Check This Out: 12-Volt Air Conditioner

[peteco]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Advanced RV has been installing Houghton AC for a few years. They once were installing them on other RVs but with their backlog of vans for their own customers I think they abandoned that. It is their standard and is super quiet. There’s is 12v and they claim 20% more efficient than other RV air conditioners. I have one now but haven’t needed it yet but have tested it. I’m not one to travel where you need AC and never used my GWVan air conditioner until I got caught in 100 degree weather in Kansas in September and found it didn’t work. Now I think I have to fire it up periodically whether I need it or not.

Yes, I think it is a good idea for ACs to be exercised to distribute the oil around the system and through the compressor. Especially important with the CoolCat heatpumps (which yours is not) to also exercise the reversing valve.

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by Rlum

Take a look at the reviews for Pro Air on Coachmen vans.

Coachman stopped installing the 12v Pro Air because they had all sorts of problems. They now install either the 120v Coleman NDQ or the 12v Premier Turbo 2. The Premier unit is too new to know how well it will do, and there have been some initial complaints about exterior noise and water leakage. People seem to love the Coleman NDQs.

[SteveJ]

Seein's how this topic kinda drifted a bit toward quiet A/Cs, I can contribute.

I recently replaced the Dou Therm Penguin original(from 199 with an Atwood Air Command(now owned by Dometic) 13.5k BTH roof top unit. This is in a ducted system so inherently a bit quieter.

The Atwood is a lot quieter than the Penguin. Unfortunately the Penguin died before I could get any DB readings.

As both the Houghton and Atwood have their roots in Australia it would seem that the Aussies have a handle on how to design a roof top unit.

The Atwood maintains a nice tight temperature swing on AC, not so good with the furnace control. I hooked up the old t-stat to the furnace as it had decent control of the temperature swing.

[ArtDeco]

Originally Posted by Rlum

Take a look at the reviews for Pro Air on Coachmen vans. I have heard these 12 volt units are not that energy efficient because of the size of compressor motors. For small areas like the truck cabs, they work fine. I do not know for larger spaces? Also you will need a large battery bank to run 12 volt air conditioner?

Honestly all it needs to cool is the sleeping area at night, aprox 6 ft x 6 ft x 6 ft. I rarely use the rooftop but it works fine if I have shore power or run a generator during the day. If I could, I would leave the existing rooftop installed. Just thinking here.

[JohnnyFry]

It appears the the 240V is via an optional power supply. A 34 amp 12 volt DC supply for 120 V is not a big deal.

[ArtDeco]

Originally Posted by jon

U-Go!

Interesting concept but doesn't appear to be available in the USA. Or am I missing something?

[LostInWoods]

U-Go looks kind of similar to Zero-Breeze - battery operated portable AC. There's a (caveat emptor) list of stuff like that at http://https://homeairguides.com/bes...oners-reviews/ and I'm sure other places.