Using the water tank water will increase the water temperature as a result. Having both of them allows you to create airflow and cools the van down quite nicely. https://www.etrailer.com/question-164800.html. There is an overlooked air conditioner type: Marine Air Conditioner. Required fields are marked *. Here is yet another idea for mounting a window AC unit. Total Time AC runs on Batteries = 4.8 – 2.5 (Idle time) = 2.3, There is some discussion of using window AC units (and other types of AC) for van conversions on this page: The following solutions could be used to create a more comfortable environment for your van. configurations impractical for most. He used a Frigidaire 5K BTU/hr AC with and EER of 11.1…, More details on his post on the forum…, and at this photo link…. Methods range from replacing a van window with an adapter plate that the AC unit is mounted on, to mounting the unit inside the van and then arranging for a flow … Note that there is a bit of a disconnect in the above in that it assumes the PV panels are in the sun and the van is in the shade. For the interior, my current thought is an insulated bulkhead up front and then an insulated curtain dividing the living room from the bedroom (think permanent, high bed horizontal across the back). I may need to idle about 2.5 hours at night to get about 8 hours of sleep. some guidelines for expanding the power of the Kodiak through the use It also takes up essentially no interior space in the van. By measuring the van skin temperatures on the outer skin of the van in in the sun and in the shade, I estimate that the heat gain to the van in the sun is about twice what it is in the shade. Otherwise, there may be other ways to cool down your van without having to break out the portable units. A portable air conditioner will take in air from around your room and pass it over coils to extract its heat. Springtime can be an exciting month for those who are living the van life or who own a camper van that they use periodically. The ice cools down the internal ductwork and then a fan blows air through the duct system, cooling it down as it passes. The Sprinter conversion that uses a portable AC unit appears to do a lot of thing right, but I think the choice of a portable AC rather than a good RV AC or an efficient window AC was a big mistake. Have any of you looked an units from this company that run directly off 12v AC? Or even two units. In summary, DON’T put an Li battery in parallel, but a standard deep cycle AGM is fine, and it is designed to handle it: “EXTERNAL BATTERY GUIDELINES As an engineer, it pains me to say the above, but at some point its better just to try something that your analysis says has a chance of working. It also points out that if evaporative cooling can work in the climate you use the van it, its a HUGE advantage in getting to an AC system that will operate from a battery pack and solar. This will give you both AC and heat, and is more efficient than a window AC or portable AC. There are different types of portable air conditioners that I would like to discuss. RD’s design uses his Fantastic Fan roof fan to push air through a watered pad and then blow out the holes in the outer bucket. f-ing genius) off a Kodiak solar generator with 400 watts a solar on the roof in Southern California. I’m wondering if a large rooftop solar installation could essentially double as a passive deployed shade provider as you ponder above? This will allow you to escape the heat and not have to worry about the extremely hot temperatures during the day. Any additional batteries should be This is what I am thinking..Let me know if you guys think its plausible. I would suggest only seeking out those options that are going to produce dry, cool air. Similar to using a standard ceiling fan or a standing oscillating fan at your home, this can be just as effective in your van. This portable air conditioner has two lines that you will need to run to the outside of your trailer. I have been able to stay comfortably on hot days and nights in my van without an air conditioner. This is on high speed, so maybe actual average use might be lower. I do think that there is a bit of a gain in keeping eat off the roof from this. Examples below. This is unsightly and although it probably works to keep the van cool, it isn’t going to win any awards for looking good. If he AC was installed in a window, outside air could circulate freely around the condenser coil to cool it, but since on his mounting, the condenser coil is inside the van, and the 4 inch vents are required to circulate outside air to cool the condenser. I’m not sure if Kingtec is really marketing into the North American market, because I haven’t noticed any mainstream online site that sells these. Fortunately, there are some options for you to use to be able to stay cool in a van. Another thing to keep in mind is that solar gain from windows or windshield in direct sun can be very large. Its practical to install about 600 watts of solar on a camper van roof — maybe  more with the longer vans. External batteries are one of the main ways we have done this. My question is if I add an AGM battery will that make a difference in it being able to handle the surge ? Please keep us posted if you go this way. Please let know how the tarp works out — I think it will be quite helpful. PVWatts says that on average in (say) Truth or Consequences, NM in mid summer, with horizontal PV panels, you should average about 110 KWH per month, or 3.67 KWH per day, or the equivalent of 305 amp-hrs per day, which is a bit short of the 350 amp-hrs required to charge from 20% up to full charge. Both are important in the process and they work very well with each other. This basically assuming that the 5K BTU AC unit runs 60% of the time. Batteries should be connected in a parallel configuration to expand On the down side for the Noria, the efficiency is not great (EER 10.4). Camper Van Dehumidifier - Reducing Moisture In Your Van. 12 volt refrigerator For 40hrs. Thanks for the excellent experiments, I appreciate it. We often don’t have this problem in our homes since we are fortunate to have air-conditioning that cools us off when the weather is at its hottest. So, if the water started at 50F, it would be up to 120F in 4 hours. In a van cooling situation, you would have to use their two hose setup to vent the hot air from the condenser to the outside of the van — it might be challenging to find a good place to run these hoses to. It should help with the cooling load and cut down the time the AC is on. Total cost $20. However, they do look promising and if they work well, they provide a very good choice for van lifers who are looking to cool down their living space in the hot summer. About Guchen 12V 24V DC Powered Parking Truck Air Conditioning Manufacturer. AC units draw a lot of power and most camper van conversions won’t be capable of running a conventional AC unit for very long, but the more efficient it is, the more likely you will be able to run a while on batteries and solar. I did some testing on a window AC that we had lying around…  It is pretty clear from the testing that restricting the cooling airflow to the condenser coil on the AC can have a major impact on efficiency of the unit and maybe even on its ability to operate at all. The idea is to install a couple of elevated rails on top to provide the standoff distance. then when the guy parked and had AC power and wanted to use the window unit he opened a marine hatch in the side of his cargo van (that dropped down?) The link provides quite detailed instructions on how to build the cooler. May I offer my takeaway on the Air Conditioning subject? Most of the people thinking about running an AC (plus other loads) are thinking 400 amp-hrs or more. Just to see if the first batch even work properly. An interesting, promising product came across: here is the web site https://www.kapsulair.com. If you plan to be able to operate off the house batteries, its going to take a large battery pack. Although not technically an air conditioner, the cooler solution is a popular way to get some relief from the hot weather. My wife and I are preparing to purchase a van, which we plan to convert. I think an efficient (high EER) 5000 BTU ish window AC carefully adapted to the RV is probably a good way to go, but all the details have to be right. You must have a pretty tall garage door — from what I have heard, the PM high roof will not fit in most garages (my own included). Our design feature essentially a quasi-separate berth area in the rear (platform bed). But it you could install them, say 3-4″ inches above the roof, maybe benefits could be gained. There are at least 2 potential challenges. Yes, you’re right the TurboKool does have a fan-only mode. As I mentioned earlier in the article, It’s important to make sure you are always blowing dry air into your van. Here are some examples. Hi David, Now 13 months after my post above, I have since bought the van (Transit Ext high roof) and am about 60-70% into the buildout. These air conditioner units are mounted onto the roof and direct air-conditioned air down into the van from the ceiling.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'campervantraveler_com-banner-1','ezslot_1',128,'0','0'])); These can work quite well in RVs since they circulate air down through the van allowing the cold air to sink. He had some issues with the kodiak, I’d think daisy chaining another Lithium ion to it would have prevented some of his issues. The 8,000 BTU MIDEA Portable Air Conditioner is a great choice for small areas. You will just need to make sure you have a layout that allows for a large portion of space to be used for it. The RV Window Air Conditioner Possibly the best choice in portable RV air conditioners. Plus there are some benefits to the bulkhead w/ stealth, locking your living area while the van is serviced on the road and limiting road noise. I would like to have a cool temperature like 70 F for sleeping at night, specially when traveling through hot places like Toronto, Chicago etc..deserts like Texas get pretty cool on their own at night. I don’t want to muddy up your website here too much, but we’ve been mulling this over here: http://www.cheaprvliving.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=30613. Provides 2400 BTU/hr cooling, which is kind of low. The TurboKool uses about 50 watts while the roof top AC is more like 1000 watts, so, the TurboKool is about 20 times more energy efficient. A small area like a van is no match for a window unit and it would have no trouble keeping the area nice and cool.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'campervantraveler_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_3',107,'0','0'])); The problem with this type of unit is that they are not specifically designed to be used in an application like this. Connecting The following video shows a window air conditioner installed in the front of the van directing cold air towards the living space. Each pound of water evaporated removes nearly 1000 BTU from the air stream doing the evaporating. One of the most obvious ways is installing a roof fan onto the top of your van. : https://www.hotspotenergy.com/DC-air-conditioner/, http://www.kingtecusa.com/pages/ac-rooftopbattery.html the limitation would come from the charging time, making extended I added some pictures of it and a link to the video above. It is made  from Tyvek and attached to the van with magnets. Perhaps the most basic way that you can ensure that you are doing all you can to keep cool is to always seek out shaded areas to park. Methods range from replacing a van window with an adapter plate that the AC unit is mounted on, to mounting the unit inside the van and then arranging for a flow of outside air over the AC condenser. 12 volt battery powered air conditioner* Powered by its interchangeable power base. It uses water to cool and humidify an area which wouldn’t be a good idea for a van interior. It is insulated with 1 inch of polyurethane foam insulation (floor, ceiling, and walls),, and the windows are insulated with Reflectex plugs that reflect and insulate. unlocking this staff-researched answer. Bad idea? hi Robert, Wbullivant on the ProMaster Forum worked out a way to install a 5K BTU window AC in the bed platform of his ProMaster van conversion. That is, use it to circulate air without the evaporative function? Robert ! Many camper vans and RVs use roof mounted powered fans to provide forced ventilation. Feeling sunshine on our face and getting out and going to new places is something that van lifers and RVers look forward to. You might look at the Coleman Cub. I just bought a new house and the home owners association requires that my Hymer Aktiv Dodge Promaster RV be parked in the garage. Remote start in the van while in bed: to Charge the battery when its low. With a portable AC unit, the entire unit is inside the room being cooled and hoses are used to pull in ambient air and to exhaust the hot air that comes from cooling the condenser coil. Hi Gary, This is an example of the AC, but there are others. It’s one of the simplest things to do and it will be one of the things that you use the most in your van. The two most popular brands are the MaxxFan and the Fantastic Fan — there may be other good ones out there. Gary, thanks for your work first off . They have screens so that bugs cannot come in but airflow is allowed to pass through and create a nice draft within your van. Window AC from inside of van (in the travel position). Hi Alex, Some people have put in a movable curtain just behind the cab so that they don’t have to heat or cool the cab area. Hey Kevin — good to see you here. This is more of a general guideline for portable air conditioners instead of a specific guide on how to install the EdgeStar Portable Ultra Compact Air Conditioner. I like the idea of the slide out AC — no need to reroute airflows and no loss of usable space inside the van. Thank you for your input! To mitigate this potential issue would be to use an alternate water tank for the food consumption. The drawback may be a potential water contamination for a water drinking purposes. Just box in the area from back of fan down to the floor vent. November 89 Offensive? This is a test I did on cooling provided by our MaxxFan. The efficiency of the unit is up with the best of the current window ACs (EER 11) — you have to wonder how they achieve this with the more compact envelope. Thermal Bridging of Insulation Due to Metal Frames, Picking and Sizing Camper Van House Batteries, Sizing the Electrical Components for Your Camper Van, Variation in PV panel output for season and geographic location, Installing Galley (cabinet, sink, fridge, stove…), Heat Loss Calculator for Camper Van Conversions, Cooling and Air Conditioning for a Camper Van. Note: These kids had to relocate to North Carolina during the pandemic. Another option to get more charging would be to install a 2nd alternator designed to produce high charge rates for the house battery. If you say you can cool a well insulated van with 3000 BTU/hr and you had 20 gallons of fresh water tank, the tank temperature would go up about 18F per hour. Advent Rooftop Air Conditioners are known for its high-quality performance and effectiveness. It seems like it could be a good fit for the RV back door. Any idea how they compare in terms of efficiency? I think its 14 by 14 inches, and I’d be surprised if there are not people out there who make lugs to fit removed AC unit holes. just spitballing. Another simple solution for getting some airflow into your van is by using a window that opens. the battery capacity of the Kodiak. I think it would work for fairly short time periods. This is a multi-use solution since it allows you to have a cooler of ice to keep food and drinks cold while also cooling the air to give you a more comfortable living experience. The Kodiak user manual provides surprising information on this. Could you please provide a vendor for the analysis you provided. The difference to a window AC is that there are no intake vents in the side of the unit, the exhaust and intake are both in the rear. One downside to this type of air conditioning unit is the amount of electricity that it requires to run. I have the HPRB08XCM model. I’m installing a solar controller and intend to use a portable panel, if at all. Battery Monitor — How Much Juice is Left? These can also be difficult to install and are quite heavy. EER is an efficiency rating — the higher the better. I would like to express my gratitude for being able to use your web site as it is certainly very informative. Post on the PM forum describing the sunshade…  MSNomer’s very good website…. So much so that they’ve been helping out NASA fulfill their air conditioning needs for almost a decade! But, evaporative cooling is not effective when the humidity is high — see the chart below. It is a US company. Inergy Kodiak 11Watt Hour – 600 Watts Maximum Input, 2.5 Hour to recharge Panels are typically rated at 25C (77F) — one of the panels is 16.5% efficient at 77F and if the sun heats it to 95F, the efficiency drops to 16.37%. For travel, you take it off and store it inside the RV. Some features that will make your camper van more comfortable on warm days: While I have not seen anyone do this, some form of shade that you could deploy over the van to effectively shade it would be quite effective. Would it be possible to place a TurboKool side-by-side the MaxxFan on the roof of the PM? The Dometic Penguin II is a great option and a popular model that people often install in camper vans. Its bigger than what you want, but (I think) about as small as they come. I guess I would be skeptical that you would be happy with the cooling from even two of these units, but I don’t have any direct experience with them, so not certain. Evaporative cooling uses the evaporation of water to cool an air stream. SouthWest Solar makes some evaporative cooling units that might be adapted for using in cooling camper vans. They range from passive methods through forced ventilation and evaporative cooling to full air conditioners. The ProMaster, Transit and Sprinter forums do have some discussions on small efficient AC solutions for small, well insulated vans. It is interesting that window AC units are more efficient and quieter than portable AC units. PROS: cheap, takes up almost zero space and almost zero energy. Other Types of Air Conditioners for Camper Vans. Current thought is a decent hole in the van’s floor for a Fantastic Fan may not be good for the unibody and there are some other downsides. Also, might be worth googling to see if there are any gadgets you can add onto the AC to reduce starting surge? Some have reported descent cooling of insulated camper vans with 5000 BTU/hr AC units, while some have reported only getting satisfactory cooling with larger (say 13,000 BTU/hr) units. I will cover each one separately. Even a shade spaced 2 or 3 inches off the van should be very helpful. The same can be said for the common “swamp coolers” that you often see people using for their vans or RVs. These work well with solar battery banks and can keep you cool without using lots of electricity. Cold air will get into your van through the front because of the windshield and windows. It comes with the window frame adapter. YouTube  video on installing a mini-split on small trailer…, Some efficient and fairy small mini-splits shown on Thermospace.com…. So, for example, if an AC unit produces 8000 BTU/hr of cooling while using 800 watts, the EER would be (8000 BTU/hr) / (800 watt-hrs/hr) = 10 EER. I just tested my Kodiak with a Haier 5kbtu AC Model #: HWF05XCR. Update July 2018 – A practical sunshade for the van: The more of the van exterior you can cover the better, and if you can space it off the van a bit, that would be very good. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2017/04/18/noria-air-conditioner-kickstarter-kurt-swanson/. This section discusses “true” (compressor based) air conditioners — the ones that require a whole lot of electrical power to run, but provide good cooling even in hot and humid conditions. You can also pull air out and this works great in conjunction with an open window or door. Indoor/outdoor use. Sometimes in the rear or sometimes in other places in the van. However, for many converted vans, this feature is left out. It mounts the AC unit near the bottom of one of the back doors. The portable air conditioner is the fastest growing in popularity of all the home a/c units. But, if Noria comes through, it seems like it would make the mounting easier. These methods, plus a fan for forced ventilation (next section) may be enough for some climates. of additional batteries. Just because you are used to air-conditioned spaces, doesn’t mean that you can’t get along without it. One of them actually uses a MaxAir fan (like the Fantastic Fan) as the air source. I guess you would have to work out a grill/cover to use instead of the hood that comes with the fan. Ten sqft of window area with 80% transmittance in direct sun will gain about 2200 BTU/hr — more than doubling the heat gain of the basic van. The AC unit sits on a counter top while traveling, but slides outward through a hatch in the van sidewall when stopped. Total sleep : 8 Hours One problem with doing this might be having damp air blowing into your van. Because these units use a lot of power, efficiency is quite important. You know, the Central American country in the 80s with the mind-blowingly horrific civil war? I would like to note the participants’ contribution, as it is comprehensive and competent. If you want to have any hope of operating your conventional air conditioning on batteries and solar, you will have to. Note that the heat loss from a non-insulated version of my van under the same conditions is 7500 BTU/hr — 4.5 times as much as the insulated version. I would suggest installing at least one small window in a van and this will allow you to keep the living space cooler. This is possible by installing a permanent vent out the side of your van that the air conditioner can attach to or be removed from. This is very similar to what you’d put in front of a roof rack on an SUV for the same purpose. Other air conditioner systems do not utilize that lost energy, as far as I know. The calculated heat gain with an outside temperature of 95F and inside temperature of 75F is only about 1600 BTU/hr. Gary , Robert here . As to the Kapsul brand , they keep delaying production, currently beta units are supposed to be shipping to initial kickstarters in warmer climates in September? LifeSmart Indoor/Outdoor Single Port Air Cooler. You want to make sure that the air coming out of the cooler is dry so it will not result in problems like this. They must be vented outside and they usually include a kit that allows you to vent them out of a standard window.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'campervantraveler_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_5',129,'0','0'])); These are not often easy to install in a van situation and you might have to be creative to make it work. http://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-specs/AEM05LV. The window air conditioner offers great cooling capacity in a small package. Please keep us posted if you work something out. The water does not have to be drinking water, so taking it right out of the river or other non-potable supplies would be OK. The unit will extend 14″ past the window frame adapter on the outside. Also, side idea…. There are a few DC-power air conditioners, e.g. So, 10 hours would require 300 amp-hrs, and if you use conventional lead acid batteries and drain down 20% SOC, that would be about 400 amp-hrs of battery pack, and this does not include other loads in the van. I think that only having AC in the part of the van you are using is good — I suppose you might go even further on this and just tent the bed itself. These are the kind that you will find at nearly any home goods store or various places online. The AC is twice as quiet as existing units, the manufacturer claims. Good insulation and reflective window plugs should help with minimizing run time. Here is an interesting thread on the PM forum about one person who has done this: https://www.promasterforum.com/threads/minisplit-on-rv-actual-experience.89514/#post-689977. That does not seem like such a big hit to me — maybe it makes more sense to mount the panel as close to the roof as possible to reduce frontal area and take the small panel efficiency hit? Once installed, these work quite well and give you a high-quality air-conditioning unit that can easily cool down the small space of a camper van. Portable Air Conditioner. This is the beauty of having a mobile living space that can be driven anywhere you wish. The solution I am thinking of adding soon is a air deflector that’s about 4-5 inches tall and tilted at the same angle as the forehead of the cab, mounted there just as the forehead turns into the flat roof. Thanks, and I’ll definitely join you in thanking the people who take the time to send comments and thoughts. This type of system can make a huge difference on a hot day and could be the difference between you enjoying your trip or being miserable. CFM is the cooler airflow in cubic ft per minute. This site is owned and operated by Dan Collins. Hi Brian, There is a formula for estimating how much water an evaporative cooler will use here. You might contact them and see if they can provide and EER for the units. My camper van is helping me to do just that. If the batteries are fully charged because of driving during the day. Some methods for doing air conditioning on camper vans with no shore power or generator, and only batteries and solar are discussed below. If you want to go cheaper, you can always opt for a simple clip-on fan that you would likely find in an office cubicle. Gal Per Hour = CFM * deltaT * efic / 8700. This page covers some some cooling options for camper vans. Its clear that its a tough challenge to run AC on batteries and solar, but with a lot of care it might be done — especially if you don’t camp in really extreme hot weather. If you take the TurboKool commercial unit above, it puts out 750 cfm, and if you assume a 20F temperature drop, it would use (750)*(20)(0.93)/(8700) = 1.6 gallons per hour. You would spend less money building one yourself but be sure you build it to where it blows dry air instead of damp, humid air. Have also seen people install window air conditioners in passenger window or rear window. 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