Run your VanLife Air Conditioner on This Lithium battery!

Van Life Air conditioning is a hot topic. Come see the first hand results as I attempt to run my VanLife air conditioner off this 100AH battery.

Battery:

Air conditioner:

[MPWells-mbpo]

73% of the rated capacity pulling above 1C for almost the whole test. I say that's pretty good.

[AG-idfj]

very good explantaion .lion batteries are very powerful

[luismarty]

What if you connect solar panels to the battery via a charge controller? Will the AC run continuously as long as there is sun light?

[drewhodge]

Pulling more than 1C from that single battery is going limit the maximum output. I'm looking at a 12v or 24v split AC unit. On high power they pull 40Amps. Low power 20-25 Amps. I plan to cover every inch of my roof with solar (1400-1500 watts of solar) and 600Ah of Lifepo4 batteries. The solar panels will add some shade to the roof which should help to keep the van a bit cooler. Half the split and the pump are going under the van behind the rear axle. In theory the solar panels should allow me to run the AC on low power from lunchtime 1pm ish and top up the 600Ah battery bank fully to let me run the AC for a few hours during the night. Plus run a fridge and some low power 12v LED lights.

[antigroundhogday]

Is there certain search terms to find an inverter style window air conditioner? I like the soft start and variable ramping of the compressor rather than he harsh sounding on/off of traditional compressor units. Thanks!

[Vamanaswastika]

Well done nice video to show a simple breakdown of isolating air condition in an RV.
Now just imagine RVs have roughly 4–6 lithium batteries each of them holding 110 amp hours. And maybe up the inverter to roughly 4000 W pure sine wave. Similarly, when winter comes substitute the Aircon 🔌 with a 1500 W oil radiant heater.

[nuteinselasingur]

This is a real good Test, thank you !

[justinvardas]

Hey Brad! I enjoyed the content of the video. I really liked your battery monitor but didn’t see a link for it. Would you mind posting it please? Thanks!

[DonGrigorianFishing]

It’s gonna work but you’re literally cooking the battery… for those interested I recommend a 5000 BTU AC and three 100Amp batteries in parallel..with a 2k inverter

[oneshiftmexico]

Solar is good for your little stuff, phone, laptops, mini pumps and lights.
With my $600 propane generator and a 30 gl. tank, I can run my AC for days non stop if I wanted. 😂 I can place the generator inside a sound proof bin with lil' exhaust vent. Quiet, cheap energy. Propane is the best way! Don't have to park in the sun, worry about cloudy or rainy days.
Runs my stove, hot showers and AC all night without breaking the bank.

[DanVanLife]

Researching 12V air conditioning and came across this!

[diysolaradventures]

I love watching this video mines will be here tomorrow I'm so excited..

[ericklein]

Just be careful. Those budget 100Ah batteries often don't have BMS's that do well at 100A continuous discharge and its not unheard of for the mosfets to easy bake oven themselves. I was actually surprised yours ran in the hundredteens for an extended period of time but sometimes the 100A BMS's wont shut off until 150A. The general rule of thumb is 100Ah per 1000W of inverting power since the vast majority of those cells have a continuous rating of 1C and a 30 second burst of 2C.There are some cells with 3C and 5C ratings but its usually the 20Ah to 50Ah cells I see with those ratings.

941wh out of 1280wh is quite good at 1C/1.2C. An industry standard 0.2C test will probably yield over 1300wh. What did you pay for that battery? I'm guessing its one of the $300 to $350 Amazon specials? Edit: oh thats not the Jita...man $500 they are taxing. You could almost get a 200Ah with a 200A BMS for that much. I see them for $600 and some change.

[rms-repairmainanseremban]

i think you may put 2 batteries in parallel and use at least 3000w inverter...it will more last longer and safer

[mtnsme]

Hey Brad!
So your saying I can run one of those with my 2000 pure sine inverter and 2 100amh AGM batteries?

[dennisandrews]

Would it have helped any if the power cord wasn't spliced together? And ...at least you didn't blow the ac unit

[davebean]

What is the black status display? Looks like a nifty display.

What is the lowest power draw that you can do? Maybe reduce the fan speed and econo mode?

[Landlessnothomeless]

*Replace those inverter fans with Noctua I use them throughout my system, in my 3 Midnite Classic 150's my Iotal DLS chargers, and in the plethora of Inverters. THey move about 20% air but compensate run longer and way quieter.*

[PedroReyes-cmmy]

I just want to say thank you so much for the instructional video. I’ve been running my own theoretical math on this same type of scenario. Found a kit for my semi truck that pulls supposedly 800 watts and was looking for someone on YouTube to prove or disprove my theory that I could run it on lithium batteries. I see no reason based on your test that I couldn’t run my ac overnight and my little fridge on x3 300ah lithiums. I look forward to watching more of your videos and sincerely thank you. Also you used a 150amp fuse in your video - did your inverter not come either a fuse built in?

[hariranormal]

Also "Inverter Compressor, Inverter A/C" is more or less marketing :)
Technically, it's just a variable speed compressor, along with a variable frequency drive. VFD's are generally used in many other industrial and large scale applications that turn motors. It's not super darn fancy when you think about it :P
Why am I saying this? it can be confusing in videos where you actually are showing a "Inverter", along with a "Inverter A/C", just to keep it clear. Could mix it up in speech or people can interpret the other thing than intended so hah