Hey guys. I'm a princess and need the security of having AC where I sleep. I considered rigging a wall mount unit in the side of my camper shell, but if I could forgo the need of having do that and also forgo carrying around a honda2000 that would be awesome.
Does anyone have experience with these 12v AC's? Does anyone know of one that isn't ridiculously overkill for my lil camper shell?
Thanks
There's a huge thread on here that discusses air conditioning systems. There's lots of views on the different types of air conditioning systems and many different ways to go. But the one thing that remains constant is: If you want an air conditioner without a generator, it's gonna cost you big time!
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Typical Coleman Mach 8 A/C roof unit with an EU2000 generator is around $1700 or so.
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The 12V air conditioning units for roofs start at around $3500 to $4500, just for the unit. Then you would need about 5kWh of "USABLE" batteries to run that overnight. For AGM batteries, that would mean something like (3) 255ah lifeline batteries. Total weight 550 pounds and total cost is $2000. Or you could go with lithium ion batteries, which would weigh a lot less, but cost a ton more. Then finally you'd need a way to re-fill the batteries every day. That means either 1200w of solar panels or else a plug-in somewhere for several hours, or run your alternator for a long time.
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Bottom line, it's VERY possible these days (compared to 10 years ago) to do what you want, but it will just cost a lot of money. If you have deep pockets, you could outfit your rig with a bunch of lithium ion batteries and a 12v rooftop AC. There are no real other alternatives. Don't fall for anything that seems too good to be true, like the dumb kickstarter campaigns who are promising "hand held" air conditioners that can run off goal zero's. These simply do not work.
