Considerations and practical experience with some of these units
Hi all
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I am discovering this interesting thread. In my personal MAN TGM 4x4 I did some testing and installations in order to get more practical knowledge and not only about sales specifications. Maybe I can present the systems for you. I have no generator on board (just a small Honda 20i for emergencies) and only 530Wp solar.
I have experience with bigger vehicle air-conditioning all over but testing and comparing in different conditions was learn full for me.
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First I would like to give you my personal opinion about using home or office air-conditioning (230V or 110V) equipment on vehicles. Although many have already been installed It’s not made for this purpose. Here in Europe there are lots of safety regulations and there is no approval for using it in a camping truck or vehicle. The grey zone is that you would only use it stationary and not mobile whilst driving but consider that it could also be used whilst driving. Second point is that these household units do not always resist to heavy shocks and off-road conditions. Look at the tiny plastic parts and ultrathin copper tubes and alloy fans. The third problem is carwash, water spray and salt conditions on the road with inside the units electrical deadly power components.
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It’s a pity that you cannot use them for your camping vehicle because the price is lower, the EER/COP is much better and the most important is that they have the lowest noise level.
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This does not mean that units specially made for big trucks or RV’s are that good and have perfect specifications but the advantage is that they are made for the purpose from the start. I know most of the air-conditioning units as Dometic, Truma, Coleman, Air command, Indel-B, Autoclima, Webasto, Eberspächer, and some others. So I could choose.
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I tried to find units with possible low power consumption on the batteries (4x12V/220Ah in a 24V system)
First I calculated the needs considering that I had 2 stationary conditions:
- The normal one is the environmental temperature you get 70 or 80% of the time where you need AC. (outside temperature between
- The extreme one is the one you will rarely have to deal with but as it is an expedition vehicle you go through this one.
Then there is the economy consideration that you can reduce space whilst sleeping. You can only cool the sleeping compartment and not the complete vehicle. If you do so you can win hours on the batteries mode usage.
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My idea was environmental temperatures up to +45°C and normal temperatures around 28°C
Extreme conditions are for me cool down from outside shadow temperature +45°C to +28°C
And normal conditions are cool down from +28°C to+24°C
I had to take care about the insulation, windows, roofs, ventilation loses, electrical fridge heat and warmth of 2 persons on board.
These are the specifications of the air conditioning systems on board
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Driver cabin air conditioning:
- Dashboard OEM unit with automatic regulation ca 5.000 Watt
Engine driven AC compressor with clutch
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Living cabin driving air conditioning:
- Extension on the dashboard AC unit 4.000 Watt
- With electromagnetic valve and thermostatic regulation
- Dashboard on/off switch max 450 m³/h
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Living cabin stationary air conditioning on 24V batteries:
- Split air conditioning unit regulated from max 1.800 down to minimum 600 Watt
- Integrated evaporator 350m²/h 3 speed max 35A /24V
- Double 24V hermetic compressor unit BD350 min 13A /24V
- Condenser outside on the front wall max 450 m³/h
- Economy use possible (on only one compressor)
- Digital controller
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Living cabin under bench air conditioning on 230V:
- Stationary under bench monoblock unit 1.800 Watt
- Dometic Freshwell 2000 on inverter 28A/24V
- Ducted to the roof ca 2,8A /230V
- Remote control with sleep timer max 350 m³/h
- Can be used through the on board 24>230V inverter
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Do not hesitate if there are questions
Campo
View attachment 313895
