Man...I wish you well and thanks for sharing ...but that under mount is gonna keep me up tonight. Yikes. But hey. I hope it's great. I'm just not that bold because I drive with reckless abandon sometimes.
Thanks for the updates. It looks like a good system for the money. The multiple mounting options for the outside unit is appealing. I'd probably go with roof mount as I plan to use the spare tire space for an aux fuel tank.
It was 80 degrees and humid and I had time to test the unit.
I set the unit to 19 Celsius (it doesn’t do Fahrenheit) which is about 68F. Blower on the middle setting.
The unit did a good job Keeping the rear section of the van cool. I did not cover the front windshield or side windows so I had thermal gain through the windows. Also I have zero insulation on the fiberglass high top.
At the 1 hour mark the battery’s were down to 77percent
At 2 hours 55percent
At 3 hours 34 percent
I had to stop at 3.5 hours and it was down to 30 percent .
My battery’s are 3 -100ah group 29 lead acid marine battery’s
A small variable is I do have a 100watt flexible solar panel, however it’s a pretty crappy solar panel and in full sun it was only producing 20watts.
It did a great job dehumidifying the air and the drain rain almost constantly.
With lead acid batteries, frankly I wouldn't ever go lower than 50% state of charge. After that point you can be permanently damaging the batteries.
Herb
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SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.
I’ve have a lot of experience with lead acid with gem cars and golf carts. 30percent is where I stop pulling power and I’ve had very good success. My original plan was to use salvaged Chevy volt batteries (I’ve done a few cart conversions ). But the price has gotten ridiculous on all lithium batterys. I expect I can get 3 seasons out of the lead acid.
I wouldn't consider going lower then 50% to cause permanent damage to the battery. It would directly reduce the proposed life cycles of the battery bank.
The bigger issue is that you now have to get that battery bank charged back up. having such a deep discharge would require prompt restoration to full charge. Failure to do so, would accelerate reduction of battery capacity. This may look the same as you caused premature failure, or permanent damage
We took our van on a short trip. First of the season , mainly because we haven’t had a dog sitter.
A little update to the setup. I added a 4th lead acid battery to the system.
We went to a camp ground and happened to get a electric hook up. I plugged our van in so my WFCO power supply did supply power to the batteries the entire time.
I ran the ac on max from 10 am to 5pm , I also had my 12v domestic refrigerator going.
The electric demand Never pulled the batteries below 80percent.
It was 85 degrees, the van was in full sun , no shade at all and as I said b4 zero insulation. The ac did a great job for the back 1/2 of the van but the front was very warm almost uncomfortable.
Our next trip won’t have an electric hook up. I’ll post the results.
That sounds like a reasonable setup, but I would carry a small Honda gen for those times you can’t plug in. My cheapo window unit and the Honda gen have proven to work great and I don’t worry about harming my batteries. I also have an insulated curtain behind the front seats that reduces heat gain from the front.
I have not bought one nor seen any reviews. I'm still just looking.
I have been looking for a smaller AC unit rated in the 500 Watt range. They seem to appear even smaller. If you buy from eBay you get a warranty as well as an extended warranty and vendors that are typically more integrated into the US.
These are 7000 or 8000 rated BTU/Hr min split with a rated electrical load between 400-500 Watts, lower than a 120V 5K BTU/Hr window unit.
I thought you can’t run refrigerant in compressors while they are oriented sideways? That model looks like it’s been designed to be installed vertically. Did you rotate the compressor inside it’s case 90 degrees such that it’s not sideways?
I’d be curious to know how is working this far out.
Linear Mode
