Air Conditoning while on solar/battery power. - RV-Dreams Community Forum

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Air Conditoning while on solar/battery power.

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Interesting sure shows that it is possible with the right equipment and money....

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

guess if you have alot of money and corporate backing anything is possible........but to the common folk , A/C in an RV on solar isnt one of them without giving alot up fast....just in battery weight alone to briefly operate an A/C for any decent cooling is heavy not to mention panels and the added heat(radiant from black panels) added to the roof from the panels.......almost defeats it before you turn it on .......generator or shore power is more cost effective in the short run...

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

BiggarView wrote:
The Wynn's of GonewiththeWynns just put out a youtube vid on this subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rZY5uotKI
I was interested on the load side of things but they appear to have enough solar and battery to do the job except of the brief second the compressor starts running. Later in the vid they mention a softstart kit to ease the load and strain on the battery bank.
Question to the electro-geeks out there... would it be possible to splice in a huge capacitor right next to the invertor to provide that brief surge of juice and smooth out the current draw seen by the batteries? Is the softstart kit the same thing as I am describing. Seems reasonable.
Obviously you can't run it continously 24/7 without a huge battery bank or a genny to fill in the gaps but I'm only considering the short term solution here.

-- Edited by BiggarView on Friday 19th of February 2016 09:27:46 AM

Brian:

Most AC units now have "soft start" kits standard. IMO, no, a big capacitor next to the inverter wouldn't work. Point is pretty simple, AC units just use too much power not just during start but during run; and they have to run a pretty long time to actually cool the rig.

Just to echo Mike: Running AC units off batteries / solar is just not practical in a normal RV. For a smaller AC unit like is found in the bedroom area one would need more than 125 Amps from the battery not including loss. S It's not the power it takes to start the AC unit so much, its the power (AH) it takes to run one for any length of time.

BTW, we make coffee on our 3,000 watt rated inverter and it takes about 100 amps to run the coffee pot. However, it only takes 9 minutes to make coffee for us. It's mostly the time, not the starting "in-rush" power that's the problem.

Just perspective FWIW.

Bill

-- Edited by Bill and Linda on Saturday 20th of February 2016 02:59:30 PM

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill, I though as much. It was a mental exercise more than anything. The cost would kill our budget for a planned solar setup anyway. I've seen vids of capacitors used in that type of application but didn't know if they would work in the RV situation described.

I estimate our coffee maker uses about 14.5 amps at 12V (math converted) per day so it sounds like my calculations jive with your actual usage.

Don't think we'll copy the Wynn's 960 watts of solar and 700Ah of lithium batteries but not for want of trying. LOL But that is another discussion.

-- Edited by BiggarView on Wednesday 18th of May 2016 10:08:46 AM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

125A for one hour is 125AH, not 7500! The Winns found their A/C was needing around 85 to 90A continuous, not 125, plus they were bringing in about 55A from solar leaving a deficit of about 35AH per hour. With a 700AH lithium battery bank, they can run their A/C a while during the day if they want. But, most of would not find it practical.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 20th of February 2016 09:06:42 AM

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
125A for one hour is 125AH, not 7500! The Winns found their A/C was needing around 85 to 90A continuous, not 125, plus they were bringing in about 55A from solar leaving a deficit of about 35AH per hour. With a 700AH lithium battery bank, they can run their A/C a while during the day if they want. But, most of would not find it practical.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 20th of February 2016 09:06:42 AM

Bill, I don’t know where my brain went. Been a long two weeks for reasons not posted on the forum.

Thanks for the correction.

lonelyroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

BiggarView wrote:
The Wynn's of GonewiththeWynns just put out a youtube vid on this subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rZY5uotKI
I was interested on the load side of things but they appear to have enough solar and battery to do the job except of the brief second the compressor starts running. Later in the vid they mention a softstart kit to ease the load and strain on the battery bank.
Question to the electro-geeks out there... would it be possible to splice in a huge capacitor right next to the invertor to provide that brief surge of juice and smooth out the current draw seen by the batteries? Is the softstart kit the same thing as I am describing. Seems reasonable.
Obviously you can't run it continously 24/7 without a huge battery bank or a genny to fill in the gaps but I'm only considering the short term solution here.

-- Edited by BiggarView on Friday 19th of February 2016 09:27:46 AM

I was just going to ask about this, bc I think I would need a/c if I camped in a hot place, but boondocked, say, on BLM land or a National Forest.

I am neither an electrical geek nor a technical geek, so all this sounds too complicated for me. Is there anyway you can have a battery powered a/c?

Thanks!!