Boondocking and using the 15,000 Ducted A/C - RV-Dreams Community Forum

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Boondocking and using the 15,000 Ducted A/C

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

You will need a generator to power it of at least 5K watts continuous; a 13,500 BTU requires at least 3300 watts and it usually struggles if you use any other aplliances; egs; microwave; hair dryer; toaster ovens etc. Others no more than me but this has been my experience.
I don't think you can install enough solar panels or batteries to power one. AC's draw to many amps.

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank-You P, I was afraid of that.

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

That will be a job for a generator.

You would need a massive battery bank and inverter set-up to run an A/C.

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

OK, Thank-You TrailerKing. Do the rest of you folks use Generators ? I don't really expect to Boondock much if at all, and I really don't want to spend the money for a pair of 2000 watt Generators for something I don't expect to do very often. So, I guess if I want to try the Boondocking I will try it in the cooler time of the year. Thanks again to Pierre and TrailerKing

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

You should be able to pick up a used onan 5500 or 6500 for 1000-1500.. I think..If you have a spot for it..

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

(1)one 3000 Honda Inverter should handle it. It's quiet and cheap to run too. There are similar models but the Honda EU3000is is a great unit (I had one).
powerequipment.honda.com/generators/models/eu3000is

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Junkman, Right now it looks like I would have a lot of room since we haven't started loading up the 5'ver yet. Our unit have a large basement, but I didn't figure I could put a generator in the basement - maybe on the rear, but then it would be a long way to run cables.

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi TrailerKing, I thought about that also, but I can buy the new Honda Eu 2000's paired up for about the same price as one 3000 and then when I didn't need the full 4000 watts for A/C or whatever... I could alternate between the two 2000's and run cheaper ????

Lonney Wade · RV-Dreams Family Member

rocknb wrote:
I want to be able to run a 15,000 btu A/C while boondocking in our 1998 Alpenlite 5'ver. Our Xantrex 2000 watt Inverter/converter does not work. So, I would like you folks ideas on what to replace the inverter with. Our 5'ver is set-up with 4 new marine batteries ( 2 ea in separate compartments). I also have the read out panel in the hallway of the 5'ver for freedom 2000 Inverter, so I would like to be able to use it. If you need more info to understand my set-up, I will try to provide it. I have used the "Search" to no avail on this particulate subject. Thank-you for your help in advance.

Larry, I have done this not only have I run the 15,000 btu A/C on the inverter but also run the fridge (400 watts) together totaling 2,320 watts and put the charger on the batteries, my charger puts out 320 amps of power, that means I'm putting more amps than I'm using, the rest is charging the batteries to full charge in about 15 minutes, this was my goal to do and I like it.

Here is some of my projects I have built in the past

http://tinypic.com/2mpmg3mo

I will be doing a YouTube video real soon on this.
I can answer any questions you have, just PM me.

Lonney

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hello & Thank-You BiggaRView,

According to the weights, I can handle the separate 2000's easier that I could lift the one 3000. And as far as space, I figure I could chain them in the pick-up bed and then I could also pull away from the 5'ver enough to not worry about carbon dioxide.

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Lonnie, Thank-You for responding,

My goodness what type of battery charger or genny do you have ?

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lonney Wade wrote:

Well I'll be a Dutch Uncle: Some one has found a way to make it work!!! I know if I ask the costs then I can't afford it! Does one need a generator to back it up??? Thought I seen one in the pictures!

Larry, I have done this not only have I run the 15,000 btu A/C on the inverter but also run the fridge (400 watts) together totaling 2,320 watts and put the charger on the batteries, my charger puts out 320 amps of power, that means I'm putting more amps than I'm using, the rest is charging the batteries to full charge in about 15 minutes, this was my goal to do and I like it.

Here is some of my projects I have built in the past

http://tinypic.com/2mpmg3mo

I will be doing a YouTube video real soon on this.
I can answer any questions you have, just PM me.

Lonney

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Let me go after this a different way. Most batteries in RVs are of the car/truck size and are approximately 100AH each, give or take. With 4 you can use 200AH and stay above the 50% range for long battery life. 200AH is 200 * 12 (volts) or around 2400 watt-hours. A 15K air conditioner needs 12 to 16+ AMPs to run, which is 1,440 to 1,900 watts. If at the low end, you can run the air conditioner around 100 minutes. That is not a lot of time, less than 2 hours. Not to mention that the battery voltages will drop as you drain them and might cause an inverter low voltage cut out before you get to 50%.

Lonney Wade · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
Let me go after this a different way. Most batteries in RVs are of the car/truck size and are approximately 100AH each, give or take. With 4 you can use 200AH and stay above the 50% range for long battery life. 200AH is 200 * 12 (volts) or around 2400 watt-hours. A 15K air conditioner needs 12 to 16+ AMPs to run, which is 1,440 to 1,900 watts. If at the low end, you can run the air conditioner around 100 minutes. That is not a lot of time, less than 2 hours. Not to mention that the battery voltages will drop as you drain them and might cause an inverter low voltage cut out before you get to 50%.

My intention was not to run the batteries that far down but to run the 15k air conditioner and the fridge on the trucks 2 alternators traveling down the road, on a hot day it works fine.

The alternators on the truck are spinning at idol 2,300 rpms, so going down the road at 60 mph we are looking at about 6000 rpms for better cooling of the 2 alternators

I have also put a hard start capacitor on the air conditioner for easy start up, this helps the inverter and batteries for fast start up.

I have 630 AH total, I hope this helps someone down the road.

Lonney

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lonney: I was answering the original OP, not you. He was talking about running the air while boondocking, not with an alternator supplying charging.

Lonney Wade · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bjoyce, I'm cool with that. Have talked to Larry on the phone, cool, laid-back kind of guy, he said he will not be going that way.

He will be going with a 1 or 2 (2000 watt generators) because of the weight, about 44 pounds each, I don't blame him on that one, we all ache when we lift to much, (amen to that).

I don't blame him, I may in the future go that way.

Lonney

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

So as to be clear here and not confuse thing for future readers:

You cannot typically set up an alternative energy system in an RV to run AC (airconditining) units in a normal usage cycle (8-10 hours at a time).
You CAN set up a large and advanced system to run them for shorter periods of time - up to several hours in some cases. But in general it is not cost effective or practical.
Generally you use a generator to run AC units. Period.

You can set up smaller systems - like in a tractor (semi truck) - that WILL run off of batteries and support 10 or so hours of AC. I've designed several, and there are commercial units available. These are specialized systems and are not cheap. But it can be done. The truck charges them - like Lonney does with his alternators - or an apu (onboard Auxiliary power unit - a generator). Or a combination. In one case that I did we used solar panels on the truck and it worked well in full sun.

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank-You Jack Mayer and to all who have responded to my thread.
It has been a very interesting subject and with all the input from the various knowledgeable respondents, I feel that I now have a good grasp of what will the simplest and most cost effective set-up for me. I believe I will go with the Dual 2000 watt Yamaha's, which should equal 3200 continues power and up to 3600 watts for max boost.
Again, a great big Thank-Ya - Thank-Ya