Solar Modification Update

[RollingManCave]

I am currently located in Florida next to the beach doing some writing. I started out the morning after a comfortable evening in the solar powered A/c birth. The little 2800 BTU did not have to work too hard as it had cooled down after the rain storm (From which I collected 20 gallons of water for the storage tank). The little A/C only produced about a 1/3 of a gallon of water for the tank last night. It used about 1/4 of the 280ah battery. I was having problems with the A/C until I discovered the A/C power brick was getting hot. I relocated it on top of a piece of cutting board and attached a USB powered fan to it (problems solved). Anyway, I slapped up the magnetic cab screens and rolled the windows down. Set up the 450 portable solar panel for the battery bank and the 125 watt panel for the coach battery. The roof solar was already plugged into the Solar generator. I settled in with some coffee made from solar power and began to write. A few hours later I noticed it was getting hot inside the MH, as the wind had dropped down to nothing. Back-story I had completed the cab divider I made for the back bedroom/toy hauler area, similar in design to the Bunk and Cab divider. I was still not getting the comfort level out of the new 5000 btu unit that I had placed between the seats in the cab. I could go bigger but that means more watts. I am going to add another divider behind the dinette/kitchen are to make the area even smaller and see if the 5000 btu a/c can keep up. All was not lost, as when I finished the test and rolled the rear divider back up, I noticed the nice cool stream of air coming from the A/c and decided to place a fan in front of it and aimed it at my dinette, where I do my writing. Back to the story at hand, It is now about 130pm and I have the cab divider down with the 5000 btu A/C venting out the Magnetic screens. The big dinette window and kitchen window are open for fresh air and the cool air from the a/c is being directed by the 12 volt fan keeping me cool and comfortable. The Solar generator is showing 900 plus watts comming in and a 400-500 going out. When the breeze picks back up around 3 or 4 pm I will shut the air-conditioner down and raise the divider. I am going to test this out for a week and see how it does. For now, all is cool and going well as not planned.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I'm impressed!
So if you want to move to a more efficient 5000btu unit you might look into a Midea inverter unit.

 

[RollingManCave]

I'm impressed!
So if you want to move to a more efficient 5000btu unit you might look into a Midea inverter unit.

Thanks, I am checking it out. The price is only $30 bucks more than the A/c I bought. I am not sure I will get more cooling. Both are rated for same BTU and Watts. The amount of air flow may not be the issue, It is the direction. That is why I have a low wattage fan in front of it blowing it in the my direction. If it lasts longer and fits in the same space it may still be worth it after I burn this one out using it as a cooler. Today is the second day of using the A/c as a personal cooler. Cab divider in place and a/c exhaust blowing out the Magnetic Window cab screens. Dinette and kitchen window wide open. Fan in front of a/c blowing towards me. Temps are perfect! Using 460 watts. Today: Life is good for this RV writer. I still plan on reducing the space with another divider. I don't want to go over 500 watts. Time will tell. Thank you for the info.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

They call it a horse shoe case. They have the regular units as well, like those at Walmart. Do your research "inverter drive ".