The different voltage is the voltage drop on your wires into the inverter. You are losing almost 1 volt at 1200 watts, due to the resistance of your cables. Your cables should be resized to a much larger gauge wire and you will drop less and have more usable power from your batteries before the alarm sounds.
@Peyton mac - I was responding to the comment about the included "cables" being large enough. I was basically saying not necessarily. For very heavy loads, going to even thicker wires can be better, however, sometimes resistance in wires can be used to your advantage. For example, if your inverter normally shuts off at 10.5V (per 12V of battery), having not so thick DC input wires and a heavy load would likely make it detect low voltage when the battery is actually quite a bit higher, thus stopping when the batteries are at a shallower depth of discharge (like perhaps they were really at 11V under load but the inverter "saw" 10.5V and shut down). That might be desirable for some people that don't like to drain their batteries too low between charges.
This was a very good test. I just ordered two Lithium batteries too and planning to run 13K BTU Dometic roof mount AC as well. I have an underhood generator with 280A capacity so I am looking to add 2 more Lithiums in parallel and when the voltage goes down below 12.5 the engine will start automatically to recharge -- hoping it would be about 3 hours at a time. So during really hot nights, the engine will turn on 2.5 times for a good night sleep ... fingers crossed.
Cool test! Nice equipment. I've played with this as well, but using even cheaper inverter (Microsolar 2000/4000w) and two GC5 lead batts but on a smaller Colman Power Saver 11k AC. What I found is once the compressor is on, you can run quite a while steady state everything on, mine draws quite a bit less than yours but the startup power is confirmed 3x startup to get the compressor running. So, when your batts are lower, when your AC cycles off after running for awhile due to normal thermostatic control, the batts dont have enough power left to restart the compressor. I measured 7amp full run, but 27amp startup due to compressor. That's 3000watt startup surge. On the batts that something like 300amp startup draw when normal run is around 52amp. Have to be careful. Now, usually you will run your AC just to cool down the camper as cold as you can get then turn it off.. that's what I do anyway. Have fun!
This is exactly why they need to bring inverter Air-conditioning technology to the RV world.. like 4.5 amp stuff..super high efficiency with heat pumps that perform at extremely low temps..run all day on solar
Damian DeLapp there is one company making one inverter drive unit. Google inverter rv ac I found it... but hanging a mini split off the vehicle isn’t a big deal...
That voltage difference is just losses in the cables. That inverter was gobbling well over 100A. Both meters did show correct value, difference is because they measure different points in the system.
That what I was thinking too. I connected an inverter at a different location in the circuitry than directly to the battery and I was getting low voltage alarms all the time. When I changed things it made a lot of difference.
Great to see someone finally executed this test. The never ending barrage of RV forum blow-hards who constantly claim knowledge on this (and every other topic under the sun), yet seldom actually have a real-world case clue on anything, all these time-wasters and know-it-alls often quote up to 6 hours of AC use when powered by two lithiums, so I hope they all read this and take note. Still we have to give them credit for being able to read the marketing brochures LOL Now I do have a question and that is at what point did you (OR do you) see the AC voltage drop below 107VAC, as this is one of the recurring published minimum voltage I've seen speced by a lot of roof-top manufactures with 107VAC being the lowest suggested safe continuous voltage of a typical rooftop AC unit. Do you remember if it went under 107VAC or not? Otherwise this proved to me more than ever how lithium is pretty much a waste of money if you instead wish to conserve power and run fans to both save money and be easier on the body by not shifting temps so often and so widely. There is also the factor of "portion of sleep portals" and how much of a benefit would only an hour of cool sleep be to anyone. And with that thought, it's going to take a good deal of time to build those batteries back up after the hour and a half drain, especially with the 200-600w that most camper roofs support. Also with an inverter fan blowing 120F air out the exhaust port and an AC pumping out 55F air with both of them filling the cabin with the contrasting temperatures, these types of setups seem more of a Rube Goldberg setup than a practical one. But back to "portion of sleep portals" - I have found over many years in various different climates that it's better on me, especially in an RV, to keep the AC always off and just use fans, and that's even if I have a power plug handy capable of the load. But that's only if someone is an "adventure camper" and I am defining that as anybody who does anything outside and doesn't spend their entire time locked inside the box with a computer or television going. My experience: (220aH flooded cell GC2's; 465W solar with 2000PSW inverter - full-timer going on for 2 years now, never a power plug, run occasional TV to watch a movie, 2 laptops about 6-10 hrs a day and all typical charging of phones, all accessories run off 12V. I use the 2000PSW (non-name China mfg.) only occasionally for either microwave, toaster or blender. With the flooded cells, using the 17A 12 year old microwave (150A DC draw), I consume 3% of the total charge per minute of microwave use, generally seeing a low voltage cut-out (11.1DC) occurring typically after 5-7min of microwave use. I use the microwave off the inverter about once a week, the toaster every other day and the blender a couple of times per week. I cover the entire N. American continent including C. America and primarily rely on relocating to mountains ins summer, the beach in winter. Good luck to you and thanks for the visual on a very good curiosity satisfying experiment.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing all of that great information with us. It's always nice to hear full timer set ups. The rule of thumb for air conditioners is it they run around a thousand watts and for every thousand watts to run 1 hour you need 100 amp hours of battery. If you really want to run an air conditioner for 8 hours you need 800 usable amp hours of battery unless offset by solar. If you have a thousand watts of solar you could use less batteries but not by much. It's not impossible to run air conditioners off solar and battery power but it is costly. Thanks for the comment and happy camping. Jim
He used a 15,000btu air conditioner.... A 5,000 would be triple the time..... He also didnt have solar hooked up at the time... If you had enough solar coming into to those 2 batteries, you could get MUCH longer times..... Or you could add more batteries
I ran a 12000 btu mini split 22.5 seer rating for 8 hours on 200 amp hours and of course anything else that was on at the time lights refrigerator and that was in Louisiana heat although summer was just getting started.
Interesting indeed! With 4 FLA 6V 450Ah (C/10) at 50% DoD, I should be able to get twice that time and a bit more. Add another 1200W solar offsetting the load and I might even be able to double that too. So maybe 6hrs. Plus that's with the AC running at 100% duty cycle (like your test). So with it running half the time, I should get 12 hours. My RV has two 12500BTU units and I'd like to run just one of them to cool a sectioned off room. We'll see... Thanks for this!
I really liked you video. The big problem with lead acid batteries is the voltage sag. I have had the shore power go out when I had the AC on and 4x 12v 110ah deep cycle batteries last about 5 minutes. I just upped my solar to 2860 Watts and am currently building a 200AH 24v lithium battery bank (for this year, doubling it next year) and I hope to be able to run the AC for about 10 hours a day (it gets to 120f in my part of Arizona) but I won't know until I actually test it this summer. Eventually I am going to build "Carbon Enhanced Lead Acid" and finally give building "Solid State Graphene" batteries a test.
Hello there, me and husband are new to the Rv life we also live in Arizona currently staying in casa grande and we trying to save $ and make the best of using our Rv if you can contact me I would to ask questions about using batteries to power our ac
Very good informative video on my freightliner cascadia I have an apu system called parksmart and it works with 4 agm batteries to run the a/c on this system it woll drain the batteries in about 9 to 11 hours not a roof top a/ c of course and about 34 hours on the fuel fired hydronic heater plus hotel load
Glad you plan to do the actual test with pv's included. Best sun is when ac needed the most. PV's going to produce lots of current when needed the most for this purpose. Also, price of lifepo4 batteries has decreased significantly and are now at around $300 per not $1200 at present. So your could add 4 for $1200 or 8 for $2400. 8 would probably run all night as demand is lower with no sun-heat-load while it's dark. Things are changing so fast in the solar world so as to make money comparisons irrelevant almost immediately. Plus now you can buy four 3.2 volt prismatic lifepo4 batteries and a bms for even less than $300 and build yourself. In fact you can purchase four lifepo4 prismatic batteries at 3.2 volt and 304 ah for less than $800 and produce 3890 watts for 2/3 of what you paid for the one battery. Each of your batteries are only capable of 1280 watts per. In time you'll be able to afford much more for much less and go all solar, all the time.
I have a similar AC and 720AH of LFP battery bank in my RV. I was hoping to be able to run the AC for a few hours at night in far north Australia, but alas that just means I have little possibility of fully recharging battery (with my 1320watt solar) to 90% during the next day. I actually need more solar to do this rather than more battery, despite it being very sunny. Yes it is difficult to run AC in an RV after the sun goes down - perhaps a home style split system AC would be more efficient than the typical slim rooftop oem AC like the Dometic
Thanks for sharing your setup with us. It sounds like a pretty nice setup. In my testing i found that my Dometic Blizzard Nxt 15000 btu Ac draws 1500 watts while a small 5000 btu window unit designed for a house draws under 500 watts. I'm not sure if a unit that small would keep up with the heat of your RV but it would keep you plenty cool if you were sitting in front of it. Your system could definitely handle that load a lot easier and for longer. Let us know what solutions you come up with. We would all like to hear about it. Thank you for the comment and happy camping. Jim
The dislike might be accidental, but is demonstration is how to quickly ruin your lithium battery's. So he is discharging them at 1 c or 100 amps with out checking the manufactures website it is probably right at their max rating. If you look at the charts charging and discharging at high currents you really reduce your life of battery's. But to each his own. If you want to see someone who actually understands solar and setups, see will prowess
Actually, you may want to check out this new video where i did the same test using different batteries and an easy start system.th-cam.com/video/gpE8kToJthc/w-d-xo.html
I have a Xantrex 2000 XC and Xantrex display has the correct voltage. Its monitoring the battery output voltage it is receiving. You may also consider adding in the time to recharge your batteries; that is test time from full battery back to time of full battery. My AC takes about 1600 watts to run on low, but let’s consider a simpler example. Lets say you put a Kenmore Energy efficient 5200 btu window AC in your RV. That requires only 475 cooling watts (WAY SMALLER then my AC). Given the Xantrex 2000 is 87% efficient and needs about 2.1 Amps for itself (fans etc), you will likely draw nearly 45 Amps at the battery. Lets say your batteries are full and you want to have enough solar to run your AC when its sunny only, then you need a charge controller that can support at least - lets say - 50 Amps at least. To get the panels to provide 45 amps continuous you need at least about 800 watts worth of solar panel all wired for nearly no loss; not the 3-10% loss many RVs are wired for. And your panels have to be optimally angled all day. So for my RV’s AC I need solar panels and charge controller on order of 3 times that size. I have seen my 680 watts of ground based solar panels that gets optimal lighting passed thru the Zamp 60 Amp controller hit peaks of 41.5A and readily maintaining 38Amps continuously. So i could run the Kenmore on my solar while draining about 7amps additionally from the batteries. My 4-Trojan 6Volt batteries could sustain that for the day easily, but I’d be falling behind. In short, I’m not gonna put a window AC in my RV. I go to high altitude where I don’t NEED AC cuz if you need AC you likely need it at night and batteries won’t do it and it depends on how hot it is. Assuming the Kenmore AC running 2/3s of the time at night my 4 Trojans would last about 8 hrs til 50% battery level. Then you’d need to recharge while the day is really hot. At maximum recommended charge rate per Trojan for my setup I would need about 1 kilowatt of panels to get my batteries back to full charge in 5 hrs - without the AC.
TheDesert IsPatient That is some great information to have. Thanks so much for sharing that with all of us. I'm going to be covering a lot of that information in my next video. I can use your information as a reference point to make sure that I'm on point with my research. But that sounds exactly right to me. Thanks again for the awesome comment. Take care and happy camping. Jim
Did you get around to posting a video on practical off-grid RVing? Didn't find a link or the video but may have missed it in all the awesome looking content.
My air conditioner runs about 3 hours with a 24 volt 85 A/h lithium battery. Power consumption is 26/28 amps. Chinese Home Mobile Air Conditioner 6000 Btu. And much more Chinese inverter. With 15000 BTU the consumption is about 70 amps. This is normal.
Thank you for the vid. In my experience Batteries, Imp]p( the dysfunctional manufactures of the appliances need to step it up and make appliances such as A/C last for longer then 12mo.
1500watts? dude you can get some cool mini splits that only pull about 800 - 1000watts. Though i guess this is a van channel which I know nothing about, so I'm not sure how it would be mounted, but as far as power draw is concerned, I think it's better to have mini splits in each cool area. So you can just have the 800 watts ac going in the bedroom or workroom, while the rest of the space can be hot.
Another advantage with mini splits, most models allow you to run only one zone at a time, taking less power because the compressor runs at partial power. Example, in the evening, after solar power drops off, you could cool the bedroom area only, using maybe 500 watts. That lower draw could allow you to keep the bedroom cool until outside temperatures drop enough that the AC is no longer needed.
There are several problems with using a mini split on an RV. The size, weight and location of the condenser as well as the fact that you will need a 220 volt system to get to the. 800 watt rated one ton unit. I have tried to figure out how I could mount the condenser on the tongue of the trailer and use a mini split with a cartridge type air handler. If you know of one that would work. Please let me know..
I agree with your conclusion go somewhere cool when it is hot and somewhere warm when it is cold. However there is always going to be that person who wants to have an AC, no matter what. I would like to have one for intermittent use during the day running primarily off the solar panels. Just to keep the RV cool at peak hot time of the day. Although I would suspect that a much better layer of insulation would be far more cost efficient.
@@shawnr771 we have been RV full timing for the last week in Nevada and Utah and I'm here to tell you that a generator is the way to go if you want AC. Jim
@@shawnr771 I am with you on that point. Constantly working solar options. I'm getting closer but the tech is pricey for no gas AC. I will share the journey with all of you as I go. Thanks again for watching and happy camping. Jim
@@natestube2 I have been running a 12000 BTU rooftop air on a toyhauler for the last 5 summers, 24/7 for 2 months straight on a honda 2000. No issues. Average daily temp: 95 degrees f. (Ranges from 85 - 115) Sometimes the crappy roof AC can't keep up, but the Honda has no prob.
Hello Jim, Very nice video on this subject! Being from AZ, getting rid of excess heat is always a struggle here in the Summer. That said, a few points to review & ponder; During your test, what was the outside temp.? This is important to see how much excess heat GAIN you also need to overcome. Of course during this test, you are starting from ground zero, no a/c running for some time with everything heated up. My contention on this would be to start off using the ac line power or generator to do the initial cool off to desired temperature, then switch to the batteries and see how long the battery/inverter system could maintain your desired/cooled off environment! I suspect in doing this, you would find that instead of only 1.5 hours that you might find your system would maintain perhaps 6 to 8 hours; battery only! Then you could do part 3 & add in the solar panels. Sounds like a good retest to me. Let me know the results... Thanks, John, Tucson
@Daniel S Most cars are about 1ton (12000Btu). SUV can range upwards of 20000 to 40000 Btu (1.5-3.0 ton). Remember that in an RV you have more windows (heat gain) & therefore less insulation too where those windows are.
I have a standard RV 8ft fridge, but also 2 battery pack that's connected to a solar panel (and has an inverter). How long will my batteries last if I only turned the fridge on, while driving in a sunny day?
The compressor will cycle on and off and there will be peak consumption when it turns back on. There are softstart devices that store energy to feed that peak demand reducing the strain on the batteries at startup time.
Build a small windmill that attaches to a Pole so it can be erected when camping a charge controller run that additional power to those cells. Possibly use a DC trolling motor and create a windmill that would convert wind into power!😀
I personally lived full time in my RV it's been 5 years. I've had 6 battery's 4 solar panels, a generator, and Dual 100 amp alternators, and 2 battrey isolators, charging 4 battery's. This gave me power to run quiet all night. Ran TV , PC,,lights, cooked, my Battery's always charged when I was driving or idling, or solar, when the Generator Ran the transformer charged Battery's
@@0011-b2s I was literally researching that last night. LOL. I'll stick with solar. Although, it would have been great to catch some of that Breezy night air and charge the batteries without Sun. I'm just not sure I want to erect a 20-foot tower on top of my RV every time I stop. thanks for the comment and happy camping. Jim
@@fullmoonadventureclub look up vertical wind turbines, they only need to be about 5 foot off the top of the highest point of what ever they're mounted on to be most effective.
alexzanderarmstrong You are very welcome. You were the inspiration for this video. So keep the questions coming and I'll try to keep answering them. Take care and happy camping. Jim
Hi, I tried to run the Dometic Blizzard NXT with the Xantrex Freedom Xi 2000 inverter, but couldn‘t start the compressor due to the high surge, I guess. Have you a hint for me? Did you use a soft start device in your installation? I assume that Xantrex X2000 and Xi 2000 are quite similar.
I do have a soft start installed in my system. However, if I remember correctly my Xantrex 2000 watt inverter was able to start the Dometic NXT without the soft start. Are you sure your wiring is big enough and that your batteries have a large enough capacity?
Thanks for this test. I’m wondering if it was set on 72 and was able to cycle normally, any guess how much longer it will last? Also, what wattage was your inverter, too lazy yo go back and watch again.
1.5 hours for 15,000 BTU using a pair of 12V 100 Ah LiFePO4 batteries. If I used all 8 of my used but very good 6V 230Ah AGM batteries configured as 12V 460Ah usable (down to 50%), I would probably get something like 3 to 3.5 hours. My batteries are $2000 cheaper too. If you had a 2KW (140A) alternator, you could run that AC for a long time.
What about redodo batteries, Amazon $619 for 200 amp hours? I think they have a 5 year warranty and 10 year or more lifespan? I’m thinking of a 3,000 watt Renogy inverter and 2-3 x 200 amp hours. I’m guess 600 amp hours would run the AC all night if it was cycling. Most campers come with 200 watts solar, I want to add a pug in panel of 200 watts. Wondering if it was during the day, stated out full charge and the sun was out, how long would 400 watts coming in, extend the run time?
This video probably answered it, but just making sure. Can I get a victron 2000 watt inverter charger and will that power a dometic brisk air 2 13,500 AC unit through shore power or generator given the generator is 2000 watts also?
You had a Kodiak unit (which I purchased) what about using that and two deep cycle 24 batteries. The Kodiak plugs right into the 30 amp on the trailer. Do you think it’s possible to chain all those together? Also I have a solar plug on the side will that keep some charging happening while they are being used? Whew!!!! That’s a lot of stuff happening.
Thank you for the question. It is very possible to add two deep cycle batteries directly to the Kodiac with solar. The kodiac will charge and use the added batteries automatically using the RED and Black terminals on the side. Be careful not to allow the RED and Black terminals to touch or become shorted as it will damage the Kodiac so be careful while connecting the batteries to them. The solar on the Kodiac is just plug and go so it should be pretty straight forward but you may need an adapter if the panels are not from Inergy. I hope that helps/ Take care and happy camping. Jim
I'm strongly considering going solar and offgrid in a camper trailer for a few months or longer. I haven't found a great resource on where I can ensure that I can run a system on Solar entirely- which would be the ideal. I'd be okay with going expensive on things, but I'd want to be able to run an AC during the night in summer climates. Can I just get like a 1500 watt solar panel and an AC like in your video? Would that not run itself while there sunlight without much if any draw from the batteries? or am I missing something there? Additionally- have you seen anyone with a full on tesla power wall or something in the RV so they have all the power they'd ever need- solar to recharge during the day, etc? Thank you!!
Question; I have a camper that’s new with 190 watts solar, 30 amp charge controller. I’m installing 2 x 230 amp hour LifePO4 batteries, 3,000 watt pure sine wave inverter. I have the camper plugged in, and the solar is charging but it seems it will take forever to charge it? Thanks
an xs battery from xs power is just under 600.00 it will balance the batteries better and take any strong demand and help with the demand of the compressor.
@@richardbest3079 That XS AGM is WAY less amperes than a lifepo. Also only works down to about 50%. So more like 30% usable capacity of the lithiums in this video. Would be awesome, but there's just no unicorn :( (2400 amps on the battery info label for the XS Power battery is cranking amps, not capacity)
not the agm the ultra cap study ultra caps they will allow you to use more of the power coming in from your solar panels now. you use it with the batteries. Maxwell also makes them. or you can buy single cells and make your own.
Both are great. It depends on what you need them for. The kodiak has a inverter and solar capabilities built in while remaining portable. The green life batteries are for permanent installation but work well. Jim
I have a 120v 4000w inverter with 2 200ah lifepo4 batteries and a brand new recpro 13000 btu AC and once the compressor starts up the whole damn system shuts off. I don’t understand it.
The digital thermostat in the video is a Dometic thermostat that I purchased from Dometic. It is a 12-volt system and it can also be rigged up to run your furnace or multiple zones.
Great video, if you had an inverter charger that plugged into shore power, and which ran your air conditioning as you've rewired it, do you think the inverter/charger when plugged in could then handle load just fine, by bypassing the batteries? thanks!
@@fullmoonadventureclub thanks so much. I am converting a sprinter at the moment and I am trying to figure out if I get the type of rooftop unit you have in the video what size inverter I'd need to run it off shore power as no amount of batteries will run it long. Just spoke with someone from AIMs inverters who told me I just have to make sure the inverter is large enough to handle load of A/C unit. Whether plugged in or not he said the inverter is only meant to supply wattage load as indicated. In other words, having an inverter plugged in to shore power doesn't up the wattage magically. So Im thinking ill run 3 12v lithiums on solar power with a 3000w inverter charger to run off batteries for small ac plugs and have rooftop unit like yours to run when connected to shore power. Based on your video it sounds like with a 3000w inverter charger plugged into shore power, ill have sufficient shore power to run a unit like yours. Does that seem right? thanks again!
Hey thanks, I am in the process of installing an A/C in my campervan. I have 2 x 200 lithium battery solar 2 x 250w solar system. Gives me an indication of time, cheers from Ozzi ozzi ozzi, oi oi oi 👍🤛
If correctly installed, 200aH of lithium phosphate battery life should generate roughly 155 minutes worth of AC at 72 degrees with this specific 15,000 BTU model. The creator of this video did not use the correct wire gauge and there appears to be a voltage drop effectively losing an addition 8% of his power output from his system. This could be from the batteries capacity as it ages or additional inefficiency in his inverter (more than normal). Overall, if he's projecting 110 minutes, his system is nearly 70.9% efficient given his set-up. With the correct modifications, he could generate 42.3% more power under load.
What these vids need to talk about more is the heat ? Running 1400-1500 watts causes a lot of heat on wires and everything! I had to add fans for the batteries, solar controllers, and inverter! I got 10 lithium and a 1400 watts of solar it works to keep my rv power up
Hi Jim, a first time ever on comments. I was looking to run air conditioning on battery power I found ya and I was impressed with your knowledge and love for what you do. This is my 3rd van build and all before I used a Honda EU300IS generator inside a closed compartment all year long. They are amazing little gen's. I would get between 3 thru 5 K hours before the rigs needed replacing. Anyway, I'm was talked into going with 600 ah of Battle Born batteries and a DC air conditioner form Proair. Do you have any experience with Proair AC units? I'm getting between 5-6 hours on the average. I have 2 questions if you would be so kind to respond to. At what voltage should I turn off the AC, below 12 volt? Question 2: I'm using a Colman 54 quart chiller that runs on a Kool Mate Converter ( 50/60Hz/120VAC 1.6A/192VA ) and wanted to know if I went with a cheap Walmart AC fridge. ( 120VAC / 60 Hz / 0.80A / or 0.64 kWh/ 24h ) Would I use less power on a daily use? No matter about the response, I really enjoy your channel and keep doing what you love. Thanks again for all you have done for the camping pep's...……. Buzz
I do not have any experience wit proair AC units but at 5 to 6 hours I would say you are doing pretty good. The refrigerator question would best figured out with a cheap watt meter. record the power usage in a day using the cooler to figure out how much amps or watts it used and then compare it to the numbers on the Walmart fridge. A compressor fridge only runs during compressor cycles so it may last longer but I can't say for sure without testing it. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for watching. Jim
Just think if you had a couple K worth of solar panels charging at the same time! Most people wanting to do this would set up 4 - 6 volt AGMs (since they can go to almost 100% drain) set up in series - parallel 12V.
AGMs can go to almost 100% drain? Where are you getting that information? I have 4 AGMs that have serious issues now, thanks to them getting run down too many times (our auto-gen start wasn't working properly on multiple occasions, and the batteries went way too low). I'm not saying you're incorrect -- but for us, the AGMs didn't seem to hold up well to the abuse of running them too low.
Can you charge your RV batteries from the alternator on your tow vehicle (TV) - by connecting them to the TV battery terminals? Can you just keep the TV idling and with the alternator producing 100 amps or more at 14 volts keep a load of 1400 watts for your AC running full time?
I'm afraid not. While connecting jumper cables to your tow vehicles battery terminals would give some current to the RV it would not be enough to sustain much. Certainly not 1400 Watts. You're tow vehicle would probably have to be revved quite high in order to produce the maximum voltage of the alternator. At idle your alternator doesn't produce all that much power. It would also drastically shorten the lifespan of your alternator on your tow vehicle and battery. There would also be a safety issue when it comes to having jumper cables unattended. If they were to slip off and ground out something or short your battery you'd be looking at a fire. Your best bet is going to be solar panels an extra battery or perhaps a small Honda inverter generator. I hope that helps. Thanks for watching and happy camping. Jim
Hi Jim - love your new channel. I'm having the Xantrex Freedom 2000w inverter/charger installed in my TT. I have two 6v golf cart batteries. Can I run my AC with these batteries? The trailer is a 2015.
The Xantrex inverter would probably be fine but the batteries would not. Lead acid batteries just won't handle that much power draw without damage. You would need a very large battery bank for the air conditioner. Thanks for watching and happy camping. Jim
Hey Jim, Thanks for the great info Im an investigator in the Central Valley of CA., and Im trying to cool the interior of a small SUV for 6-9 hours. Thinking about a zero-breeze with a deep cycle. Any suggestions for other options? Solar roof panels, other batteries?
You may want to consider The Kodiak solar generator Apex and a zero breeze. The kodiak can be charged with the car or with solar on the roof. It has a inverter for the zero breeze and is portable at 25 pounds. Watch a review of it on my channel to see if that would work for you. It's on presale for 700 dollars off with my code Adventure so not a bad deal. Otherwise I would say you will need solar panels, a lithium battery preferably, and whatever inverter the zero breeze requires. I hope that helps.Here is a link to the Kodiak if your interested. Jim th-cam.com/video/9AzMDxxi-sg/w-d-xo.html
Buy a quiet Honda generator and custom install it into the vehicle run gas from tank with a small pump mount underneath vehicle or under hood. Wire power to air-conditioning system
@@0011-b2s Generators installed in boats or motor homes only go halfway down into the tank, some 3/4 of the way but none use the supply that would allow the generator to run your tank dry. You may want to be able to drive your RV or boat to a fuel source.
Thanks for making this video. I've always wondered about running the AC unit and the Microwave at the same time. How long will those 2 units run on batteries ?
Yes in this test the air conditioner is running pretty much full-time. The closer temperature you have it set to the outside temperature the longer it will run. I'm going to do another test on this using the air conditioner to maintain a temperature 5 to 10 degrees colder than the outside temperature to test exactly that. Thanks for the question and happy camping.. jim
The difference between the different readings could be the loss in the writing. Most of the wires are not that big. They read about the same after you turned off the AC. That makes me think that it was loss in the wires. Larger wires would not have gotten as hot and the 2 would have read about the same.
How long will two 100 Ah, 12v liPo batteries run an AC? Oh my. Bawahhh ha ha! Not long enough. An Hour and a half ain't shit when you need A/C. Lead acid batteries wouldn't last more than half that time and I'm sure you don't know why but it don't matter. It was an honest demo, I got to give you that. I really shouldn't comment more. Best wishes.
1000 watts an hour requires 100 amp hours an hour. It's the truth and I just wanted people to know it. It's very doable and I love chasing that Dragon but it can be expensive and difficult. Thanks for the comment and happy camping. Jim
You would not need to much power to run that at all. Depending on the size of the TV you could probably get away with a 500 watt pure sine wave inverter and a couple of deep cycle batteries. Jim
My rig has 12v accessory ports. i picked up a couple decent enough sine wave inverters to run our very similar TV setup. very easy setup. I definatly did not calc power needs at the start but it still let me run TV all day. Be sure and check the power brick for your Firestick. My newer sticks now gobble up 15w. That's more than the 32" flat screen.
Hey Jim, un related question. I am trying to set up my little flat screen Tv in my trailer. However every time I try to connect the coaxle from TV to the amplifier for “no. Amplified TVs it blows a fuse. I’m just trying to connect the Tv to the Antenna so that I hopefully get some channel.
I have never used a amplified TV antenna but I will try to help you figure it out. I am very tech savvy. I might need some more information. Are you sure the TV is not amplified itself? What kind of booster are you using? Where is the fuse that keeps blowing located? Is the fuse the power source for the booster? Is the antenna booster the one that came with the RV or is it an aftermarket booster? If so, what brand and model? Answer those questions for me and I will do my best to point you in the right direction. Thanks. Jim
I’ve purchased a van with the same set up, but with 2 Renogy 170ah batteries, solar panels and a dc2dc charger. I’ve just tested it and after a few minutes of operation, the 200 amp fuse trips, a slight “burnt” smell, and some of the wires are really hot. Do you have a video (or schematic to share) on your circuit design with wire gauge sizes, and fuses? I need to trace the wires - something’s not adding up.
What type of inverter do you have? My entire setup is basically run off 2 gauge wire. About the size of your standard battery cable under your hood. But typically I don't pull a lot of amps so that's fine for my particular set up. You may need to go larger depending on your inverter and what you're trying to run.
@@helenzane4617 thanks for clarifying. My autocorrect must have gotten me. I have closer to a 1/0 gauge wire in my RV. It's more than capable of handling a little over 2,000 Watts. But I have a 3000 watt inverter inside but don't use it for any more than 2000 watt draw. You will probably need 3 / 0 wiring if you plan on running 3000 watt continuously for a long period of time.
fullmoonadventureclub I’m probably going to go with a 250 amp fuse with 3/0 AWG or a 300 amp fuse with 4/0 AWG. It seems like your cutting it close with 1 AWG. The amp flow chart I work worth suggests that size wire would only safely support 150 amps.
Hey Jim, Great job to you and your friends on the new channel, I followed you from Four Seasons. I have a question about what size cables I should use on the 2 new Greenlife 100ah Batteries to set up in parallel on my travel trailer Thanks and keep up the GREAT work. Kevin
Thank you Kevin. I use 2 gauge 2 AWG battery cable. Some people prefer 2 AWG welding cable but my wire is pretty standard and holds up to anything I throw at it with a 2000 watt inverter. If you are running a 3000 watt inverter you may want to go up a size or two. I hope that helps. Take care and happy camping. Jim
We install all day long 12v 7000 BTU units able to run continuously 4 hours on a single MPS 125ah (31 series battery only weighting 28 lbs ), and over 7 hours at night in Econo mode, the units must be ultra efficient 3phase AC low voltage compressors, some are operating on just 7v 3Ph through a DC /AC Frequency drive 12v DC in 7 to 3 V AC3PH out. then the components like fans must be also Permanent magnet equipped with ceramic bearings to achieve ultra efficient result.. any equipment that delivers cold will also delivers heat, so both heat exchangers are key for success, installing a condenser under the vehicle is sometime not as ideal, heat from the road, exhaust and engine could reduce drastically the efficiency of the unit, then because of design painting a roof top unit in black could also hurt the heat exchange. Lithium phosphate is a big improvement over conventional AGM acid batteries, half the weight twice the capacity, 10 times longer life. Imagine the cables needed to run a 100amp unit, compared to wires on a 27.8amp.. charging system?
They usually do not drop voltage until they are almost empty. However, they can get down to around 12.6 volts after they are half way through their cycle. It also depends on wire size and load. This test was using wire that was a gauge too small and running a heavy load so there are some variables involved. I hope that helps. Thank you for the question and happy camping. Jim
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The different voltage is the voltage drop on your wires into the inverter. You are losing almost 1 volt at 1200 watts, due to the resistance of your cables. Your cables should be resized to a much larger gauge wire and you will drop less and have more usable power from your batteries before the alarm sounds.
You helpful solar guys rock always helping us.
Surely the cables that come with the inverter should be sufficient gauge to run the inverter?
Not nessa celery.
@@davidjames1684 Is that supposed to be a pun or joke? I can't say I get it.
@Peyton mac - I was responding to the comment about the included "cables" being large enough. I was basically saying not necessarily. For very heavy loads, going to even thicker wires can be better, however, sometimes resistance in wires can be used to your advantage. For example, if your inverter normally shuts off at 10.5V (per 12V of battery), having not so thick DC input wires and a heavy load would likely make it detect low voltage when the battery is actually quite a bit higher, thus stopping when the batteries are at a shallower depth of discharge (like perhaps they were really at 11V under load but the inverter "saw" 10.5V and shut down). That might be desirable for some people that don't like to drain their batteries too low between charges.
This was a very good test. I just ordered two Lithium batteries too and planning to run 13K BTU Dometic roof mount AC as well. I have an underhood generator with 280A capacity so I am looking to add 2 more Lithiums in parallel and when the voltage goes down below 12.5 the engine will start automatically to recharge -- hoping it would be about 3 hours at a time. So during really hot nights, the engine will turn on 2.5 times for a good night sleep ... fingers crossed.
have you done this yet?
Cool test! Nice equipment. I've played with this as well, but using even cheaper inverter (Microsolar 2000/4000w) and two GC5 lead batts but on a smaller Colman Power Saver 11k AC. What I found is once the compressor is on, you can run quite a while steady state everything on, mine draws quite a bit less than yours but the startup power is confirmed 3x startup to get the compressor running. So, when your batts are lower, when your AC cycles off after running for awhile due to normal thermostatic control, the batts dont have enough power left to restart the compressor. I measured 7amp full run, but 27amp startup due to compressor. That's 3000watt startup surge. On the batts that something like 300amp startup draw when normal run is around 52amp. Have to be careful. Now, usually you will run your AC just to cool down the camper as cold as you can get then turn it off.. that's what I do anyway. Have fun!
Thank you for sharing all that info with us. Always nice to hear about other setups and how they run. Take care and happy camping. Jim
This is exactly why they need to bring inverter Air-conditioning technology to the RV world.. like 4.5 amp stuff..super high efficiency with heat pumps that perform at extremely low temps..run all day on solar
Damian DeLapp there is one company making one inverter drive unit. Google inverter rv ac I found it... but hanging a mini split off the vehicle isn’t a big deal...
That voltage difference is just losses in the cables. That inverter was gobbling well over 100A. Both meters did show correct value, difference is because they measure different points in the system.
That what I was thinking too. I connected an inverter at a different location in the circuitry than directly to the battery and I was getting low voltage alarms all the time. When I changed things it made a lot of difference.
Great to see someone finally executed this test. The never ending barrage of RV forum blow-hards who constantly claim knowledge on this (and every other topic under the sun), yet seldom actually have a real-world case clue on anything, all these time-wasters and know-it-alls often quote up to 6 hours of AC use when powered by two lithiums, so I hope they all read this and take note. Still we have to give them credit for being able to read the marketing brochures LOL
Now I do have a question and that is at what point did you (OR do you) see the AC voltage drop below 107VAC, as this is one of the recurring published minimum voltage I've seen speced by a lot of roof-top manufactures with 107VAC being the lowest suggested safe continuous voltage of a typical rooftop AC unit. Do you remember if it went under 107VAC or not?
Otherwise this proved to me more than ever how lithium is pretty much a waste of money if you instead wish to conserve power and run fans to both save money and be easier on the body by not shifting temps so often and so widely. There is also the factor of "portion of sleep portals" and how much of a benefit would only an hour of cool sleep be to anyone. And with that thought, it's going to take a good deal of time to build those batteries back up after the hour and a half drain, especially with the 200-600w that most camper roofs support.
Also with an inverter fan blowing 120F air out the exhaust port and an AC pumping out 55F air with both of them filling the cabin with the contrasting temperatures, these types of setups seem more of a Rube Goldberg setup than a practical one. But back to "portion of sleep portals" - I have found over many years in various different climates that it's better on me, especially in an RV, to keep the AC always off and just use fans, and that's even if I have a power plug handy capable of the load. But that's only if someone is an "adventure camper" and I am defining that as anybody who does anything outside and doesn't spend their entire time locked inside the box with a computer or television going.
My experience: (220aH flooded cell GC2's; 465W solar with 2000PSW inverter - full-timer going on for 2 years now, never a power plug, run occasional TV to watch a movie, 2 laptops about 6-10 hrs a day and all typical charging of phones, all accessories run off 12V. I use the 2000PSW (non-name China mfg.) only occasionally for either microwave, toaster or blender. With the flooded cells, using the 17A 12 year old microwave (150A DC draw), I consume 3% of the total charge per minute of microwave use, generally seeing a low voltage cut-out (11.1DC) occurring typically after 5-7min of microwave use. I use the microwave off the inverter about once a week, the toaster every other day and the blender a couple of times per week. I cover the entire N. American continent including C. America and primarily rely on relocating to mountains ins summer, the beach in winter.
Good luck to you and thanks for the visual on a very good curiosity satisfying experiment.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing all of that great information with us. It's always nice to hear full timer set ups. The rule of thumb for air conditioners is it they run around a thousand watts and for every thousand watts to run 1 hour you need 100 amp hours of battery. If you really want to run an air conditioner for 8 hours you need 800 usable amp hours of battery unless offset by solar. If you have a thousand watts of solar you could use less batteries but not by much. It's not impossible to run air conditioners off solar and battery power but it is costly. Thanks for the comment and happy camping. Jim
He used a 15,000btu air conditioner.... A 5,000 would be triple the time..... He also didnt have solar hooked up at the time... If you had enough solar coming into to those 2 batteries, you could get MUCH longer times..... Or you could add more batteries
I ran a 12000 btu mini split 22.5 seer rating for 8 hours on 200 amp hours and of course anything else that was on at the time lights refrigerator and that was in Louisiana heat although summer was just getting started.
How many batteries did you have and what type? I have a 9K btu pioneer mini-split with 22.5 seer, need to know the battery sizing puzzle
@@vroor32 go to will prowse he's the expert. Also that should have said 200 amp hrs. They were lifpo.
try also a soft start device that lowers your starting current required and also lowers your running current required on your AC unit. Cheers
Also lowers running current? That's awesome info I needed to hear. Thx
@@standingmannequin7911 it sends more power over shorter time.
@@standingmannequin7911 thus turning startup compressor faster efficient and drawing less amp per milk sec. But more juice in the get go
Interesting indeed! With 4 FLA 6V 450Ah (C/10) at 50% DoD, I should be able to get twice that time and a bit more. Add another 1200W solar offsetting the load and I might even be able to double that too. So maybe 6hrs. Plus that's with the AC running at 100% duty cycle (like your test). So with it running half the time, I should get 12 hours. My RV has two 12500BTU units and I'd like to run just one of them to cool a sectioned off room. We'll see...
Thanks for this!
Glad I could help. Good luck with your setup. Take care and happy camping. Jim
lol good luck bro! put a video on youube so we could see how disappointing you are going to be with the results.
dazed sw
im impressed by the low startup wattage , unless it Ramped down too quickly to register. Well done
Thanks for the share, I always wondered how long 2 batteries could run an a/c. I guess I definitely am going to stick with the generator for the a/c
Hey Chris. I need reccomendation for a generator that I can use for my AC in my van
@@Toytatu Westinghouse inverter generator 2500. It can handle The surge when the AC kicks on. It's around $500
Thank you so much for this video! I am a newbie and just bought he vintage trailer. This really opened up my eyes. Thank you
I really liked you video.
The big problem with lead acid batteries is the voltage sag. I have had the shore power go out when I had the AC on and 4x 12v 110ah deep cycle batteries last about 5 minutes.
I just upped my solar to 2860 Watts and am currently building a 200AH 24v lithium battery bank (for this year, doubling it next year) and I hope to be able to run the AC for about 10 hours a day (it gets to 120f in my part of Arizona) but I won't know until I actually test it this summer.
Eventually I am going to build "Carbon Enhanced Lead Acid" and finally give building "Solid State Graphene" batteries a test.
That sounds like a sweet system. Let me know how the graphene batteries go. Thanks for sharing with us and happy camping. Jim
Hello there, me and husband are new to the Rv life we also live in Arizona currently staying in casa grande and we trying to save $ and make the best of using our Rv if you can contact me I would to ask questions about using batteries to power our ac
Very good informative video on my freightliner cascadia I have an apu system called parksmart and it works with 4 agm batteries to run the a/c on this system it woll drain the batteries in about 9 to 11 hours not a roof top a/ c of course and about 34 hours on the fuel fired hydronic heater plus hotel load
Glad you plan to do the actual test with pv's included. Best sun is when ac needed the most. PV's going to produce lots of current when needed the most for this purpose. Also, price of lifepo4 batteries has decreased significantly and are now at around $300 per not $1200 at present. So your could add 4 for $1200 or 8 for $2400. 8 would probably run all night as demand is lower with no sun-heat-load while it's dark. Things are changing so fast in the solar world so as to make money comparisons irrelevant almost immediately. Plus now you can buy four 3.2 volt prismatic lifepo4 batteries and a bms for even less than $300 and build yourself. In fact you can purchase four lifepo4 prismatic batteries at 3.2 volt and 304 ah for less than $800 and produce 3890 watts for 2/3 of what you paid for the one battery. Each of your batteries are only capable of 1280 watts per. In time you'll be able to afford much more for much less and go all solar, all the time.
I have a similar AC and 720AH of LFP battery bank in my RV. I was hoping to be able to run the AC for a few hours at night in far north Australia, but alas that just means I have little possibility of fully recharging battery (with my 1320watt solar) to 90% during the next day. I actually need more solar to do this rather than more battery, despite it being very sunny. Yes it is difficult to run AC in an RV after the sun goes down - perhaps a home style split system AC would be more efficient than the typical slim rooftop oem AC like the Dometic
Thanks for sharing your setup with us. It sounds like a pretty nice setup. In my testing i found that my Dometic Blizzard Nxt 15000 btu Ac draws 1500 watts while a small 5000 btu window unit designed for a house draws under 500 watts. I'm not sure if a unit that small would keep up with the heat of your RV but it would keep you plenty cool if you were sitting in front of it. Your system could definitely handle that load a lot easier and for longer. Let us know what solutions you come up with. We would all like to hear about it. Thank you for the comment and happy camping. Jim
Exactly why is there 18 dislikes? I thought the video was great and very informative.
Thanks. I appreciate the comment. Take care and happy camping. Jim
It is only around 2%, some will probably be mistakes, most of that 2% just reflect that there are some not very nice or stupid people in the world.
The dislike might be accidental, but is demonstration is how to quickly ruin your lithium battery's. So he is discharging them at 1 c or 100 amps with out checking the manufactures website it is probably right at their max rating. If you look at the charts charging and discharging at high currents you really reduce your life of battery's.
But to each his own.
If you want to see someone who actually understands solar and setups, see will prowess
He didn't know what size AC he was running
@@natestube2 It looks like I have more to learn before I go ruining a solar setup.
Thanks for the info. Have been wondering the same for awhile, but didn't want to ruin equipment testing.
Thank you, that gives me some perspective on my battery life.
My pleasure. Take care. Jim
Perfect. Want to get a shipping container for storage and use a solar/battery power system to run an RV style AC unit to keep the temp at 80 degrees.
1.5 hours. Nice. Thanks!
Actually, you may want to check out this new video where i did the same test using different batteries and an easy start system.th-cam.com/video/gpE8kToJthc/w-d-xo.html
For three grand I would buy a generator although that type of batteries would be nice ! Thanks for the video
I use to run my AC on 8 golf cart batteries in my RV with 3k step wave inverter.
I have a Xantrex 2000 XC and Xantrex display has the correct voltage. Its monitoring the battery output voltage it is receiving. You may also consider adding in the time to recharge your batteries; that is test time from full battery back to time of full battery.
My AC takes about 1600 watts to run on low, but let’s consider a simpler example. Lets say you put a Kenmore Energy efficient 5200 btu window AC in your RV. That requires only 475 cooling watts (WAY SMALLER then my AC). Given the Xantrex 2000 is 87% efficient and needs about 2.1 Amps for itself (fans etc), you will likely draw nearly 45 Amps at the battery.
Lets say your batteries are full and you want to have enough solar to run your AC when its sunny only, then you need a charge controller that can support at least - lets say - 50 Amps at least. To get the panels to provide 45 amps continuous you need at least about 800 watts worth of solar panel all wired for nearly no loss; not the 3-10% loss many RVs are wired for. And your panels have to be optimally angled all day. So for my RV’s AC I need solar panels and charge controller on order of 3 times that size.
I have seen my 680 watts of ground based solar panels that gets optimal lighting passed thru the Zamp 60 Amp controller hit peaks of 41.5A and readily maintaining 38Amps continuously. So i could run the Kenmore on my solar while draining about 7amps additionally from the batteries. My 4-Trojan 6Volt batteries could sustain that for the day easily, but I’d be falling behind.
In short, I’m not gonna put a window AC in my RV. I go to high altitude where I don’t NEED AC cuz if you need AC you likely need it at night and batteries won’t do it and it depends on how hot it is. Assuming the Kenmore AC running 2/3s of the time at night my 4 Trojans would last about 8 hrs til 50% battery level. Then you’d need to recharge while the day is really hot. At maximum recommended charge rate per Trojan for my setup I would need about 1 kilowatt of panels to get my batteries back to full charge in 5 hrs - without the AC.
TheDesert IsPatient That is some great information to have. Thanks so much for sharing that with all of us. I'm going to be covering a lot of that information in my next video. I can use your information as a reference point to make sure that I'm on point with my research. But that sounds exactly right to me. Thanks again for the awesome comment. Take care and happy camping. Jim
Thanks for the video,
What do use to charge batteries?
Did you get around to posting a video on practical off-grid RVing? Didn't find a link or the video but may have missed it in all the awesome looking content.
My air conditioner runs about 3 hours with a 24 volt 85 A/h lithium battery. Power consumption is 26/28 amps. Chinese Home Mobile Air Conditioner 6000 Btu. And much more Chinese inverter. With 15000 BTU the consumption is about 70 amps. This is normal.
Thank you for the vid.
In my experience Batteries, Imp]p( the dysfunctional manufactures of the appliances need to step it up and make appliances such as A/C last for longer then 12mo.
Soft start and I got Battle Born lithium batteries. Runs about 20 min with solar. Woohoo! Battle Born has a battery management system
With right setup you can run 24/7. I have a van with a split unit that can run continuous on batteries and solar.
1500watts? dude you can get some cool mini splits that only pull about 800 - 1000watts.
Though i guess this is a van channel which I know nothing about, so I'm not sure how it would be mounted, but as far as power draw is concerned, I think it's better to have mini splits in each cool area. So you can just have the 800 watts ac going in the bedroom or workroom, while the rest of the space can be hot.
Another advantage with mini splits, most models allow you to run only one zone at a time, taking less power because the compressor runs at partial power. Example, in the evening, after solar power drops off, you could cool the bedroom area only, using maybe 500 watts. That lower draw could allow you to keep the bedroom cool until outside temperatures drop enough that the AC is no longer needed.
There are several problems with using a mini split on an RV. The size, weight and location of the condenser as well as the fact that you will need a 220 volt system to get to the. 800 watt rated one ton unit. I have tried to figure out how I could mount the condenser on the tongue of the trailer and use a mini split with a cartridge type air handler. If you know of one that would work. Please let me know..
good video. thanks for doing the experiment. I'm not an RV but my conclusion is it might be best to do without AC if you are off grid.
Absolutely. If you can do without AC it's one of the biggest power drives you can have. Jim
I agree with your conclusion go somewhere cool when it is hot and somewhere warm when it is cold.
However there is always going to be that person who wants to have an AC, no matter what.
I would like to have one for intermittent use during the day running primarily off the solar panels.
Just to keep the RV cool at peak hot time of the day.
Although I would suspect that a much better layer of insulation would be far more cost efficient.
@@shawnr771 we have been RV full timing for the last week in Nevada and Utah and I'm here to tell you that a generator is the way to go if you want AC. Jim
@@fullmoonadventureclub I am going to say at this point in time yes.
As solar panels and batteries get more efficient this might change.
@@shawnr771 I am with you on that point. Constantly working solar options. I'm getting closer but the tech is pricey for no gas AC. I will share the journey with all of you as I go. Thanks again for watching and happy camping. Jim
A quiet Honda gives off 2000 watts of AC power that will run your Ac all night long!😀
But it will never start it
@@natestube2 I have been running a 12000 BTU rooftop air on a toyhauler for the last 5 summers, 24/7 for 2 months straight on a honda 2000. No issues. Average daily temp: 95 degrees f. (Ranges from 85 - 115) Sometimes the crappy roof AC can't keep up, but the Honda has no prob.
@@natestube2 add a soft start is what I am told...
The new Honda bumped up to 2200 watts, probably to give a little buffer here.
Looking to do this with AGM batteries. Any ideas on number of batteries, cost and other micselaneous appliaces needed?
Great video.. Is there a reason why Green Life is so much more expensive than other similar sized batteries like Battleborn, Renogy or Kilovault, etc?
Green life will be very expensive, prepare yourself.
Hello Jim,
Very nice video on this subject!
Being from AZ, getting rid of excess heat is always a struggle here in the Summer.
That said, a few points to review & ponder; During your test, what was the outside temp.? This is important to see how much excess heat GAIN you also need to overcome.
Of course during this test, you are starting from ground zero, no a/c running for some time with everything heated up.
My contention on this would be to start off using the ac line power or generator to do the initial cool off to desired temperature, then switch to the batteries and see how long the battery/inverter system could maintain your desired/cooled off environment! I suspect in doing this, you would find that instead of only 1.5 hours that you might find your system would maintain perhaps 6 to 8 hours; battery only!
Then you could do part 3 & add in the solar panels.
Sounds like a good retest to me.
Let me know the results...
Thanks, John, Tucson
Great idea. I would also add a soft start to the ac system and try it then. Im pretty sure its doable with 4 battleborn batteries this way.
@Daniel S Most cars are about 1ton (12000Btu). SUV can range upwards of 20000 to 40000 Btu (1.5-3.0 ton).
Remember that in an RV you have more windows (heat gain) & therefore less insulation too where those windows are.
I usually don't comment. But this is a good video. Thank you.
I have a standard RV 8ft fridge, but also 2 battery pack that's connected to a solar panel (and has an inverter). How long will my batteries last if I only turned the fridge on, while driving in a sunny day?
The Xantrex is correct. The other display is your solar controller. No shunt on that to measure real voltage
The compressor will cycle on and off and there will be peak consumption when it turns back on. There are softstart devices that store energy to feed that peak demand reducing the strain on the batteries at startup time.
Looking into getting one of those for a video. Thanks for the recommendation and happy camping. Jim
What? I watched this just to see him shut it down? Wanted to see a boom man, makes it TH-cam worthy
what is the EER on the ac? Lets hope the RV industry demands inverter AC units for the future.
Thanks for sharing, I have a similar set up & was wondering the same thing. Great to know!
Good experiment. Better off using a 5000 btu at night for comfort and reducing you amperage foot print 2/3. or 3 hrs run time.
Indeed, but if your RV has only 12 or 15 kBTW air conditioners what do you do?
Build a small windmill that attaches to a Pole so it can be erected when camping a charge controller run that additional power to those cells. Possibly use a DC trolling motor and create a windmill that would convert wind into power!😀
I personally lived full time in my RV it's been 5 years. I've had 6 battery's 4 solar panels, a generator, and Dual 100 amp alternators, and 2 battrey isolators, charging 4 battery's. This gave me power to run quiet all night. Ran TV , PC,,lights, cooked, my Battery's always charged when I was driving or idling, or solar, when the Generator Ran the transformer charged Battery's
@@0011-b2s I was literally researching that last night. LOL. I'll stick with solar. Although, it would have been great to catch some of that Breezy night air and charge the batteries without Sun. I'm just not sure I want to erect a 20-foot tower on top of my RV every time I stop. thanks for the comment and happy camping. Jim
@@fullmoonadventureclub look up vertical wind turbines, they only need to be about 5 foot off the top of the highest point of what ever they're mounted on to be most effective.
very informative, thanks for the post!
I don't see a video about running ac off of solar only or any testing on the 12V ac from dometic. Are you working on videos for those?
Thanks so much for doing this!! Look forward to the next video:)
alexzanderarmstrong You are very welcome. You were the inspiration for this video. So keep the questions coming and I'll try to keep answering them. Take care and happy camping. Jim
Hi, I tried to run the Dometic Blizzard NXT with the Xantrex Freedom Xi 2000 inverter, but couldn‘t start the compressor due to the high surge, I guess. Have you a hint for me? Did you use a soft start device in your installation? I assume that Xantrex X2000 and Xi 2000 are quite similar.
I do have a soft start installed in my system. However, if I remember correctly my Xantrex 2000 watt inverter was able to start the Dometic NXT without the soft start. Are you sure your wiring is big enough and that your batteries have a large enough capacity?
How’d you connect the inverter to the fuse panel?
Inquiring minds want to know ✌🏻
Thanks for this test. I’m wondering if it was set on 72 and was able to cycle normally, any guess how much longer it will last? Also, what wattage was your inverter, too lazy yo go back and watch again.
1.5 hours for 15,000 BTU using a pair of 12V 100 Ah LiFePO4 batteries. If I used all 8 of my used but very good 6V 230Ah AGM batteries configured as 12V 460Ah usable (down to 50%), I would probably get something like 3 to 3.5 hours. My batteries are $2000 cheaper too. If you had a 2KW (140A) alternator, you could run that AC for a long time.
What about redodo batteries, Amazon $619 for 200 amp hours? I think they have a 5 year warranty and 10 year or more lifespan? I’m thinking of a 3,000 watt Renogy inverter and 2-3 x 200 amp hours. I’m guess 600 amp hours would run the AC all night if it was cycling. Most campers come with 200 watts solar, I want to add a pug in panel of 200 watts. Wondering if it was during the day, stated out full charge and the sun was out, how long would 400 watts coming in, extend the run time?
This video probably answered it, but just making sure. Can I get a victron 2000 watt inverter charger and will that power a dometic brisk air 2 13,500 AC unit through shore power or generator given the generator is 2000 watts also?
Yes you can. However the air conditioner is about all you'll be able to run using a 2000 watt inverter.
That's fine. Maybe a little help charging the batteries on top of the AC is all were looking for.
Thank you for this informative video!
You had a Kodiak unit (which I purchased) what about using that and two deep cycle 24 batteries. The Kodiak plugs right into the 30 amp on the trailer. Do you think it’s possible to chain all those together? Also I have a solar plug on the side will that keep some charging happening while they are being used? Whew!!!! That’s a lot of stuff happening.
Thank you for the question. It is very possible to add two deep cycle batteries directly to the Kodiac with solar. The kodiac will charge and use the added batteries automatically using the RED and Black terminals on the side. Be careful not to allow the RED and Black terminals to touch or become shorted as it will damage the Kodiac so be careful while connecting the batteries to them. The solar on the Kodiac is just plug and go so it should be pretty straight forward but you may need an adapter if the panels are not from Inergy. I hope that helps/ Take care and happy camping. Jim
I'm strongly considering going solar and offgrid in a camper trailer for a few months or longer. I haven't found a great resource on where I can ensure that I can run a system on Solar entirely- which would be the ideal. I'd be okay with going expensive on things, but I'd want to be able to run an AC during the night in summer climates. Can I just get like a 1500 watt solar panel and an AC like in your video? Would that not run itself while there sunlight without much if any draw from the batteries? or am I missing something there? Additionally- have you seen anyone with a full on tesla power wall or something in the RV so they have all the power they'd ever need- solar to recharge during the day, etc? Thank you!!
Question; I have a camper that’s new with 190 watts solar, 30 amp charge controller. I’m installing 2 x 230 amp hour LifePO4 batteries, 3,000 watt pure sine wave inverter. I have the camper plugged in, and the solar is charging but it seems it will take forever to charge it? Thanks
Thanks for the test.
Where can Softstart modules be purchased and what is a good brand?
The easy start 364 is what I have and recommend. Here is the link. th-cam.com/video/zwI_GmtNdZQ/w-d-xo.html
@@fullmoonadventureclub Thanks
What fuse are you using from the battery to the xantrax inverter? 300A or 400A?
I have a 200 amp reset-able fuse by the batteries. I kept it low to be on the safe side. Jim
put in a xs ultracap battery in there with the solar and you should be able to run it all day long. great test.
How much is it?
an xs battery from xs power is just under 600.00 it will balance the batteries better and take any strong demand and help with the demand of the compressor.
@@richardbest3079 That XS AGM is WAY less amperes than a lifepo. Also only works down to about 50%. So more like 30% usable capacity of the lithiums in this video. Would be awesome, but there's just no unicorn :( (2400 amps on the battery info label for the XS Power battery is cranking amps, not capacity)
not the agm the ultra cap study ultra caps they will allow you to use more of the power coming in from your solar panels now. you use it with the batteries. Maxwell also makes them. or you can buy single cells and make your own.
Do you like the Greenlife batteries better than the Kodiak 2 generator?
Both are great. It depends on what you need them for. The kodiak has a inverter and solar capabilities built in while remaining portable. The green life batteries are for permanent installation but work well. Jim
@@fullmoonadventureclub Hotspot Energy ACDC12C Solar Air Conditioner. i Like, OLE!
I have a 120v 4000w inverter with 2 200ah lifepo4 batteries and a brand new recpro 13000 btu AC and once the compressor starts up the whole damn system shuts off. I don’t understand it.
Great review, thanks for sharing. My questions is, Is that thermostat 12-Volt and where did you get it?
The digital thermostat in the video is a Dometic thermostat that I purchased from Dometic. It is a 12-volt system and it can also be rigged up to run your furnace or multiple zones.
Great video, if you had an inverter charger that plugged into shore power, and which ran your air conditioning as you've rewired it, do you think the inverter/charger when plugged in could then handle load just fine, by bypassing the batteries? thanks!
Absolutely.
@@fullmoonadventureclub thanks so much. I am converting a sprinter at the moment and I am trying to figure out if I get the type of rooftop unit you have in the video what size inverter I'd need to run it off shore power as no amount of batteries will run it long. Just spoke with someone from AIMs inverters who told me I just have to make sure the inverter is large enough to handle load of A/C unit. Whether plugged in or not he said the inverter is only meant to supply wattage load as indicated. In other words, having an inverter plugged in to shore power doesn't up the wattage magically. So Im thinking ill run 3 12v lithiums on solar power with a 3000w inverter charger to run off batteries for small ac plugs and have rooftop unit like yours to run when connected to shore power. Based on your video it sounds like with a 3000w inverter charger plugged into shore power, ill have sufficient shore power to run a unit like yours. Does that seem right? thanks again!
@@DrBass-rk1ez yes if you're going to be running your air conditioner through the inverter I would go 3000 Watts
Hey thanks, I am in the process of installing an A/C in my campervan. I have 2 x 200 lithium battery solar 2 x 250w solar system. Gives me an indication of time, cheers from Ozzi ozzi ozzi, oi oi oi 👍🤛
If correctly installed, 200aH of lithium phosphate battery life should generate roughly 155 minutes worth of AC at 72 degrees with this specific 15,000 BTU model.
The creator of this video did not use the correct wire gauge and there appears to be a voltage drop effectively losing an addition 8% of his power output from his system.
This could be from the batteries capacity as it ages or additional inefficiency in his inverter (more than normal).
Overall, if he's projecting 110 minutes, his system is nearly 70.9% efficient given his set-up.
With the correct modifications, he could generate 42.3% more power under load.
What these vids need to talk about more is the heat ? Running 1400-1500 watts causes a lot of heat on wires and everything! I had to add fans for the batteries, solar controllers, and inverter!
I got 10 lithium and a 1400 watts of solar it works to keep my rv power up
Hi Jim, a first time ever on comments. I was looking to run air conditioning on battery power I found ya and I was impressed with your knowledge and love for what you do. This is my 3rd van build and all before I used a Honda EU300IS generator inside a closed compartment all year long. They are amazing little gen's. I would get between 3 thru 5 K hours before the rigs needed replacing.
Anyway, I'm was talked into going with 600 ah of Battle Born batteries and a DC air conditioner form Proair. Do you have any experience with Proair AC units? I'm getting between 5-6 hours on the average. I have 2 questions if you would be so kind to respond to. At what voltage should I turn off the AC, below 12 volt? Question 2: I'm using a Colman 54 quart chiller that runs on a Kool Mate Converter ( 50/60Hz/120VAC 1.6A/192VA ) and wanted to know if I went with a cheap Walmart AC fridge. ( 120VAC / 60 Hz / 0.80A / or 0.64 kWh/ 24h ) Would I use less power on a daily use?
No matter about the response, I really enjoy your channel and keep doing what you love. Thanks again for all you have done for the camping pep's...……. Buzz
I do not have any experience wit proair AC units but at 5 to 6 hours I would say you are doing pretty good. The refrigerator question would best figured out with a cheap watt meter. record the power usage in a day using the cooler to figure out how much amps or watts it used and then compare it to the numbers on the Walmart fridge. A compressor fridge only runs during compressor cycles so it may last longer but I can't say for sure without testing it. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for watching. Jim
Would you like to perform a test with our batteries?
Xcentric Lithium I would like too
I have a travel trailer and need batteries. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.
Thx for sharing your work.
I have a 3000 watt pure sine inverter with a 24 volt system and 30 100w batterys why will it not charge my 2021 chevy bolt ev
Fascinating.
Great test video!
Just think if you had a couple K worth of solar panels charging at the same time! Most people wanting to do this would set up 4 - 6 volt AGMs (since they can go to almost 100% drain) set up in series - parallel 12V.
AGMs can go to almost 100% drain? Where are you getting that information? I have 4 AGMs that have serious issues now, thanks to them getting run down too many times (our auto-gen start wasn't working properly on multiple occasions, and the batteries went way too low). I'm not saying you're incorrect -- but for us, the AGMs didn't seem to hold up well to the abuse of running them too low.
Can you charge your RV batteries from the alternator on your tow vehicle (TV) - by connecting them to the TV battery terminals? Can you just keep the TV idling and with the alternator producing 100 amps or more at 14 volts keep a load of 1400 watts for your AC running full time?
I'm afraid not. While connecting jumper cables to your tow vehicles battery terminals would give some current to the RV it would not be enough to sustain much. Certainly not 1400 Watts. You're tow vehicle would probably have to be revved quite high in order to produce the maximum voltage of the alternator. At idle your alternator doesn't produce all that much power. It would also drastically shorten the lifespan of your alternator on your tow vehicle and battery. There would also be a safety issue when it comes to having jumper cables unattended. If they were to slip off and ground out something or short your battery you'd be looking at a fire. Your best bet is going to be solar panels an extra battery or perhaps a small Honda inverter generator. I hope that helps. Thanks for watching and happy camping. Jim
Hi Jim - love your new channel. I'm having the Xantrex Freedom 2000w inverter/charger installed in my TT. I have two 6v golf cart batteries. Can I run my AC with these batteries? The trailer is a 2015.
The Xantrex inverter would probably be fine but the batteries would not. Lead acid batteries just won't handle that much power draw without damage. You would need a very large battery bank for the air conditioner. Thanks for watching and happy camping. Jim
Thanks Jim!
Hey Jim,
Thanks for the great info
Im an investigator in the Central Valley of CA., and Im trying to cool the interior of a small SUV for 6-9 hours. Thinking about a zero-breeze with a deep cycle. Any suggestions for other options? Solar roof panels, other batteries?
You may want to consider The Kodiak solar generator Apex and a zero breeze. The kodiak can be charged with the car or with solar on the roof. It has a inverter for the zero breeze and is portable at 25 pounds. Watch a review of it on my channel to see if that would work for you. It's on presale for 700 dollars off with my code Adventure so not a bad deal. Otherwise I would say you will need solar panels, a lithium battery preferably, and whatever inverter the zero breeze requires. I hope that helps.Here is a link to the Kodiak if your interested. Jim th-cam.com/video/9AzMDxxi-sg/w-d-xo.html
Buy a quiet Honda generator and custom install it into the vehicle run gas from tank with a small pump mount underneath vehicle or under hood. Wire power to air-conditioning system
@@0011-b2s Generators installed in boats or motor homes only go halfway down into the tank, some 3/4 of the way but none use the supply that would allow the generator to run your tank dry. You may want to be able to drive your RV or boat to a fuel source.
Great job.
Cool video
Great test.
What is the cost of the white air conditioner unit that was on the ceiling?
Ty
Thanks for making this video. I've always wondered about running the AC unit and the Microwave at the same time. How long will those 2 units run on batteries ?
Thank you,but I set my home air at 77to78 degree in Florida and it works fine for me. Would that work for a while?
Yes in this test the air conditioner is running pretty much full-time. The closer temperature you have it set to the outside temperature the longer it will run. I'm going to do another test on this using the air conditioner to maintain a temperature 5 to 10 degrees colder than the outside temperature to test exactly that. Thanks for the question and happy camping.. jim
very helpful thanks.
The difference between the different readings could be the loss in the writing. Most of the wires are not that big. They read about the same after you turned off the AC. That makes me think that it was loss in the wires. Larger wires would not have gotten as hot and the 2 would have read about the same.
THANK YOU , GOING TO TRY IT WITH 4 12V 100 AGM / LET YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS
THE SOLAR MAN
How'd it go? I have a similar setup coming but didn't know if I should add more batteries.
How long will two 100 Ah, 12v liPo batteries run an AC? Oh my. Bawahhh ha ha! Not long enough. An Hour and a half ain't shit when you need A/C. Lead acid batteries wouldn't last more than half that time and I'm sure you don't know why but it don't matter. It was an honest demo, I got to give you that. I really shouldn't comment more. Best wishes.
1000 watts an hour requires 100 amp hours an hour. It's the truth and I just wanted people to know it. It's very doable and I love chasing that Dragon but it can be expensive and difficult. Thanks for the comment and happy camping. Jim
What can I do for just the Ac plug to work for a small tv! Or two and a fire rv stick?
You would not need to much power to run that at all. Depending on the size of the TV you could probably get away with a 500 watt pure sine wave inverter and a couple of deep cycle batteries. Jim
My rig has 12v accessory ports. i picked up a couple decent enough sine wave inverters to run our very similar TV setup. very easy setup. I definatly did not calc power needs at the start but it still let me run TV all day.
Be sure and check the power brick for your Firestick. My newer sticks now gobble up 15w. That's more than the 32" flat screen.
Hey Jim, un related question. I am trying to set up my little flat screen Tv in my trailer. However every time I try to connect the coaxle from TV to the amplifier for “no. Amplified TVs it blows a fuse. I’m just trying to connect the Tv to the Antenna so that I hopefully get some channel.
I have never used a amplified TV antenna but I will try to help you figure it out. I am very tech savvy. I might need some more information. Are you sure the TV is not amplified itself? What kind of booster are you using? Where is the fuse that keeps blowing located? Is the fuse the power source for the booster? Is the antenna booster the one that came with the RV or is it an aftermarket booster? If so, what brand and model? Answer those questions for me and I will do my best to point you in the right direction. Thanks. Jim
SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THE TV GROUND and RV ground are different due to maybe the inverter drawing a lot of current or a ground like lose wire somewhere
I’ve purchased a van with the same set up, but with 2 Renogy 170ah batteries, solar panels and a dc2dc charger. I’ve just tested it and after a few minutes of operation, the 200 amp fuse trips, a slight “burnt” smell, and some of the wires are really hot. Do you have a video (or schematic to share) on your circuit design with wire gauge sizes, and fuses? I need to trace the wires - something’s not adding up.
What type of inverter do you have? My entire setup is basically run off 2 gauge wire. About the size of your standard battery cable under your hood. But typically I don't pull a lot of amps so that's fine for my particular set up. You may need to go larger depending on your inverter and what you're trying to run.
fullmoonadventureclub Whoa, you mean 2/0 AWG, not 2 AWG? 2 would be too small. I have a 2000 watt inverter.
@@helenzane4617 thanks for clarifying. My autocorrect must have gotten me. I have closer to a 1/0 gauge wire in my RV. It's more than capable of handling a little over 2,000 Watts. But I have a 3000 watt inverter inside but don't use it for any more than 2000 watt draw. You will probably need 3 / 0 wiring if you plan on running 3000 watt continuously for a long period of time.
fullmoonadventureclub I’m probably going to go with a 250 amp fuse with 3/0 AWG or a 300 amp fuse with 4/0 AWG. It seems like your cutting it close with 1 AWG. The amp flow chart I work worth suggests that size wire would only safely support 150 amps.
@@helenzane4617 the wiring was put in for a much smaller system years ago. I'm going to have to upgrade my wiring soon.
Hey Jim, Great job to you and your friends on the new channel, I followed you from Four Seasons. I have a question about what size cables I should use on the 2 new Greenlife 100ah Batteries to set up in parallel on my travel trailer
Thanks and keep up the GREAT work. Kevin
Thank you Kevin. I use 2 gauge 2 AWG battery cable. Some people prefer 2 AWG welding cable but my wire is pretty standard and holds up to anything I throw at it with a 2000 watt inverter. If you are running a 3000 watt inverter you may want to go up a size or two. I hope that helps. Take care and happy camping. Jim
Thanks Jim
I want 4 of those LiPo batteries to run a 7k BTU split AC in my semi truck made by Dometic ... Wonder how they would do...
diesel generator and be done.....
Did u ever get a good answer to this ?
That's insane wow ⚡⚡⚡⚡
We install all day long 12v 7000 BTU units able to run continuously 4 hours on a single MPS 125ah (31 series battery only weighting 28 lbs ), and over 7 hours at night in Econo mode, the units must be ultra efficient 3phase AC low voltage compressors, some are operating on just 7v 3Ph through a DC /AC Frequency drive 12v DC in 7 to 3 V AC3PH out. then the components like fans must be also Permanent magnet equipped with ceramic bearings to achieve ultra efficient result..
any equipment that delivers cold will also delivers heat, so both heat exchangers are key for success, installing a condenser under the vehicle is sometime not as ideal, heat from the road, exhaust and engine could reduce drastically the efficiency of the unit, then because of design painting a roof top unit in black could also hurt the heat exchange. Lithium phosphate is a big improvement over conventional AGM acid batteries, half the weight twice the capacity, 10 times longer life. Imagine the cables needed to run a 100amp unit, compared to wires on a 27.8amp.. charging system?
get a window ac 400 watts,and run for log hours these rv acs suck 1800watts.
Exactly! Hang a blanket in front of sleeping area and just cool that spot.
1.how much car ac cost
how long a car ac run on buttery 30A thanks
I thought that Lithium batteries are not supposed to drop voltage from 13.7 till like 5% life? why the constant drop of voltage?
They usually do not drop voltage until they are almost empty. However, they can get down to around 12.6 volts after they are half way through their cycle. It also depends on wire size and load. This test was using wire that was a gauge too small and running a heavy load so there are some variables involved. I hope that helps. Thank you for the question and happy camping. Jim
@@fullmoonadventureclub thanks. Just learning all of this. Wife and I pickup our first Rv, a Thor Delano, next Saturday.
Hello, good info Jim I have a question I have 8 lead 240AH batteries. How long you think I can power my 15.500 but AC unit for?
How are you charging at 80 amps?
hwith 3 3000 watt inverters and 10 lith batteries can i run my entire 5t wheel for all day