I like the ideas to use an electric AC compressor / system. Here are some crazy ideas how to power this, dreamt up when driving my Westy across the Idaho desert 3 weeks ago; - it was 109F outside and at least that inside - I could not run my (fully functional) Westy AC as it pushed the engine temperatures too high (stressful!! - regulating your speed based on keeping one eye on the engine temperature gauge...) In the resulting heat induced craziness I cooked up the following - Electric AC unit driven from a lithium battery pack Nissan Leaf battery packs are available from electric car conversion suppliers - A 500Wh 4 cell battery costs just $129 (weight 7lbs) - that's enough juice for ~1 hour of AC operation 6 - 10 of these might be enough for a day's driving Install them under the floor, they are thin & that's not much weight (A). Recharge them with shore power at night (B). Recharge them from 3 full size Solar Panels on the Roof - 180 - 200W each makes enough Power for the AC Thankfully my Westy, my wife and I survived that impossible heat & once my brain had returned to normal temperatures I decided my lower cost solution for the future is to avoid places that hot.... Mike Hart '87 2WD Westy "T3WESTY" (stock 2.1l engine with 195k miles) Palo Alto, CA |
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