Solar Air Conditioner
Okay for all boondockers needing to run air conditioning, gotta love ingenuity! :B Solar Air Conditioner
Forum Discussion
Funny video.
There are swamp coolers, they work, and the smallest one would draw upwards of 10A @12V. So it is not entirely impossible to run it 24 hours a day on solar and batteries, though you would have to have +800W total panel area. There is also a matter of all those gallons of water evaporating in your room.
A/C is nearly impossible to run on solar in RV. Not with two $10 controllers for sure. Golden HVAC knows what he is talking about, and I used his recommendations while making and attaching panel brackets. But the math and physics don't favor a "solar A/C". You can get solar parts cheap, yes. Good parts cost more, though. Typical cost - with good parts - is about $2 per watt including panles, cotroller, hardware etc, and labor is mostly DIY, no special mechanical skills required.
For just lights, fans, pumps, LP fridge, TV - a 500 solar is enough in all but extremely rainy climate zones. $1000 in parts, few weeks of thinking (subject to a particular person's ability to think :) ), a week of doing.
With added 110V devices like microwave, coffee maker, toaster - 700W-900W solar. You can cook on propane, make coffee in French Press, and probably won't die if left without toasts for a month or two, so there isn't really much need to have 900W.
For A/C, and considering all other devices of your RV, you would need a panel area bigger than your RV roof. Don Pianotuna here is "thinking" - so far - of running A/C off solar, and I know that his thinking ability is pretty substantial, but don't see solar A/C yet.
As mentioned by Reed and Elaine, 12V fans and powered vents like Fan-Tastic will help with cooling a lot, but there are limits to what they can do.
There are swamp coolers, they work, and the smallest one would draw upwards of 10A @12V. So it is not entirely impossible to run it 24 hours a day on solar and batteries, though you would have to have +800W total panel area. There is also a matter of all those gallons of water evaporating in your room.
A/C is nearly impossible to run on solar in RV. Not with two $10 controllers for sure. Golden HVAC knows what he is talking about, and I used his recommendations while making and attaching panel brackets. But the math and physics don't favor a "solar A/C". You can get solar parts cheap, yes. Good parts cost more, though. Typical cost - with good parts - is about $2 per watt including panles, cotroller, hardware etc, and labor is mostly DIY, no special mechanical skills required.
For just lights, fans, pumps, LP fridge, TV - a 500 solar is enough in all but extremely rainy climate zones. $1000 in parts, few weeks of thinking (subject to a particular person's ability to think :) ), a week of doing.
With added 110V devices like microwave, coffee maker, toaster - 700W-900W solar. You can cook on propane, make coffee in French Press, and probably won't die if left without toasts for a month or two, so there isn't really much need to have 900W.
For A/C, and considering all other devices of your RV, you would need a panel area bigger than your RV roof. Don Pianotuna here is "thinking" - so far - of running A/C off solar, and I know that his thinking ability is pretty substantial, but don't see solar A/C yet.
As mentioned by Reed and Elaine, 12V fans and powered vents like Fan-Tastic will help with cooling a lot, but there are limits to what they can do.
