Best Batteries and Parts

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Has anyone gotten a price on the climax air?  I see that you have to email them to get a price?   Also, how much more power/panels would I need to run this?  Thanks

Hmmn.  Only found one place advertising them, and they are out of stock there . . .

https://www.shopyourway.com/climax-...u-worlds-most-efficient-portable-ac/523105984

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I happen to have a portable air cond but it might be too big.  Here is what I got off the back:  115V - 60 Hz, Current 7.9A  Can you tell me if it could work?

Power is watts, and watts remains a constant no matter how many volts you are using.  Watts = Volts X Amps.  Amps = Watts / Volts.

So, 115 volts X 7.9 amps = 908.5 watts

So 908.5 watts / 12 volts = 75.7 amps

And yes, you are going to be using an inverter to convert the dc to ac, but it is going to pull 80 amps out of the 12 volt batteries for every 8 amps of 120 volt ac power it provides

I don't see this working.

Honestly, most people who haven't really tried living on a boat or in an RV don't really understand how limited dc batteries are compared to living in a house or apartment hooked up to the power grid.

99.9% of the RVs running air conditioning are either using shore power or a built-in onboard generator.  Only a few eccentric tinkerers are trying to run ac off the sun, and they need huge amounts of solar panels and either immense lead acid battery banks or huge exotic chemistry non-lead batteries to make it work.  Either way, it's a lot of $$$.

 

[XFILE36]

99.9% of the RVs running air conditioning are either using shore power or a built-in onboard generator.  Only a few eccentric tinkerers are trying to run ac off the sun, and they need huge amounts of solr panels and either immense lead acid battery banks or huge exotic chemistry non-lead batteries to make it work.  Either way, it's a lot of $$$.

OP, Thanks for the breakdown.  As for spending money, i.e., investing in my home and comfort, if you got the money why not use it?  You only live once my friend.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

OP, Thanks for the breakdown.  As for spending money, i.e., investing in my home and comfort, if you got the money why not use it?  You only live once my friend.

Anyone who believes in reincarnation would dispute your last statement.  The trick is to figure out how to leave your money to yourself!

The best article on doing what you are trying to do is the one Technomadia wrote about their set-up.  I recommend you read it, you'll get some good ideas and come away with new insight on the whole project.

http://www.technomadia.com/2015/02/the-almost-fantasy-of-solar-powered-rv-air-conditioning/

 

[XFILE36]

Anyone who believes in reincarnation would dispute your last statement.  The trick is to figure out how to leave your money to yourself!

The best article on doing what you are trying to do is the one Technomadia wrote about their set-up.  I recommend you read it, you'll get some good ideas and come away with new insight on the whole project.

http://www.technomadia.com/2015/02/the-almost-fantasy-of-solar-powered-rv-air-conditioning/

I don't believe in reincarnation. Thanks for the article.

 

[XFILE36]

The best article on doing what you are trying to do is the one Technomadia wrote about their set-up.  I recommend you read it, you'll get some good ideas and come away with new insight on the whole project

Nice article.  I happen to have a swamp cooler/heater that is 60 watts using the cooler.  It's probably too large though.  Have you tried one of these? https://www.amazon.com/Portable-12-...rd_wg=5aM2w&psc=1&refRID=1PWKZRPD2E7ENZDYJSP9

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Nice article.  I happen to have a swamp cooler/heater that is 60 watts using the cooler.  It's probably too large though.  Have you tried one of these? https://www.amazon.com/Portable-12-...rd_wg=5aM2w&psc=1&refRID=1PWKZRPD2E7ENZDYJSP9

I haven't.  Looks like they use water as a heat sink.  In other words, you put cold water in and the heat in your vehicle is dumped into the water, so it gets hotter and hotter and eventually needs to be changed.  The Mighty Kool website suggests that the water needs to be changed every 3 to 5 hours in the daytime, longer at night.  I could see this working very well if near a lake or stream, perhaps not so well in a desert.  Electrical draw is only 1.7 amps on high, less than 1 amp on low so electrically this seems very efficient.

The only problem I see is that it doesn't really cool an AREA, it's intended to be used to blow cool air on you or your pet when you are in one place and not moving.  Might be useful for sleeping in hot weather, probably better than just a fan.

 

[XFILE36]

The Mighty Kool website suggests that the water needs to be changed every 3 to 5 hours in the daytime, longer at night.  I could see this working very well if near a lake or stream, perhaps not so well in a desert.

OP, what if you just recycle the water?  Meaning, after 4 hours you drain the hot water (save it), add cooler temp. water and/or ice/ice packs, save the "grey" water that you drained for dishes or other chores?  Doesn't seem that you need to be near a body of h20, just access to your own water?  I realize that moving with the weather is a great idea, but I will be commuting partially on a mission to go east, and also just site-seeing.  When I go east I won't be able to travel once I get there for a time because I need to help a friend, and Georgia is probably too humid for a swamp cooler...

 

[Weight]

Ice and very cold water were used to cool the air for as long as there was means to move ice to hotter climes. Hospitals in SC used air flow across ice stored in under ground vaults to cool the patients. Just a fan across a block of ice will cool your area. A swamp cooler is different. They work by evaporation. As water evaporates it can cool the air flowing past. The work surprisingly well in very hot dry climates. Not well at all in humid areas. We used something called a Lister Bag to store water while on maneuvers. Provided cooler than hot-water.

 

[XFILE36]

We used something called a Lister Bag to store water while on maneuvers. Provided cooler than hot-water.

Interesting about the Lister bag.  I see they were used in Vietnam.  I wonder if Listerine was named after them.

 

[John61CT]

Evaporative cooling works well in dry heat, but less so when humid.

 

[XFILE36]

Evaporative cooling works well in dry heat, but less so when humid.

Yep.  I know.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Interesting about the Lister bag.  I see they were used in Vietnam.  I wonder if Listerine was named after them.

Now you got me curious.

A little research turned up the following:

Joseph Lister, latter Sir Joseph Lister and then Baron Lister, was a British doctor who pioneered the use of antiseptics in surgery, using a 5% solution of carbolic acid.  He was born in 1827 and died in 1912.

Listerine was invented in 1879 by a chemist in St. Louis MO named Joseph Lawrence.  He named it in honor of Baron Lister.

The Lister Bag - originally spelled Lyster Bag, was developed during WW1 by American Army doctor William John Lyster.  It's purpose was to hold the water while it was purified with Sodium Hypochlorite.  The cooling by evaporation was apparently a side effect.

 

[highdesertranger]

that mighty kool thingy is a swamp cooler. it's going to perform like a swamp cooler. works good in dry heat not so good in humid heat. highdesertranger

 

[DLTooley]

A rough, easy, rule of thumb is to think of the watt ratings for your solar compared to the wattage of your load. If you have 100 watts of solar for, say, 10 hours a day, then you have 1000 watts to work with. That needs to be adjusted for time - so if you had a 1500 watt hair dryer you could run in for 40 minutes. If you had a 50 watt laptop, you could run that for 20.

Amp hours are the simplest to work with if you are doing everything in 12v dc, as this is the same measure for a battery. In any case you should get comfortable making the conversions as this will lead to a good understanding of electricity.

 

[XFILE36]

The Lithium Manganese batteries used in the Torqeedo are safer, higher power density and last longer.  The problem is they are hellacious expensive. 

How long have you had your 2 for?

 

[XFILE36]

A rough, easy, rule of thumb is to think of the watt ratings for your solar compared to the wattage of your load.  If you have 100 watts of solar for, say, 10 hours a day, then you have 1000 watts to work with.  That needs to be adjusted for time - so if you had a 1500 watt hair dryer you could run in for 40 minutes.  If you had a 50 watt laptop, you could run that for 20.

Amp hours are the simplest to work with if you are doing everything in 12v dc, as this is the same measure for a battery.  In any case you should get comfortable making the conversions as this will lead to a good understanding of electricity.

If I were to use my 1800 watt hair dryer for say 10 minutes how much of that 1000 watts would be used?  What is the formula?  I want to learn to do this, but I am so confused about Amp hours... :-/

 

[John61CT]

Watts and amps are real-time "flow rates", not measure of capacity.

Amp hours and watt hours are capacity.

> If you have 100 watts of solar for, say, 10 hours a day, then you have 1000 watts to work with.  

needs to be corrected to

> then you have 1000 watt hours to work with.

If this is at 12 volts, that is 83 AH.


So, power in watts, is current flow in amps times the voltage.

A battery rated for 120 amp hours will provide 6 amps for 20 hours. If this is a 12 volt battery, we multiply 120 by 12 and determine that the battery will provide 1440 watt hours.

 

[XFILE36]

That was completely confusing.  All I wanted to know was if I could run a 1800 watt hair dryer on a 1000 watt lithium battery and how many watts would be used.

 

[John61CT]

There is no such thing as a 1000 watt battery. 1000 watt hours. So since it is lithium, when brand new, call it 800 WH usable.

So 800 watts divided by 1,800 watt hours is .44 or maybe half an hour of usage.

As time goes by, capacity shrinks. It will last longer, maybe even years if it's good quality, but only if you stop drawing down before it's completely empty, and don't charge it all the way full, ideally at less than 14V (13.8 is ideal), assuming it's LiFePO4.

But likely the included battery is not great quality, so with hard use it may die within six months. So make sure to confirm replacement batteries are available.

And also verify how long it takes to recharge, what, on shore power every night?

A 20A charger would take 3-4 hours, as fast as an hour at 80A, don't go bigger than that. The built in POS one may take over 12 hours, and probably charges at too high a voltage.

If you're driving at least an hour every day, rigging a high-amp DC-DC charge connection off your vehicle alternator will be a good way to go.