CatCaretaker said:
I wondered about putting a small a/c unit in a window space, and hooking it up to a generator lashed to a hitch tray at the rear of the vehicle. If you had a set up like that and were parked in the shade, would the law, or random folk, still get up in arms and/or prosecute....?
I did exactly that. After researching the various ideas, it seemed the only truly practical way to keep an animal cool in a vehicle when stopped. The cooler and ice idea is seriously flawed in many aspects, not the least of which is you cant use it if you break down on the road somewhere, or stop unexpectedly for some reason, and they just dont make it that cool. I set the AC on 61 deg and its pretty darn cool. My malamute sleeps and doesnt even pant when I leave her. Everything in the truck feels cold. Perfect!
Its not legal in some places, or smart, to leave a vehicle running when away from it. I was informed of this in Montana when someone called in my two dogs in the shade in my suburban several years ago. We stopped for a very quick meal before going up ion the mountains, where it would be cool and nice, with snowfields for the dogs to hang out on. The dogs were fine, and the officer had a probe he stuck in the open window to check the temp inside.
Anyway, I hope its OK to link to another forum. I posted about my AC installation in detail, here it is.
https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/full-hillbilly-window-ac-in-a-vehicle.228995/
I will add some more experience since posting it. NEVER assume the fuel level is good without checking it. I got in the habit of topping it off if I had used it more than an hour previously. I was getting 6 plus hours of run time on the Honda generator and its one gallon tank. I kept two one gallon cans of gas in the cargo box along with it to keep it topped off at all times. You REALLY want to get the hard start capacitor and install it. It makes it possible to run the generator on economy mode (3 hrs run time vs 6-8 hrs per tank) and kick over the generator reliably, mine wouldnt every time before getting the capacitor. Look it up, its $12, and simple to do. Theres many youtubes on it. I drilled a couple holes in my AC housing and zip tied it to the side out of the way and ran the wires in and plugged them in, Done. It works perfectly.
The AC unit was a cheap small one from walmart, Haier? I was willing to go cheap on an AC, Ive had pretty good luck with them, but I was NOT willing to go cheap on the generator. Honda. Get the best if at all possible. The little suitcase type is good. Ive also used it to run various tools in places there was no power, and it could be handy to run an electric chainsaw for road clearing in the mountains, the power being available makes a very small, light chain saw a workable idea. I abhorred electric chainsaws in the past, but the shear practicality and simplicity of them for certain tasks not related to cutting down large trees and large mounts of firewood are difficult to ignore. Thats for another discussion, but the point is a generator is a good tool to have and can do much more than run the AC. They are a good investment in independent living.
I think its also a worthwhile investment to get a temperature alert device to let you know if the temp goes above a certain point. I dont have one yet but plan to.
I keep a large round outdoor thermometer in the truck where it can be seen from outside (and not in the sun where it gives false readings), in case anyone decides to save the world by breaking the window out to save my dog, but for the most part nobody notices the dog sleeping on the platform bed in the back with the tinted windows. People DO notice the AC and when its running though, and often ask why, or if my truck AC doesnt work etc. Be prepared for many people taking pictures of your hillbilly AC in your vehicle. You get used to it. I painted it the color of my vehicle to somewhat camo it though.
With the generator on ECO mode, many people dont even realize the generator is running until they are walking right by it, and then many still dont seem to notice.
