plugged into a GFCI recep (there are more receps hiding than most know). The efficacy of the portable AC is unacceptable as the hose gets hot and in turn that heat contributes negatively to interior temp. Additionally, the power demand is such that the extension cord gets hot. Therefore, the portable unit does not properly cool the cargo trailer nor can it be left on all day or all night. My experience is not favorable. To that end, a small window unit will soon replace the portable AC. Let's hope for better results.
A window AC is almost always more efficient at cooling. Portable units push room air outside and then outside air will find a way back into your space. A dual pipe portable AC is better!
Thank you for your continued search and sharing. Air conditioning is the one thing that keeps me from being on the road 100%. This may be a good choice. I currently have a 23 foot camper. The biggest problem is finding a way to exhaust without cutting a big hole in the side or taking out one of the windows? Anyone have a good way to do that?
I opened my small window.
I had a friend cut a board to fit the window and cut out a hole big enough for the exhaust hose.
get an efficient rooftop ac or if you are able to do a more complicated mini split install.
Put a hole through the floor for the exhaust
I ran my 5000btu ac window unit in my van off of a 120ah life po4. It would run from 10pm to 7am. Cycling on and off while the van stayed cool. Now I've added a couple more batteries but yea it saved power by cycling on and off. I'm in Oklahoma by the way and it gets hot!
I bought this unit to use in my previous van and was extremely satisfied. With 15 amp external hookups I used it over a July weekend in Central Ohio and it was more than adequate in my dark green van. You don’t need the little tube when using it in AC mode as the moisture is pushed out with the hot exhaust air. I vented it out the front passenger window with some bug screen to cover the remaining gaps.
Japanese mini-splits are also a great option to consider. Thanks for Sharing ❤️
Our rig, "Serenity" is a 13 passenger Chevy Express 3500 shuttle bus. I tried a 8000 btu single hose portable unit, similar to what you showed. If you were right in front of it, a good cool blast of relief. overall didn't cool the bus. Then tried a 12000 btu double hose unit(with heating capability) and was better. Then (3 years ago I think) we were in SD during the big heat wave, at a campsite with shore power. 107 degrees, 40 mph wind, gusts of at least 60 mph. Sitting there rocking in the wind, was still miserable 92-95 degrees inside. Final (I Hope) solution was a Pioneer 12000 btu inverter mini split, that will cool the bus down to 75 degrees on a 98 degree , almost 100% humidity day in full sun in FL. The max wattage it has pulled was less than 1200W in "turbo mode", and is SO much more quiet inside ! We have 800W solar panels, 3-100ah battleborn's, 2500W Aims inverter/charger. In full sun, after the interior cools down and the mini-split ramps down, can run the unit and put charge into the batteries. I'd advise anyone who tries a portable unit to go with a double hose unit, better yet to get a mini-split.
Right when i was about to click off near the end you drop the gem of having a Gas Alt to run it when Battery & Solar arent enough and Thats the Ballgame. Multiple Sources of Power…Gas for Heavy Loads & Endurance(Quick &Cheap-ish🥴), Solar & Batteries For Smaller (But just as important) Loads (12v appliances/Lights) and also TopOff Littler Batteries (Phones,Laptops,Tool Batteries) in between Shore Power Hookups to Recharge The Solar Generator and on Board Batts. A System of Power instead of just a One and Done “Solution” also adds redundancy should one fail/die/lose or change/ upgrade out
If you really want to "solve the AC puzzle" in the desert heat, start by creating shade, whether you have a tent, van or RV.
Covering that Bell tent with Aluminet will considerably reduce AC power consumption. Same with van and RV, and although you can't cover your rooftop solar, you can position your rig with driver side facing south and Aluminet covering the side from roof to ground. Then, an aluminet shade structure on the camp side will create a wonderfully cool oasis; it not only blocks the sun but also traps cool nighttime air. Perhaps the best part is that it'll only cost about $200. Another $100 for a misting system for true luxury.
Unfortunately, you'll be hesitant to ever leave camp!
Any particular suggestions? Maybe Amazon product suggestion on both? Ty for idea
I have a Accuzone Maxicool, 960 watts of solar, 400 amp hours of lithium, and I can run it 3 hours which usually takes the batteries down to 30% so usually in the summertime I have to go to an RV park and plug in works great keeps me cool and yes I'm still in Quartzsite Arizona where it gets 120°.
Home Depot actually carries a 5000 BTU portable that "only" pulls 750 watts
I have a slightly larger floor unit, similar to that one, in a 14x80 OLD trailer house (poorly insulated), in hot and humid Minnesota. Up to about 85°F it keeps my house comfortably cool despite the lack of shade trees outside. Above that, it starts to struggle a little but adding a separate fan to help keep the air moving makes a big difference. One thing I've learned though is that if you can't attach a drain hose to it, make sure you empty the holding tank regularly because if it gets close to full the unit automatically powers down to about half capacity, and if full, it shuts down entirely. That can be a problem if you leave pets home alone while you go do something else. Other than that, I've had it for five years and it's still going strong. It's a GE, btw.
I learned from motorcycling in the heat, that air circulation around the body helps. I cut a Kool Kusion seat 'cushion' in half, and then bend that around my motorcycle seat. It changes what would be a sticky-buns situation into dry(er) comfort. In Arizona, it felt like an A/C blowing directly on my butt/crotch.
Hi Bob the best ac for out west low humidity is Hessaire MC37M evaporator cooler which actually feels like a real ac and uses less than 100 watts portable ac units using 900 watts is literally like using 2 window ac at 450 watts each I run a window ac unit in my van completely off 800 watts of solar and 4 lithium battle born batteries 🥰👍
An option I don't see discussed is the use of a "Swamp Cooler." They are just a fan and water pump using way less power. The problem with them is you need to be in a dry climate and have access to clean water. My grandpa was a preacher on the reservations and he would build a shack with a small camper next to the churches, he would bring a few extra gallons of water and run a swam cooler in Arizona and New Mexico. I have a swamp cooler in the western desert of Colorado and it works well. I could see a 12v fan pulling air past a filter with water running onto it with a small pump that could use very little power running off a single 60-100W solar panel with no battery.
yes
Thank you for this Bob. We have 4 cats and 2 parakeets and in our current state, have access to a rig with zero AC and this is wonderful information.
What I really want to know is how to cool a van at night in Georgia/Florida in the humid/muggy summer with no solar?
I wonder how long it will hold up to road bumps. I bought a Danby for my semi tractor and it only lasted for a month.
Air conditioning in a tent is a waste of energy. Both heating and cooling are most efficient if you can control their operating environment. That means insulate insulate, insulate.
Everything comes with a trade off. If you want to camp in hot climates, start loving the heat.
If you want A/C, get a larger battery bank, solar panels and/or a generator.
If you want to be super comfy, don’t go camping.
Everything costs money, there are no free rides.
Dear Bob love all your videos please let us know how safe out there to park in your car where to go to be safe Thank You have a great safe day God Bless
Gotta see you review the Ecoflow wave 2 only uses about 500 watts on max
Just use fans you will survive l, just fine
Remember space my rig is maxed out at 750 watts, I have no more room for extra panels
How about a generator running the air conditioner
I posted that I was moving to cabayo loco ..I learned about it on Bob's channel...Thank you so much, Bob, been looking for this place all my life. Everyone here has be so nice. Got in yesterday..2600 mi from VT in five days..went to bed..not a sound or a jight. Got up at six and watched some of my neighbors..4 little cotton tail rabits. A grouse tons of birds churping..there's a spot across the dirt with a water trouth..I am never leaving...I lota wildlife getting a drink. very remote..tried uploading video but taking to long..putting in Hughes Net satellite.. and my desert buggy will be here in a few days..polaris 900 razor putting solar panels on roof..pricy bot I'm here for good..God bless y'all..
Where is this place? Never heard of it
I see mentioning A/C in tents. FYI one tent company started its journey in the Middle East with commercial space tents. Crua Tents ROCK. I saw many set up outside a home in Saranac Lake NY and immediately flipped a u turn. Here thd guy is THE only distributor in the USA. I am a former outdoor gear manager for a fairly large outdoor program. i sew, design, fix, repair jist aout ANYTHING, wood, metal, canvas, nylon. NICE products.
climate control of interior spaces weather heat or cool can be very energy intensive. This type of unit typically has an VERY LOW seer rating meaning it’s not very energy efficient. They also are noisy and can create pressure issues in well sealed spaces. A small window ac unit has almost double the efficiency. With solar generation you realize how precious every watt is and usually buying more efficient is more cost effective and often more practical than adding more solar. I have an 8k btu “inverter” window ac unit that ramps the cooling (and this the wattage 150-750) up and down based on heat load. It synchs almost perfectly with the solar generation. Typically you get 85% of the rating of solar panels in terms of output and then you loose 10 to 15% in efficiency for inverter. If you take into consideration occasional clouds you should Always plan on a system 25~50%bigger than what the specs say.
Bob, I have a 2010 Honda Odyssey EX L. Are you saying I need 500-700 watt solar on my roof and i could have that AC work in my mini van?
yes
Learning all about van/rv life the past couple weeks but the one thing I’m fairly certain I would want to do is to move with the weather. So. I’d go north in the summer I think. Idk. Who knows. That’s the beauty of it tho. Not knowing.
So many of the solar generators/power banks are CAPABLE of pass through charging, but they ALWAYS add, “ but we don’t recommend b/c it shortens the overall life of the unit.” My question, Bob or another sub who has this knowledge: if the scenario is THIS: Bobs’ got 1100 watts of solar pumping this Bluetti here, and it’s holding at 100%, as he has just said…. So, does the fact that the unit isn’t trying to restock its battery, so to speak, but instead running in “float” more or less… is that technically NOT pass thru charging??
To loud for me in a small space.
Problem "It just gets so hot" Solution: Dig a Hole. Note: It works for "It just gets so cold" too :))
Now you've got my brain buzzing! Lol That would work for yurts too.
Hey Bob, In my campervan, I am running a Midea U-shaped 8000 BTU Inverter AC (MAW08V1QWT) with 840 watts of solar. I can run it all day during late spring, summer and early fall in the central US. I have 600 AH LFP battery bank, so I cant really run it all night long (about 7 hours).
If you can afford it when you are in a high humidity area go to the liquor store and buy dry ice. Suspended from the ceiling in a wrapped cloth and it will naturally draw the humidity out of the air
It's important to check whether any air conditioner is "self evaporative". If not, you will be constantly having to empty the water from it... And you certainly don't want water going all over your vehicle (nor your sticks and bricks).
Also, some of these units are extremely heavy. I have a small one but I certainly can't lift it.
Camping with Steve did a video using an air conditioner in an insulated ice tent. As I recall, it went quite well (I think they may have done it in an un-insulated tent first, which wasn't great, but it worked out nicely in an insulated tent). I can't remember the power source, but I suspect they had an electrical connection - I don't remember if it was a home test or a generator in the field.
Great video Bob. You sure do a great job on saving folks time and money by testing different items. Stay cool 😎
Great job explaining the A/C. Thank you for letting us know the limitations.
Basically there sold for mobile homes or apartments, they work good... But hadn't ever thought about in a van , ambulance, rv, I used a swamp cooler in my RV plugged into shore power, worked decent but had to empty water so often ....Does that model have a drain plug for the condensation?...What a great experiment...
Curious are you testing in AZ?????
Thank you so much Bob for all the reviews you do to help people save money of what may or may not work for a comfortable life on the road living on a tight budget. 💕
I have one and it worked for me I did have it plugged in at a campground.
If someone could solve the AC problem, i would be out on the road now
The two hose portable air conditioners work better. With single hose, you are cooling the inside air, then using that to cool the condenser inside of the unit. Every bit of air that you pump out of that single hose will need to come back into the van as hot outside air from somewhere.. So now you have more hot air to cool and then push outside through the hose.
As usual Bob , great video. It’s been years since you did a video on dedicated WiFi for your van , are you planning on doing a new video on this now that tech has changed?
We use this in our house in the PNW-We don’t need air conditioning all the time so they has been perfect on those rare occasions that it gets hot and our bedroom is roasting 👍⭐️
I just bought the Hessaire 1300 portable, evaporative cooler from Home Depot. Highly rated. Efficient. 1300 cubic feet of air/minute. It is a reconditioned unit. Probably as good as new. $138 as opposed to around $200 for new. It was on sale for $109 over memorial day. I use it on my patio to cool a mother cat and her kittens. It works great now that the humidity is low and uses 82 watts on the low selling. 250 Watts on the high setting. Low would be plenty for a smaller vehicle like a car or van. Uses about a gallon of water/hour on low. So you'd need access to clean water to run the thing. The AC unit that is being discussed uses 900 Watts? So you could run the evap about 11 times longer than the AC unit based on energy usage 900/82 = 10.9 hours. If you do use the evap in a vehicle, place the evap in a window and seal all around the window with some towels. This insures that fresh air is being sucked in from outside and then blown through the vehicle instead of blowing back out of the open space of the window that surrounds the evap. Then open an exhaust window on opposite side of the vehicle so there is always a flow of fresh, cool air coming through. This unit can be hooked up to a garden hose or filled with water, through a little side opening. The unit has UV protection built in to the polymer so it is made for being in the sun.
I have a smaller portable AC that is 2350 BTU. I haven’t tried it in a vehicle yet, but it did next to nothing in a 150 sq ft bedroom, during the night, when it was about 80 degrees outside.
I find those portable air conditioners add heat to the air as well as trying to cool it. Even though the exhaust is vented outside, the compressor still gets hot and adds Heat. I would like to see a thermal temperature gun not necessarily infrared but just a regular temperature gun like they use in a restaurant or heat and air unit. How cold the output would be and this heat surrounding the unit is producing
Bob, I have had 2 of these air conditioners, wow did a great job. Also designed well, wheels and handles too. Never used the dehumidifier feature, but worked as an air purifier during summer smoke season.
Why does no one ever just talk about the solution of a Portable Gas Generator for this situation? Seems to me that would be a pretty good way to power one of these HIgh Draw Appliances? Of course, you cannot run them at night if you have neighbors, but, seems viable to me. I am not clear as to why a person needs to spend thousands on Solar Generators and Panels when Gas ones are very affordable.
The problem with these portable a/c units is mentioned by others. They pump out hot air thru the hose, but unlike a window a/c that recycles air, these portable units just use the air in your tent and blow it out...well, that air has to be replaced, and it is - it slips in under the tent flaps, etc. as outside hot air. Consequently the machine is very inefficient. It socks in hot air while trying to cool it...does not work well at all.
I need to do a tour of my pickup camper it's super insulated and with my Bluetti AC 200max and one B300 battery total over 5k why. I run my 500 btu window unit each 24 hours uses 20-30% of the battery. Then every 2 days I run the 1250watt Wen generator for 2 hours to recharge takes 1 quart of gasoline. Acme511 is my channel as soon as I figure how to post photos as well as video I will.
I actually have one in my bedroom and it works fairly well..not great but fairly well.
I put one of these in a truck not long after they came out around 2006. It worked well for many years with a Honda generator.
Useful information, thank you. I'm thinking of squeezing a 220aph, 51.2volts Trophy server rack battery into my E250 extended. I'm thinking about it!?! lol.
I liked this kind of AC portable unit. It worked well in the SF bay area East bay in California. I had one for years but it was Haier brand. Only the tubing broke though and replacing it was the challenge.
5000 BTU A/C with a couple of dolly's underneath to push it around will draw about 300 watts .I understand you are reviewing this A/C unit but it draws too much power to be practicable IMO
Oh no I found one at Walmart in Houston texas . I was going to get it it was only 234. Uh I got to pay more but I need it.
YEah, you can get 240W panels for $70 each now, so getting 8 panels for close to 2KW is affordable. If you have wind in your area, a VAWT might be able to make sure you have AC during the day and fully charged batteris overnight.
Is there a screen to go over the exhaust vent? 'Cos I can see little crawly things creeping into the portable AC unit without one. Would something like the EcoFlow Wave 2 portable solar battery powered air conditioner serve the community better? That battery bank looks super heavy & pricey.
Bah youre using the wrong thing for that desert environment. A simple swamp cooler in arid low humidity environments are PERFECT for Evaporator cooling systems (swamp cooler) They are no louder than a small fan running use some ice but it makes great use of it can in a low humidity climate are EXTREMELY effective
I have another solution.. Forget AC…. During a Hurricane here last month in Texas we lost power for 6 days and it was in the upper 90’s during the day and in the 80’s at night.. I put 3 (265w) solar panels on in my front yard and used a 5 gallon bucket to angle the panels. I had (2) 119 ah batteries and. 2000w power inverter.. I put a Box fan from Walmart in my bedroom window and blew in outside air and slept on a mattress in front of the fan. I was freezing and was so comfortable. I ran the fan for 10 hours at night and used 1000w.. Then my solar panels replaced the 1000w the next day in a few hours so then I could run the fan the next day.. This would work in your tent situation too…
I don't know about that AC unit and all that but if the solar doesn't put out near 100% IN THE DESERT SUN, I'm wondering if maybe the manufacturer might have stretched the stats a bit. At any rate, the tent looks good! If you could rig a tarp over it, that might help keep the day-time temps down.
BoB... a watt meter costs about 20.00 and would save you AND your audience a lot of wasted time by giving YOU something to talk about in definate terms (there is probably one in the Bluetti!!!)
There is lots of issues with Bob's logic in this video. Need more math, more info on the outside temperature, more info on the R-value (insulation value) of the tent. One really needs a generator, insulation, and small air conditioner. Been there done that for several years in the Tucson and Yuma deserts.
900 watts is way too high for real usage. In a van a mini-split is the way to go. I have a Cooper Hunter 9K but that pulls around 450 watts on high and after the van gets cooler the inverter technology drops it to around 250 watts even on a 95 degree day.
Do you think the BLUETTI PowerOak EB70 will be enough to run that air conditioning unit?
i will be going full time on the road in a few years, so I will be looking you up Bob...thnx
Maybe they should design a canvas tent where the exterior is 1000 watts of solar panels... Just saying...
bob, all you need is a box fan two cooling coils and a homemade swamp box and it will run on solar and keep the tent or vehicle cool
You could also look at the EcoFlow WAVE 2. It's similar to a mini split, but portable. It does heating and cooling, but more expensive. It runs on AC, DC and solar. I can't remember what is required with the battery, but that adds a lot of extra cost.
Does the Bell tent leak or gap or hold condensation, Bob? I would love a review as I'm in the market. Also I'm setting up a Yurt 14 x 16 in Northern Florida so it's hot! What would be the best power station and panels?
How about the old fashioned "swamp cooler" or evaporative cooler that's supposed to kind of work in dry desert areas?
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I have the same portable AC that I use to supplement cooling at home. I've been pleased with it. The first one developed a control panel issue and the company promptly sent me another unit with no hassle.
I am a 75yo female moving to T or C NM and must live in a tent for the summer until I get my box truck my son's are helping me convert. How is it possible for me to get help with a solar setup and a/c . 10 years ago I took a class at UNM in Taos NM. But relocating is very expensive and I am going south for health reasons. Please pass on any info that will help me get on my way.
A portable 120V AC unit will not work in a van or ambulance and is not really a good choice for a tent.
The reason for this that the exhaust heat gets blown outside creating negative pressure which causes warm outside air to be sucked into your van, ambulance, tent. There are 12V mini-split AC systems that have an inside evaporator and an outside condenser unit with an electric compressor that would be a better choice.
Have been looking for quick disconnect fittings for refrigerant lines so the outside and inside units can be moved from one place to another with a minimum loss of refrigerant, but all the major supply houses claim that they don't exist. Hydraulic disconnects use buna seals which are not compatible with refrigerant and refrigerant oils. If anyone knows of quick release refrigerant fittings, please let me know.