newbie battery and electrical question

Roman Duck wrote:
Ac units might run at a 10 amp draw atfer start up, but will need more amps to draw at initial start up. I'd be very interested in a 12 volt AC, What brand makes a 12 volt?. How many BTUs will the a/c produce?. I'm sure that there is a relationship between btus and amp draw
I'm not profiecent at any of this, but intend to follow your thread.
Please post your conclusions, and performance on your final system.
Be great if you can run all needed, on batteries for 24 hrs before recharging.
Good luck!

although i was wrong intially about the amp draw of air conditioners, i did find a few things that DOES run on 12v dc.

first thing is 12-24v air conditioners that are made for semi trucks, i didn't find any info on BTU, amp draw, and pricing. but most of them claim it will maintain a comfortable temp and run on ~3 or 4 group 31 batteries(that's about 400Ah battery bank) for a full night.
as far as pricing goes, i am afraid it can be very expensive because they all don't list a price but keeps saying truckers can save $8000 per year for not idling the engine all night long.
here is a list of what i found http://www.csswebform.org/webform/supplier_list.aspx#BACs

another thing, not very ideal but most doable, is a 12v portable "AC" that runs off ice(basically a cooler with a fan i think) which only draws 1.6 amp and cost $430.
when i was travelling in my VW i had a cooler and was refilling ice every other couple of days, which wasn't much of a hassle. and now i do have a fridge, i should be able to keep a few days worth of ice easily. then i will be able to dry camp on 200ah of batteries for 2 days.