diy solar

diy solar

12v mini air conditioner?

LVLAaron

New Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2021
Messages
219
Saw this thread: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/lifepo4-addition-to-a-sla-house-battery.29109/

And found the host to the an interesting guy, and went down the rabbit hole on his channel. Aside from now wanting to live on a boat like Captain Ron, I saw his air conditioning video. (
)

As I was watching the video, I had the feeling I had seen these "micro" compressor air conditioners on Alibaba when I was surfing around...

Anyway, does anyone have any experience with these tiny units?

 

We have used several of these to keep our equipment cool in very small areas ... like DBB boxes ... we have also used them to cool the SCC and BMS .. they are NOT cheap ....

I think its funny how Amazon has deleted all the reviews except (1) 5 star ....

anyway ... the issue is that your paying 800 for a device that has a cooling Cooling Capacity of 450W (1,535Btu) at 12V ....

It would be nice to know:

1. What you are planning on doing with it since it is going to be hard to cool anything larger than a VERY VERY small area ...
2. How are you going to power it -- ie solar, wind, both??
3. What size battery bank, type of batteries, size of solar charge controller, size of PV's....

SOOOOO at work if we have the power budget instead of using the 12V compressors -- we will take the smaller 5,000 BTU 120V A/C that yo get from WalMart for $150 and run them off a 120 inverter ... from about 1030 in the morning in south Texas to about 1600 the panels themselves drives most of the energy to run it alone ...

Using the cooling calculator in front of me you are looking at - for 1500 BTU, able to cool a sealed area of 7' x 7' about 15 degrees below ambient ...
 
For my case, it would be a travel trailer. A very small one. I'd much rather have a small AC that's always running vs an oversized unit that's too big and makes the environment humid (and noisy)
 
I'm thinking I have to make something for next year at camp, the summers keep getting hotter. Maybe a $200 inverter compressor or the real high efficiency Pelletier modules just to give a little cooling breeze.
 
I don't think there is any such thing as an efficient Peltier cooling element. Only ones with large heat sinks to keep greater temp delta between sides.

It helps a lot having an endless supply of cooling water no matter which way you do a heat pump system.

The video doesn't talk too much about humidity. Removing humidity takes a lot of btu's. Once the high humidity is removed it takes less than half the power.
 
Last edited:
What the guy in the video did and what you linked to on amazon are different in that the video I think uses water to cool the condenser ( I didnt watch much of the video, the guy is just too annoying for me). The one you linked to is air on both ends which is a lot better for use on land.

One thing to know is that the one you linked to is very small. An average person puts out some where around 100-150 watts of heat when sedentary. I do like the unit for what it is but it will need to run pretty much constantly and it may not ever reach your desired temperature but will be better than nothing for sure.

I was planning to use this: https://www.compsource.com/buy/SRCOOL2KWM/Tripp-Lite-450

Its 600 Watts of cooling. Draw back is it is 120volts and compared to the one you linked to it is not as efficient. This one uses 276 watts so its COP is only a little better than 2:1 (and is probably less than 2:1 after you factor in inverter losses). Where as the one you linked to is 3:1 and no conversion losses. It is just very small.
 
Saw this thread: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/lifepo4-addition-to-a-sla-house-battery.29109/

And found the host to the an interesting guy, and went down the rabbit hole on his channel. Aside from now wanting to live on a boat like Captain Ron, I saw his air conditioning video. (
)

As I was watching the video, I had the feeling I had seen these "micro" compressor air conditioners on Alibaba when I was surfing around...

Anyway, does anyone have any experience with these tiny units?

As was mentioned, he has water to help with condensing the refrigerant. It won't need a fan on the condenser, just a small water pump. You would better served with an inverter mini split and for less money.
 
We have used several of these to keep our equipment cool in very small areas ... like DBB boxes ... we have also used them to cool the SCC and BMS .. they are NOT cheap ....

I think its funny how Amazon has deleted all the reviews except (1) 5 star ....

anyway ... the issue is that your paying 800 for a device that has a cooling Cooling Capacity of 450W (1,535Btu) at 12V ....

It would be nice to know:

1. What you are planning on doing with it since it is going to be hard to cool anything larger than a VERY VERY small area ...
2. How are you going to power it -- ie solar, wind, both??
3. What size battery bank, type of batteries, size of solar charge controller, size of PV's....

SOOOOO at work if we have the power budget instead of using the 12V compressors -- we will take the smaller 5,000 BTU 120V A/C that yo get from WalMart for $150 and run them off a 120 inverter ... from about 1030 in the morning in south Texas to about 1600 the panels themselves drives most of the energy to run it alone ...

Using the cooling calculator in front of me you are looking at - for 1500 BTU, able to cool a sealed area of 7' x 7' about 15 degrees below ambient ...
Would you mind sharing which inverter will handle that little AC?
 
We have used several of these to keep our equipment cool in very small areas ... like DBB boxes ... we have also used them to cool the SCC and BMS .. they are NOT cheap ....

I think its funny how Amazon has deleted all the reviews except (1) 5 star ....

anyway ... the issue is that your paying 800 for a device that has a cooling Cooling Capacity of 450W (1,535Btu) at 12V ....

It would be nice to know:

1. What you are planning on doing with it since it is going to be hard to cool anything larger than a VERY VERY small area ...
2. How are you going to power it -- ie solar, wind, both??
3. What size battery bank, type of batteries, size of solar charge controller, size of PV's....

SOOOOO at work if we have the power budget instead of using the 12V compressors -- we will take the smaller 5,000 BTU 120V A/C that yo get from WalMart for $150 and run them off a 120 inverter ... from about 1030 in the morning in south Texas to about 1600 the panels themselves drives most of the energy to run it alone ...

Using the cooling calculator in front of me you are looking at - for 1500 BTU, able to cool a sealed area of 7' x 7' about 15 degrees below ambient ...


Would be for a 15 foot camper. Very small. It has a 13k BTU roof mount unit that's way too loud, and way too powerful for the space, so ultimately it adds humidity to the air instead of removing it. If I worked in a small unit like this, it would keep the air dry, and be quiet. 15 below ambient would be fine.
 
Would be for a 15 foot camper. Very small. It has a 13k BTU roof mount unit that's way too loud, and way too powerful for the space, so ultimately it adds humidity to the air instead of removing it. If I worked in a small unit like this, it would keep the air dry, and be quiet. 15 below ambient would be fine.
you'd probably better of selling that 13.5k roof A/C unit and getting a 9000 or 11000 BTU, or a mini split like other meantioned.

But when you like cutting wholes in your walls - the Midea U - Window Air Conditioner is another option.
 
you'd probably better of selling that 13.5k roof A/C unit and getting a 9000 or 11000 BTU, or a mini split like other meantioned.

But when you like cutting wholes in your walls - the Midea U - Window Air Conditioner is another option.

The Midea U would be perfect... but there will be no cutting holes in this camper.
 
I had thought that a small unit would work for our small 17ft unit (12ft inside), which is also very short). But when it got to the 90's an 8000BTU portable unit had a tough time keeping it cool. It works, though- and if you can use a window for an outlet (which is what we do), there's your system.
 
ImageHandler.ashx



Can't use a window. Not willing to red-green a brand new trailer. I'll just deal with it until someone makes a rooftop inverter style AC
 
ImageHandler.ashx



Can't use a window. Not willing to red-green a brand new trailer. I'll just deal with it until someone makes a rooftop inverter style AC
Dometic does.

I don't think it's available in the US yet though.

 
Would be for a 15 foot camper. Very small. It has a 13k BTU roof mount unit that's way too loud, and way too powerful for the space, so ultimately it adds humidity to the air instead of removing it. If I worked in a small unit like this, it would keep the air dry, and be quiet. 15 below ambient would be fine.
NO AIR CONDITIONER ADDS HUMIDITY TO THE AIR…

Many reduce the humidity capacity of the air, raising the relative humidity reading… not the same thing. What happens is the air is cooled faster than the moisture can be removed, and you get moisture collecting on cooled surfaces… moisture that causes mold and mildew to form. The solution is have the fan cool less cold. Set temp higher, and never run on high cool in mild weather.
 
I had thought that a small unit would work for our small 17ft unit (12ft inside), which is also very short). But when it got to the 90's an 8000BTU portable unit had a tough time keeping it cool. It works, though- and if you can use a window for an outlet (which is what we do), there's your system.
Was the portable unit a single pipe, or dual pipe exhaust?
Single pipe units, pump cooled air out of the space, creating a negative pressure in the space, sucking outdoor air and humidity back into the space… EXTREMELY inefficient, and uncomfortable.
 
NO AIR CONDITIONER ADDS HUMIDITY TO THE AIR…


Unless it's oversized, short cycles, and the fan runs continuously in a very small space. Runs for a few minutes, water condenses on the coils, compressor stops, fan now blows the moisture on the coils into your livable space. Repeat.
 
Unless it's oversized, short cycles, and the fan runs continuously in a very small space. Runs for a few minutes, water condenses on the coils, compressor stops, fan now blows the moisture on the coils into your livable space. Repeat.
This doesn’t add moisture to the space… it does remove some… trust me.
 
Back
Top