In our van we have a Rixen hydronic heat system for hot water and air. For AC we use Cruise-&-Comfort 12v system. The Rixen system works very well at high altitude and sea level. We will be testing the AC system this summer. I calculated if you run the AC system for 3 hours at 40 amps draw will drain 120Ah. Important to size your system for the typical needs. Our insulation is, thinsulate with EZ cool air gap on ceiling, and ceramic coating on all windows.
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- the C&C system we have is : HD-12L Mobile 12 Volt DC Air Conditioner split system. 8k
- Fan system - maxxair as far forward as possible
- Tern Overland roof hatch
- Windows - AMA half sliders on driver and passenger
- 200 watts of solar. 2 - 100W renogy panels.
Just started my C&C install. Mounted the condenser where the spare tire was. (Spare is now mounted on a rear door tire rack and ladder combo for aluminess). I set the condenser at 20Deg angle, the minimum is 15 deg. Used 3/16" aluminum stock and bent it to the correct angle. Attached to van with 5/16" bolts and Rivnuts. Took a little while to make sure I could route the refrigerant lines up to the evaporator, but will work. Overall took me two half days to complete the install. I will put some metal screen in front of the condenser to stop any road debris from damaging the heat exchanger fins.
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Finished my install of Cruise&Comfort 8kBTU HD-12L, 12 Volt DC Air Conditioner split system and wanted to share some pictures and performance data.
The Condenser is where the spare tire was and the evaporator/compressor is on the rear passenger side over a 22 gallon water tank. The refrigerant lines run thru the passenger side walls down to the channel/cavity behind the bumper and I cut a 2" hole behind the condenser to route the connections. Added R134a refrigerant, needed to buy a set of manifold gauges, fairly straightforward with instructions from C&C and a YouTube video from Login • Instagram.
The dual fan C&C condenser can be wired in parallel or in series with parallel being high power, louder and series being lower power and quieter. I was trying to see if I could use a relay to switch between parallel and series; luckily a huge thank you to going_boundless for letting me know I could use a DPDT switch to accomplish the same.
This weekend we took the van out to northern CA and ran into some high temps (+95) during the day. The unit does a great job of cooling the back of the van and we had it on during lunch and it was very comfortable.
As far a current draw and noise, I did a test today comparing parallel and series. The dB readings are with the rear doors close; the sound meter is about 4 feet back from the van and waist high.
Parallel: Current draw ~50 Amps, noise level 70 dB
Series: Current draw ~ 40 Amps, noise level 55 dB
It is much quieter in series >10 times quieter vs parallel, a good option if you are in an urban area or have close neighbors.
Condenser in spare tire location
Final install - testing parallel and series options
Hi @eranrund, here are some details on running the refrigerant lines from the condenser fan up to the main C&C unit in the van using the default 7 foot long refrigerant lines. No holes were drilled in the floor, we have a LWB van and the condenser is as far back under the van where spare tire was. I accessed the "channel" behind the rear bumper and run the coolant lines internally through the back of the van up through the wall cavity into the van; no floor penetration necessary. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the internal run, but the 7 feet did work with not much to spare.
- Condenser install, with protective screen (1/4" stainless steel mesh folded over once). The refrigerant lines are on the left protected with pipe insulation covered with aluminum foil tape.
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- Penetration for refrigerant line. Used a hole saw and widen with jigsaw, then protected edge with the same material used for windows. To seal the hole cut a "cover" of expanded PVC and sealed with silicone RTV ( had a tube of the red color). It is tough to keep the RTV application neat; but has held up through the past winter
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- Refrigerant lines over water tank. (BTW: Pos and Neg wires are 2AWG - ran from 70amp breaker)
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- Overall install - from last summer:
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