Not sure if you came here just to put Nomadic on blast, which is totally fair, but where do you live? Can you jam a thermometer into the outlet and measure the outlet temperature vs ambient?
I have a similar unit (self-imported, not branded Nomadic) and while the airflow is definitely not great, I tested it to 45 degrees at the outlet vs 78 deg ambient (33 degree differential), which is pretty fair. Depending on the relative humidity, most cars are built to cool somewhere between 35-50 degrees below ambient, while most home units are sized to provide only a 15-20 degree differential. If can get get good temperature differential at the unit, you can "help" it by adding a small fan inside the van to circulate air, which is where my unit is the weakest. Insulation helps too.
If you think the unit isn't functioning to spec, any car mechanic can run through the standard diagnostic procedure, or you can buy the $100 gauge set if you're mechanically inclined. The procedure is exactly the same, and the high and low pressure service ports even the same. Good luck.
I wanted to add input to a conversation that was lacking in clear answers from people who'd actually used the product - not to bash a particular brand. I made the decision to install one based on the limited data available at the time of my build and wish I had gone a different way. I would hope someone else with a similar experience would do the same (saving others the trouble of making their same costly mistake). I did also say that I expected the other DC units to have similar performance at best given their lower BTU claims.
So, maybe I should have added more detail about how we tested the unit to be a little more fair. Here was our methodology:
Preface: We got the unit in hopes of staying reasonably cool during warm (not ridiculously hot) days while working and charging to offset the run cost. Nights are usually not an issue, and we don't typically want to run it through the night while receiving no charge (obviously there could be exceptions, but this wasn't our primary desired use case), so it's not what we tested.
We were ALWAYS in the sun during our primary tests. We wanted to charge while using the most power hungry product onboard in our van. So, that is probably a critical factor in helping folks decide if it's worth it for them. You could potentially offset this if you had non-stationary solar panels (unlike us) and could park in the shade while still charging - or if you drive enough to stay topped off, this might not matter so much. For us, not charging while using this all day was unsustainable, and our solar array is fixed.
We tested the unit at high 70s in the sun (the circumstances we had
hoped to use it in). This proved to be an ineffective use of the unit. The temperature of the air it puts out was not what we cared about, so we didn't measure it (that data is available on the unit's display though). What we cared about was whether the unit had any meaningful impact on the overall living space temperature under those specific conditions. The answer to that question (in our rig at least) is definitively no.
The only variables we adjusted for each test were windows open/closed and roof vent on/off. So there were 4 experiments and a control (fan on max, windows open, AC off). We ran each for about an hour under similar weather conditions. The best results came from running the vent full blast with the windows open. Whether the AC was running had no impact whatsoever.
Night time usage is obviously different, when the cab is not actively warmer than the outdoors due to the sun, you will get measurable results from running the unit, but that's not a scenario we've needed it for so far, as the nights have been cool enough for us to get by without it. Also, it's pretty loud even on eco mode. It makes a high pitched whining/whirring sound. If you're a white noise person, maybe it wouldn't impact your sleep, but I like to sleep in the quiet, so if that's the reason you're getting it, that's another consideration. We may do a repeat of the exact tests we already performed in the near future but in shade and also monitor consumption.
To summarize. It's probably working to spec. It just isn't effective for the use case we had hoped it would be. If you plan to use it in the shade, at night, in a smaller rig, or in some other application that's materially different than our desired use case under our test conditions, your mileage may vary. We've just found that for our purposes, keeping the windows open and running the fan, or just working outside under the awning are more effective ways to stay cool during those times even at modest temperatures (high 70s in our tests like I mentioned) if it is sunny.
So, hopefully that's a more fair representation of the product from our experience. To close, I'm not saying nobody could get use out of it, but it didn't work as we'd hoped. It's also just a very expensive product for having such a limited range of uses in my opinion.
