The mini splits are coming,

Excellent!

I've thought for a long time that mini split systems would work well in an RV. Lightweight, quiet and reasonable price. And no holes in the roof!

I am installing two in my rig.

I have reservations as to how well it will play running from my solar. No doubt I will manage some run time without the generator but how much remains to be seen.

I have 1800 watts of solar panels and a 24v - 400a/h battery bank.

I have seen a handful of folks install them with good success. There is some good discussion over on www.skoolie.net

How many BTUs?

Before you get all excited about installing one on your own. I have 3 Daikin mini splits in my house that I self installed. If I had room for the evaporator (inside unit) in my little Toyota I would install one in a heartbeat.

However the main reason mini splits fail is due to improper installation. The new 410A run at up to 700 psi and need to be put in right. Not rocket science but proper installation is a must! I have hundreds of dollars invested in AC tools in order to do proper installations.

A more practical way would be for the current manufacturers to make an inverter unit similar to a typical rooftop. Yes it would cost more but way more efficient.

Inverter minisplits have been in use in Mexico for some years now. We have three in the house. Funny though, the cost in the U.S. is almost three times as much.

I also want to get rid of that boat anchor on my roof and have a decent cooling system in the travel trailer.

wa8yxm wrote:
How many BTUs?

9000 BTU's as to the link in the video, I would need 3 for my 33 foot motorhome and a lot of batteries to go solar A/C..

I will stick with my 2 roof tops for now...

Hi timmac,

You would need one compressor and 3 evaporators.

I'd just go for a rooftop unit with the SEER of the mini split. Current rooftop units are way behind home S&B systems in terms of SER. a typical rooftop 13.5K BTU unit has a SEER of about 10. (BTU out/watts in).

A SEER 20 similar to a mini split would drop the power by 2x, down to about 700watts, along with a decent LRA spec of 20A or so and bingo, easy to run the AC from a 2000W inverter generator with power to spare, easy to start with a 1000VAish inverter, ability to run for a reasonable amount of time from a reasonable sized battery bank and bigger rooftop or portable solar system.

I always thought SEER rating was kinda goofy. A resistance heating element has a SEER of 3.5. IMHO a better rating would be BTUout/BTU in. Then a resistance heating element would have a SEER of 1, a SEER of 3 would be 3BTU out for every BTUin. A better measure of unit efficiency.