Reinventing the wheel

[DF123]

Hey folks,

Been looking at all of the posts both here and abroad IRT aircons fo the Tvan. I run a Honda Eu10i and my overlord wants aircon prior to us doing the tip to broome over the next wet season. The non moveables currently are as follows,

Tvan
Time of year to do the trip
Aircon is required
Generator is Eu10i
No permanent fixture of aircon

So i was at work and thought about the trip and was staring at a switchbard cabinet cooler.

http://www.bertech.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/07-datasheet-n17-spectracool-1307.pdf

It seems to be in the power sweet spot and size wise is not to bad.

Anyone got ideas on this or further suggestions to help this.

Cheers,

Fez

[The Harris Family]

I see the Pioneer Hard Roof Camper has the option of a 2.2Kw reverse cycle air con.  It may be worth your while to see what brand and cost is for that unit.

A 2.2Kw unit may be the ideal size for the TVan also.

[MarkA]

What about the units used for truck sleepers. The in roof section could drop in through a roof vent.  Iv often wondered if it was an option but can't justify the cost of the experiment

[luke]

For the model you're looking at, you couldn't use the larger unit as it's 460v.  The smaller unit (230v) is only 1,000 BTU, so it would be interesting to see if it's enough.
By comparison, the 'Truma Saphir Comfort RC' which is (was ?) fitted to the MK4's is approx. 8,000 btu

Given it will be wet season, humidity and condensation could also be a problem.  For the unit itself, enclosure style units generally have a drip tray and hose incorporated, but it would be worth checking.  For the tvan, has anyone run an aircon up north (not an evaporator), and did you have condensation issues on the canvas or roof ?

[Monester]

I have the Truma Saphir Comfort RC' installed and it is outstanding. In my previous 2006 Tvan I had a half HP box unit sitting on a painters stand poking into the offside tent flap and ran it on a Honda EU20i. The Truma runs on the same Honda 2kva.

Note: Running amps and starting amps are different. The EU10i does not have the flash current capacity to start the aircon. Truck aircons need too much amperage to run and the Tvan roof can't handle the weight. The minimum generator for a caravan/tvan aircon needs 2KVA. There are other blogs on this within this forum.
Good luck,
MM

[rik672001]

Hi DEF123

Do not waste your money on the switchboard units. They will not work in the tropics for the tvan size.
I have the Saphir and it is only just capable of keeping up. I went down to Kununurra this wet and during the day it managed to keep the humidity down but the temp was around 26. Night time it had no problem keeping the temp and humidity down with it cycling off every 30 mins.The 2 kw Honda will start and run it no problem but you will not start it with a 1 Kw generator. We normally size an air conditioner in a residential house for about 180 watts a square metre but when you have a tent and nothing insulated i would size a around 300 to 400 kw a square metre. The humidity is by far the largest load on the unit. I hope that helps but drop me a message if you want to know more.