Air condition off grid/boondock

N7SHG_Ham

Battery/Inveter/AC is likely only doable with a huge solar plant and battery bank and corresponding deep pockets! The truck inverter idea would require a pretty decent sized inverter wired direct to truck battery.

A better idea is a generator, depends on size of AC, but I would think a 2000w class would be minimum and on the 400's that might be pushing it. Some say yes, some no, but either way it will use about entire output.

DougH

@Sprockethead ; For a $1-2k investment you can have solar A/C if you have low enough expectations.  An A/C with Eco mode that cycles on every 20 minutes can use <50A of 12V, but only use the compressor less than 10 minutes per hour.

If it's 85F outside, the A/C can keep the interior at ~75F all night with a couple USB fans going for comfort, and panels can fully recharge battery bank the next day (not cooling during daylight).  Have been able to do that several days in a row.  At 90F or higher it's only a few hours though. We're just not insulated that well.

And it's much higher cost than a generator. Inverters burn up, hail damages solar panels.  But on the bright side, solar's quieter than a generator and less CO2 emissions.

* 375Ah battery
* 200W EFTE solar that collects all day
* 2200 Inverter
* LG 6500 BTU A/C

Cbusguy

My thought is to keep cool while transitioning from place to place while sleeping over night.    It is absolutely doable with enough battery being charged by the tow vehicle with driving.   

My current plan, subject to change over and over,   is to buy a couple of tesla modules,  they are 24 volt at 250 amp hour,  which gives me about 500 amp hours at 24 volts.   If my calculations are right  roughly I will need about 60 amps at 24 volts to power the cool cat in the 2020 320 s.    that should give me a solid 7 hours or so....

Charging is a bit more problematic,  seems the most efficient route is to convert to ac then use a 24 volt  lipo charger.    very roughly I could easily charge the batterys over the course of an 8 hour drive.  

Solar is easy the latest nomadic fanatic video he was able to do it with about $800 you could easily do it for $1500.   

Don't suffer with paralysis by analysis.  don't over think it.

of course the setup I am looking at for just transitional use will cost about $4k without any solar.   How many nights can I get a KOA for that amount of money?    a bunch.

@N7SHG_Ham I read somewhere that dometic will not honor warrantys on the ac units if you install an easy start and run them on a 2k generator.   link

 

Here is microair's rebuttal to the voided warranty.    link

BrianZ

Agree @Sprockethead about recharging being an issue.  Looking at the Cube specs which say it uses 36A @ 12V.  Assuming my 150AH GC battery could last 2 hours at that rate, I would need a bank of at least 4 in parallel to last 8 hours drawing 9A from each, using 288 AH total or 3.5 kWH of power.  But then to completely recharge them in one day, you'd need an array of about eight 100W solar panels minimum, running in full sun for 5 hours per day.  Better round that up to a dozen or so, and you'd need a very large site and maybe a second TV & flatbed to set up your solar farm.  All this for a little cube cooler that may or may not keep you as cool as you'd like.  Hmm.

Cbusguy

@BrianZ the problem most people don't consider is discharge rate.    You will probably damage lead acid battery with a 40-50 amp sustained discharge.    Lithium can do 1-2 c or capacity discharge rates.   We are talking 100 amp sustained......which a tad on the frightening side.

Nomadic fanantic stated in his most recent video he purchased 4 390 watt pans from Arizona solar for sub $200 a piece.   Outstanding price.

N7SHG_Ham

@Cbusguy not too worried about warranty, I think MicroAir will come to help and even if they don't, how many coolcat failures do we hear about?

Cbusguy

@N7SHG_Ham you hear of a few.  Not so much on nucamp trailers.   Dometic just protecting themselves is all

klenger

I wouldn't worry about a warranty issue with the Micro Air.  It is a very non-invasive modification, that could be un-done if necessary.  I think MicroAir has a 1st class product that is well respected in the industry and I doubt that the MFG would deny warranty if there was an unrelated failure.  It's really up to the dealer / service tech to even mention that it was installed.

Cbusguy

@klenger noticed on your web page you have your honda generator in the anti theft cradle.......do you run it there or do you move it to the ground,    Wondering about vibration from it.

jkjenn

It does not take long to cool down, so I think it makes more sense to cool once you stop. Honestly, the generator is the most cost effective way to go go. I only camp with hookups in the east during the summer. The humidity is too brutal. 

Alternatively, camp out west where you can increase elevation until you reach the desired temp.

klenger

Cbusguy said:

@klenger noticed on your web page you have your honda generator in the anti theft cradle.......do you run it there or do you move it to the ground,    Wondering about vibration from it.

I finally had a chance to boondock for 3 nights last weekend.  Weather was cool at 5000 ft, so no AC.  The generator worked great with very little vibration or noise.  I have a 100 AH Lithium battery and will use about 15 AH from early evening till early AM, running the TV and sound system (120 VAC inverter powered) for several hours.  The generator needs to run about 40 min or so to bring the battery charge back up to about 98% the next morning.  I am amazed at how energy efficient my T@B is.  Running the inverter, TV, sound system, and some lights uses about 2 amps and then add about 1-2 amps when the Alde pump is running.  More details at the link in my signature.

I did notice some generator exhaust fumes in the T@B if I left the door open with the generator running on the A-Frame, so I made sure to keep the door closed.  I could move the generator away from the T@B with the exhaust pointing downwind and that problem would go away.