Interesting build you have going on. A question that keeps popping up in my mind is how you intend to power the A/C, and the 120 V/ac fridge? I think your small AGM house bank will power the fridge only, for 12 to 15 hours. What is it's rated amperage/ wattage, and how much does it run per hour ( duty cycle) once cooled down? <br /><br /> A large inverter on that small battery bank could run the 8000 btu AC for perhaps 10 minutes, if that. Even if your engine were running, the alternator could not fully power that load and you will deplete the engine battery too.<br /><br />Definitely insulate that tube to the exterior, and rig up a drain. I used one of those portable AC models in Florida in the summer and it filled the condensate trap every 3 hours. Did not make for good sleep.<br /><br />Some Ziplocks of water in the freezer compartment will reduce duty cycle after they freeze.<br /><br />While many have successfully used inverters to power residential fridges, they usually find that it uses way too much power. Even if you have an inverter that has a standby mode, those fridges are power hungry, and many do not like vehicular motion and vibrations and fail prematurely. Do rig up a method to hold the door shut during hard turns.<br /><br />Do your additional fans run only when the compressor is running? I bet those 4 fans running for an hour, together, will consume almost as much energy as a 1.7 cubic foot DC compressor fridge will in an hour.<br /><br />I hope you can make the residential fridge work for you. If you plug into the grid regularly it will be easier, but if you depend on only battery power, you are going to need a serious recharging source. Well in excess of 130 watts of solar, just for the fridge.<br /><br />Do not think the alternator is sufficient. It actually charges batteries very slowly, even if steps are taken to maximize it's output into the house battery bank. Idling the engine to recharge the batteries is the very definition of inefficiency.<br /><br />In terms of a front loading DC compressor fridge, the following link is about the cheapest you will find. These fridges will use 2.5 to 6 times less electricity than your residential fridge on an inverter.<br /><br /><a href="
http://www.truckfridge.com/tf49.html">
http://www.truckfridge.com/tf49.html<br /><br /></a>Some trucker websites offer a slightly cheaper price and free shipping.<br /><br />Generally, in sunny environments, 60 watts of solar is enough to run these smaller DC compressor fridges indefinitely. Get a fridge that uses a Danfoss compressor. Not Norcold/ Engel!! Unless you like noise and vibration.<br /><br />Chest type DC compressor fridges exist, and are slightly more efficient, and upto 150$ cheaper if you shop around.<br /><br />I bought my Vitrifrigo from this guy with free shipping: It arrives tomorrow. Whohoo!!<br /><a href="
http://www.westyventures.com/parts.html#cart_restore">
http://www.westyventures.com/parts.html#cart_restore</a><br /><br /><br />Having those fans funnel air directly through the condenser would be better. The faster you can remove heat from the condenser, the more efficient it will be. You do not want to recycle the heated air back there, but evacuate it from the area after a single pass through the condenser. Consider making a shroud to force the air where it needs to flow. The compressor itself does not need huge amounts of air flowing on it. If the condenser is cooler, the compressor will also run cooler, and less often.<br /><br />Black Tint on the windows will reduce the amount of heat making it through the glass directly from the sun, but the black windows heat up so much, they actually radiate incredible amounts of heat to the interior. The reflectix helps. A layer of black painted cardboard then the reflectix works better and keeps it stealthier.<br /><br />I have both, and later added black bungee cords around the window frames and travel with more pillows. During the day I use the bungees to hold the pillows up against the windows. This stops 99% of all window heat entering. All other solutions were nowhere near as effective for me, but did help retain heat at night come wintertime when I was using the pillows in bed.<br /><br />I've also considered pulling air in from under the van, but opt instead to pull in cool air from my sliding windows on the shady side of the Van.<br /><br />A roof exhaust vent in invaluable. Look into fantastik fan.<br /><br />Some have put a window AC unit low in the back door. With a little modification to a spare tire carrier you could do it fairly stealthily, but blocking airflow from the condenser will dramatically lower efficiency.<br /><br />Keep up the good work<br /><br /><br /><br />
