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DC Air Conditioner (minisplit/rooftop/anything)

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bgflyguy

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I'm trying to put together a list of what is a available for DC air conditioners. I think there are a few more options in the trucking industry, that we might be missing. I would love to get feedback on any of these options. I know there was a thread where someone popped in to say they were installing a chinese AC, but i never saw any results. I'm not going to document every model from each manufacturer, and if there is a specific model that stands out above the rest please let us know.

There are couple of well documented expensive options:

Dometic RTX 2000 12volt - https://www.dometic.com/en-us/clima...ruck-air-conditioners/dometic-rtx-2000-262673

CruisenComfort HD-12L 8K BTU/h - https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/

Here is are some ACs designed for "solar".

HotSpot Energy DC4812VRF -
YMGI System 9000 BTU 24V Ductless - Ebay and ?

Mystery truck ACs:

Treeligo Universal Electric Air Conditioner - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QF72SSL

Alibaba/aliexpress links:

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.
www.alibaba.com

www.aliexpress.com

509.83US $ |Universal Wall-mounted Auto Electric Air Conditioning Compressor Conditioner 12v 24v For Car Van Street Rod Hot Classic A/c - Air-conditioning Installation - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.
www.alibaba.com


Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any other serious contenders to add to the list?
 
Great idea!

Having DC Air Conditioning would really help building Vehicle based system.

I really have two appliances which use AC power in my RV - the Microwave and the A/C unit.
Everything else, I got or could get DC. (and Dometic makes a 24V Microwave BTW)
www.dometic.com

Dometic MWO 24 - Truck microwave oven with integrated 24 V power supply

Dometic MWO 24 - Built for the road with ruggedness and convenient features to make truckers’ lives a little easier: The Dometic MWO 24 microwave oven has three cooking levels and a defrosting function – no more and no less than required in a truck kitchen. It is easy to use and just as easy to...
www.dometic.com www.dometic.com

That would reduce the complexity of the system by omitting the Inverter altogether.

In a vehicle there is really no need for AC power. It's just a crutch since we didn't have the DC appliances yet.
 
kramertech said:
This looks like it might work for me! Too long for my van, but looks like a decent unit.
Click to expand...
they have similar much smaller units and also lesser quality (cheaper) units all made by KingClima under the brand eclima..... I have a wonderful contact who has helped a lot.... Danny Wu.....

Mr. Danny Wu​

Overseas Manager

Henan KingClima Industry Co.,Ltd
blocked.gif
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+86-371-66379266
+86-13849190312（Whatsapp & Wechat ）
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busac@kingclima.com
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www.kingclima.com
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No. 107, Pilot Free Trade Zone(Jinshui)Zhengzhou City, China
 
apcorob said:
they have similar much smaller units and also lesser quality (cheaper) units all made by KingClima under the brand eclima..... I have a wonderful contact who has helped a lot.... Danny Wu.....

Mr. Danny Wu​

Overseas Manager

Henan KingClima Industry Co.,Ltd
blocked.gif
blocked.gif
+86-371-66379266
+86-13849190312（Whatsapp & Wechat ）
blocked.gif
busac@kingclima.com
blocked.gif
www.kingclima.com
blocked.gif
No. 107, Pilot Free Trade Zone(Jinshui)Zhengzhou City, China
Click to expand...
What price range are we talking about?
 
eXodus said:

4000 Watt to BTU Pre Hour Conversion - Convert 4000 Watt to BTU Pre Hour (W to BTU/h) - Power Conversion

www.theunitconverter.com www.theunitconverter.com

4000w = 13648 BTU - that's what any standard RV Air Conditioner has. They usually got 13500 BTU or 3900W

12000 BTU = 1 Ton

The question it how much electricity it draws to produce 4000W of cooling - most RV A/Cs need about 1000-1200W so a about a 4X
Click to expand...
right on, more precisely it’s 1.137 Ton and 1W = 3.412BTU/hr

you are correct ?❄️

Coefficient of Performance of 4 is pretty decent!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a device with Coefficient of Performance always >10… if only
 
Last edited:
curiouscarbon said:
Coefficient of Performance of 4 is pretty decent!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a device with Coefficient of Performance always >10… if only
Click to expand...
For comparison:
A regular Window A/C is in the 3X Range

I think the Midea Window Split gets about 5X. While many mini splits are in the 6-7X range. 10X would be only 400w for run a large RV (up to 30ft) Air conditioner. That would be the dream.

These are numbers from Regular AC powered units - not from the the listed DC units- I would assume that DC is better.
 
I believe the 3000 unit has a max typical continuous draw of 700ish watts when at full power.... Mr. Wu or somebody with experience could confirm or deny.... I think that is what the Nomadic equivalent of the 3000 specs out at.... although I am far from an expert and not even sure I am not talking gibberish.
eXodus said:
I would assume that DC is better.
Click to expand...
eXodus I am just reading everything I can get my hands on; but, something in my gut says that 24v dc air drawing between 300 to 700 watts and delivering 15,000 btu just has to be easier on power than a non-inverter 120 volt air conditioner delivering 15,000 btu..

why do you assume that dc is better....??? I am making the same assumption just on my gut; but, I suspect there is some real reasons you say this....

and, I do not want to hijack this post; but, if I end up putting three or four of these units on my roof could you refer me to a good book or resource or even part of this forum which would give me the training to know how to wire the ac units to get proper power from the batteries.

Thank you.
 
Anyone near Seattle and want to buy a couple of units from Alibaba and see if they work? If that would even save on shipping.

I think we just need a few people to roll the dice until we find a decent unit. I thought that's what yt reviewers were for :)
 
apcorob said:
I believe the 3000 unit has a max typical continuous draw of 700ish watts when at full power.... Mr. Wu or somebody with experience could confirm or deny.... I think that is what the Nomadic equivalent of the 3000 specs out at.... although I am far from an expert and not even sure I am not talking gibberish.

eXodus I am just reading everything I can get my hands on; but, something in my gut says that 24v dc air drawing between 300 to 700 watts and delivering 15,000 btu just has to be easier on power than a non-inverter 120 volt air conditioner delivering 15,000 btu..

why do you assume that dc is better....??? I am making the same assumption just on my gut; but, I suspect there is some real reasons you say this....
Click to expand...

So an pure AC can be more can be efficient - at one speed. But Air conditioners are usually not effective at one speed. (that's why they turn on and off all day long)
Here is the interesting thing about the DC type Air Conditioner - the compressor motor is still AC. It's usually run by an Inverter.

A regular Inverter unit usually does this conversion: AC(Grid) - DC (Controller) - AC (Compressor Motor)

A DC Inverter unit: DC(Batteries) - DC (Controller) - AC (Compressor)

you are saving one Conversion.

Another big power draw on A/C is actually the Fan - and that is primary run with DC direct. The lowest AC fan you can buy is around 20w. While a you get DC fans down to a few milliwatt.

700W for 15000 BTU on DC VS
1200W for 15000 BTU on AC

should give you some idea. Probably the AC unit is single stage, and since there are no inverter RV Roof top units - we can not compare
 
dream setup:

photovoltaic DC to MPPT to battery
battery DC to DC air conditioner
only inverter in that chain is the compressor and maybe the condenser fan ☺️
 
bgflyguy said:
Anyone near Seattle and want to buy a couple of units from Alibaba and see if they work? If that would even save on shipping.

I think we just need a few people to roll the dice until we find a decent unit. I thought that's what yt reviewers were for :)
Click to expand...
haha link more units

temperature control is life
 
eXodus said:
So an pure AC can be more can be efficient - at one speed. But Air conditioners are usually not effective at one speed. (that's why they turn on and off all day long)
Here is the interesting thing about the DC type Air Conditioner - the compressor motor is still AC. It's usually run by an Inverter.

A regular Inverter unit usually does this conversion: AC(Grid) - DC (Controller) - AC (Compressor Motor)

A DC Inverter unit: DC(Batteries) - DC (Controller) - AC (Compressor)

you are saving one Conversion.

Another big power draw on A/C is actually the Fan - and that is primary run with DC direct. The lowest AC fan you can buy is around 20w. While a you get DC fans down to a few milliwatt.

700W for 15000 BTU on DC VS
1200W for 15000 BTU on AC

should give you some idea. Probably the AC unit is single stage, and since there are no inverter RV Roof top units - we can not compare
Click to expand...
Incorrect.
The inverter style compressors are a 3 phase ac winding, but they are powered with ECM pulsed DC voltage to control rpm.
 
Supervstech said:
Incorrect.
The inverter style compressors are a 3 phase ac winding, but they are powered with ECM pulsed DC voltage to control rpm.
Click to expand...
Please explain why this is not considered AC? A pulsed DC looks like AC ? Because the negative halfwave is missing?

For my understanding - a Motor hast 3 power wires it is AC. 2 wires can be AC or DC.
 
Last edited:
eXodus said:
Please explain why this is not considered AC? A pulsed DC looks like AC ? Because the negative halfwave is missing?

For my understanding - a Motor hast 3 power wires it is AC. 2 wires can be AC or DC.
Click to expand...
How would you pulse AC? I don't see how it would be possible. It could be "clipped" but the timing would have to be in phase.

PWM DC would be much easier.
 
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