How long can you power a 5,000btu air conditioner with a 12v 100ah Lifepo4 battery? Let's find out!

I wanted to do a test with a small 5000btu windows air conditioner and a 12v 100ah Lifepo4 battery. This test is to find out how long the air conditioner will run when it's 100 degrees outside!

List of the Items in this Video:
Frigidaire FFRA051WAE Window-Mounted Room Air Conditioner, 5,000 BTU with Temperature Control and Easy-to-Clean Washable Filter, in White

Power Inverter 2000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter DC 12V to AC 110V 120V with Digital LCD Display and 2 GFCI AC Outlets Dual 4.8A USB Ports & Remote Controller LEESKY

PowerUrus 12v 100ah Lifepo4 Battery

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#inverter #LifePo4 #OffGrid

[OffGridBasement]

List of the Items in this Video:
Frigidaire FFRA051WAE Window-Mounted Room Air Conditioner, 5, 000 BTU with Temperature Control and Easy-to-Clean Washable Filter, in White
Power Inverter 2000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter DC 12V to AC 110V 120V with Digital LCD Display and 2 GFCI AC Outlets Dual 4.8A USB Ports & Remote Controller LEESKY
PowerUrus 12v 100ah Lifepo4 Battery

[Scaliad]

I'm located in the Texas hillcountry...

I have 9kW of grid-tied micro-inverter PV, 300ah LIPO (~16kWh), and a 4.4kW inverter. With the excess PV, I can generally run all my loads, including the two cheap dumb 5000 BTU Midea A/C that recently replaced a single 18k BTU A/C, charge my batteries without grid power and still send excess power to the grid during the day. It takes a really cloudy day to throw me off energy excess.

Before sunset, I start transitioning loads to off-grid, running what I can from PV until it shuts down.

My current main night time battery loads are 2 small chest freezers that draw 130w total when running, a 22cuft refrigerator only that draws 130w when running, a 30yo refrigerator freezer that draws 232w when running and one of the A/Cthat draws 450ish watts continously, but sometimes drops as the night cools to a low of about 350 watts. Those loads use about 200ah (10kWh) of my battery capacity before I fully transition back to the grid in the morning, about 13 hours currently.

A/C is just a heavy load for batteries..., accounting for about half, or 5kWh of my overnight battery draw.

Temp is about 78-80° at sunset and usually a few degrees cooler by morning.

[donniemalone]

I have a 5000 in my camper and I have solar panels hooked up to my batteries on a sunny day 500 watts will keep batteries fully charged during the hottest part of the day . That would be a good video to do

[thorwoods]

I have 2 100ah lithium lipo4 batteries and 3200 watts of solar and I run my ac, fridge and TV all-day long

[BulletproofPastor]

Power requirements of a standard window unit air conditioner are much different than a larger inverter mini-split unit. Inverter mini-splits are so efficient they are turning up on RV's and running on solar. There's a BIG difference and it's a game changer.

[billbaumea]

These are the kind of videos I like you to do like you used to do when you first started.😎👍

[jimb]

Excellent experiment, We cool our small camper with a 5000 btu ac and have been surprised at how long it will run after the camper cools off. We use a Ecoflow Delta and it shows a couple hours of power, but after the sun goes down we can double that and more.

[marioustxexcel]

Great video. I run a small 3000w generator for 3 hours and charge fridge, batteries and little 8000 btu window HVAC, then I turn off the generator and run just the HVAC on batteries.

[Rev-]

There are so many things wrong with this scenario that inexperienced folks just don't realize, but I'lltry to explain: Simple math and a few facts are 5000 BTU equal .41666 of a 1 ton measured in BTU's. One ton in BTU's = 12, 000 btu's which equals 1 horse power= 757 watts. So 757 x .41666 = 315 watts.... Accounting for fan watts of (approximately) 35 watts = ~350 total watts. Lastly, this 12 volt battery is rated @ 100 amps per one hour = 1200 watts.

Even if one were able to draw the entire 1200 watts from this (or any other) battery is not likely to happen and this is why: A 1200 watt (rated battery) ÷ by the 350 watt (AC unit) = 3.428 hours of run time. But accounting for losses in the inversion (2000 watt inverter) (changing DC to AC) plus heat losses due to electrical current in the wiring + inverter + battery you would be doing well to get 2 to 2 1/2 hours maximum run time with the compressor running and never accomplish much cooling while doing so. Bottom line: One would need 3 to 4 of these same 12 volt 100 amp batteries (connected in parallel) to cool that room with the AC unit to any reasonable/ comfortable level. Why? Because it isn't just the air temp you deal with, its the stored heat in the furniture, the walls, and everything else you're trying to cool too. 😊

[NEW_INSITE]

I'm retired and live in a 2 bedroom apartment and my wife and I keep the temperature set at seventy eight. This is very comfortable for us and in the summer.If we feel a little extra hot at times we can turn a small table fan on for a little while. When I was working I was doing heat and air conditioning and also apartment maintenance. I remember one emergency call from a tenant where they said in the winter time that their heat was not working.. It was 90° inside their apartment.When I got there.Their heat was set on high and full blast. Their heat was working fine.The problem was that they were all living every day, just running around their apartment in their underwear only, very strange.
It took me 30 minutes to convince them that their heat was working perfectly and there was nothing more.I could do for it and that the only thing I could suggest is that they put more clothes on. They weren't very happy with the answer but that was the only one that I was giving them.

[baneverything]

What I do during power outages running off my battery is sit right in front of my small air conditioner. I mounted in the window behind my camper`s couch. When it`s 100 degrees in Louisiana with 100% humidity sitting in front of the air conditioner is a must when the thermostat is set for efficiency. I`m getting a second battery, MPPT charge controller, and a cheaper smaller inverter for backup. Before storms I top off my battery with a 20 amp LiFeP04 charger and I just got a second 30 amp charger today after seeing a deal on one. It came with multiple ways to connect it too so I don`t have to use the alligator clips.

[baneverything]

My record using a 12v 300ah Ampere Time battery and a 2000w inverter using an old school 400w manual Frigidaire 5000 btu was 32 hours when it was about 80 degrees. It averages 18 hours with the thermostat set properly between 85 and 90 and 20 to 22 hours at 85 degrees.

[shelley]

Thanks for the video. It answered a lot of questions. I just ordered a couple of days ago an Eg4LL battery and the Eg4 off grid inverter to use as a mobile/portable power bank. This will be to power on occasion an 8000 BTU window unit when we lose power. Thank you.

[Electronzap]

Im a really warm person, I work nights and sleep during the day (not well with its warm). Even with a room AC unit, I need a fan blowing directly on me. I just use the portable fan as much as possible. The portable fan is actually more effective than an AC unit when using just one or the other. I'd only use my batteries to power the AC when I need to go to sleep. Or for like a 10 minutes cool down here and there when the room is unbearable.

[integrer]

Ok, I thought you misspoke the first time, but your condenser isn't what kicks on, its the COMPRESSOR. The condenser is the outside coil, no moving parts, just a coil.

[jantravia]

Would a 1000 watt power bank power that ac unit? I'm new to all this interver, battery and solar stuff. Trying to figure out what's more advantageous. Power bank, like a Jackery or the inverter battery option.

Thanks so much!

[allenwurl]

It’s difficult to preform these tests because even if you succeed in isolating all the variables the next time someone attempts to use this information they will be doing so with a new set of variables (Outside temp and humidity, inside temp and humidity, solar intensity) I set up my solar generator after hurricane season aka winter, I then tested it in the summer aka hurricane season and both my fridges used double the power 🤔 I determined that ambient room temperature plays a big part in the fridges efficiency and had to alter my design to compensate 👍

I definitely appreciate the test as a baseline that’s why I watch videos like this 👍

[scotth]

Correct, that's why in the hvac world, it's important to appropriately size the heat and AC.

[StumpyVanLife]

One of the biggest factors to how much power an AC unit will draw is the outside temperature. I am running a very similar 5, 000 btu window unit in my Van with 300ah of Lithium and a very similar 2000 watt inverter. I am using a Victron battery shunt. When it was in the 80's to lower 90's I was drawing a total of 500 to 550 watts of power. That includes the power the inverter uses and the power loss from converting DC to AC power because I got those numbers from my battery shunt. Today it's 100 degrees with some humidity and I am seeing over 600 watts of power draw up to 675 watts for brief time periods. As temperature rises so does the refrigerant pressure inside the system, when the pressure rises the compressor has to work harder to re circulate the refrigerant. Maybe when you tested the other AC unit it was a few degrees cooler outside??

[digger]

If you want to increase your AC ability to Cool, put the inverter out of the room your trying to Cool. It surely makes a lot of heat doing it's thing, and that would be more Loss than an S.O cord of appropriate size. Don't think that a large " looking" extension cord is fine, go by conductor size and length. Stay above the minimum recommended size for best performance.😉 Some people overlook this fact and can't keep things operational and blame the inverter. If your cord is warm, it's not big enough.