SOLAR Air Conditioning on a TINY budget | Van Life

It’s by no means perfect.. but it’s a reasonable fix on a low budget. I absolutely recommend MORE battery power than what I have to increase usage.

**This is (practical) for 4 reasons..
1) Low energy A/C unit with ECO-Start.
2) Only at peak direct sunlight hours.
3) Reflect outside heat as much as possible.
4) Cooling an area as (SMALL) as possible!
—See (Part 2) for improvements--

#vanlife#solarairconditioner#offgrid

[carolinmcnary]

*Seems like a good solar **Generater.Systems** . I have not had to put it to the test yet in a situation without power but it has seemed to operate fine so far.*

[nnomad]

In case anyone noticed, I have 300w in solar but the A/C unit draws about 650w at first then about 500w then after. Keep in mind the A/C unit has a compressor that automatically turns on and off so the house batteries recover completely between compressor times. This is why it works on solar.

[mikesmultimedia]

I'm working on a mini split ac install solution.

While being very energy efficient, and quiet, and having separate compressor and air distribution units, another great feature of the mini split is its ability to extract moisture from the air. The mini split will also have heating capability.

Unfortunately I'll be mounting the outside compressor unit to the rear of the van, so stealth prioritization is slowly dwindling.

With a standard wheelbase it's just too difficult to try and maintain such stealthiness, but also have effective, securely mounted systems in place. There is also a gas powered heater that is planned on being introduced into the system as well the list goes on and on.

I also plan on introducing a generator as well, which will two be mounted externally to the rear of the vehicle.

When working with a standard wheelbase van there just isn't enough room to tuck everything inside.

At some point stealth will give way to convenience and comfort.

[lukemckee]

I just bought a van with my partner, my top condition is stealth above all else, nice channel man, subbed

[Debmun]

Great video. I live in Texas and looking to do fulltime vanlife and thats one of my concerns is keeping the van cool on hot summer days and I have a small chimix.

[BackroadsArtStudio]

Stealth camping sounds so intriguing. Maybe one day. Nice to meet you and get to know you. Blessings Sherry

[yetbbroken]

N8 I just found your channel and u just made my day!! I've been struggling with how I was gonna do a minisplit on my van and omg this is SO much simpler and affordable. Just watched your "don't let this be you" parking lot guy video. LOLOL. Thanks so much for your vids!

[marcusm]

600W / 12 = 50Amps draw per hour. What you got 300Amps Batteries? Why not use peltier plate technology (the same as they use in thermoelectric fridges. Just get an esky, put some plates inside and an inlet and exhaust fan. Less than half the power draw. AS soon as it has a compressor, you will spend more on batteries in the long run

[PyroEvil]

I'm not sure if I see correctly but your rear adapter take the air you try to cool down in the van and trow it hot outside. I think to have second adapter for the air intake will be more efficient ( to having a closed loop with the outside like when you put this unit in a house windows ) and avoid you to open the window too.

[guymaninu]

Nice job man! Im currently doing research to create a similar system of cooling in my Chevy Suburban. I need to have a solar powered AC system so I don’t have to have my vehicle running to stay cool while living in the High Deserts of Southern California near Los Angeles. On a 90 degree F day my vehicle interior reached 151 degrees! Thats a little bit warmer than what i believe is comfortable 😅

[joshuamadread]

Very good info very good build, ill have to get that timer you bought for the ac.

[hooperv]

Good video. Thanks for sharing.
I have a 5000-BTU window AC in my van. It is fully stealth. In fact, no vents are going through the wall anywhere. I have been using it that way since late 2015. It works great.
It took me some time to figure out how to put a window AC in a van without any vents in the wall. LOL
I have always plugged in at night But this week I'll see if it can run day and night just on solar and my batteries
There are 1600 -watts of solar. and 920Ah of batteries. It runs all day without using the batteries.
It will run all night on batteries and run all the next day. But I didn't have a battery monitor, just a volt meter. So I'm not sure how close to charged they were the next night. I just installed a battery monitor.
I will try running it all night on the batteries this week and see if it can run the next day and fully recharge the batteries at the same time.
There's a lot of other stuff running too. So we'll see. Wish me luck.

[blondie]

Hi thank you so much for this video! out of all the ac van solutions i've seen on youtube this one seems the most realistically secure and doable. I have a question, for the adaptor to fit the vent you said you got at home depot, what exactly is it? what should I search for to find that same thing? Thank you!

[jamesrogers]

You need ducted intake vents equal to the exhaust vent going to the side vents on the ac case. You won't have to crack the windows and it'll be more efficient.

[normanschlongdongovic]

Do more stealth and forest van camping..And don’t forget cooking videos

[kevinjudy]

Great job..new subscriber. Saving for van life in florida..

[marcusm]

Yes, the most efficient setup will be a 12V only. Any stepup or stepdown voltage will lose about 15% orso. I also like anything that has no moving parts. All my laptops are solid state drive and i removed all DVD/CD players. Spinning things uses juice. Hence why peltier better than compressor.

[omerjamalelden]

You could have done another duct around the intake for more efficiency... So you aren't drawing hot air inside you van.

[bogtrotter]

The only reason I thought such a setup would not work is I thought that at least half of the air conditioner would need to be exposed to outside air, but it looks like only the very back needs to be.

[BikeScooterGarage]

Your pulling inside air from the van and blowing it out the heat vent that’s why you have to crack the window you need to make a vent for the aircon to intake cool air from outside...