Aux power system

[Morella]

Well, I tested my aux power system. I was installing a small window unit air conditioner in the house, and I temporarily ran a cord out to the hearse and plugged it in. It only read 25% on my AC power meter, and I ran it for an hour or so. Batteries are still up. The A/C will have to cycle, but that shouldn't be any problem at night, in the shade. It may even get too cold in there.

If I did my math right, I have 3.2 kWH of AC available, minus whatever DC I use. I'm using 270 amp-hours of deep-cycle marine batteries, separated from the main bus by a camper diode, and also with a bus tie solenoid so that I can stop charging the batteries if my alternator is getting milked. I'm using three solar chargers to keep the batteries up while the hearse is parked for a long time.

If I can get the money together, I have plans to put an air conditioner in the hearse. The hot side will go inside the fenderwell. A fan will force air into the fenderwell from inside the hearse, and the air will exit down at the bottom of the coach, where the rust hole is now. This means that I don't have to fix the rust hole, just cut out the rusted metal and install a grille.

Heat is much easier. You just use a space heater.

-denise

[BIGEVIL]

Some of the challenges I am facing with this idea are,
1st, ducting the cold air close to the seats like the factory set up in the car. The unit can be blowing cold as winter, but if you can't feel it on your skin, it doesn't offer much relief.
2nd, When the compressor turns on, it will surge almost 50 amps, It is tough to find an inverter big enough and fast enough to repond to this much load so quickly. I really need to understand how a capacitor works for household current. 12 volt is much easier. I could use your help with that Denise. A perfect scenario would be to have a cap between the inverter and air conditioner. Not sure if it is possible.
3rd is venting the condenser. Pushing the hot air out the floor is easy, but where is that air going to come from? I you use the existing air in the car and push it out, the vacuum will pull outside air back in to the cabin. You need to duct exterior air to the condensor and then back outside so the cabin air is only recirculated. I am using a monster squirrel cage set-up to do this. It also draws a good amount of power (even though the motor is 12v).
If you are up for the drive, you are always welcome to stop by.

[Morella]

I was just planning on using this unit while the vehicle was parked, so that I could sleep in it, or go shopping and leave it going so that I wouldn't come back and find it 150 degrees in there.

The exhaust ventilation, I hadn't thought about. However, my coach has a very large access plate under the mound and above the differential, and I may be able to pull air in through it, into the fenderwell and then out, or vice versa. A pop riveter and some sheet metal can work miracles.

Getting to the vents, you're going to have a ton of duct loss, depending on where you put the unit. You may have to put in an exposed duct up in the top and have it blow down. Since I wasn't going to use mine for driving, I also hadn't thought about this.

Do you have white curtains? I leave mine closed, and use convex mirrors. It leaves some blind spots, but no more than having a casket in it, and it keeps some of the heat out.

My invertor is rated at something like 5000 watts surge, and it doesn't have a problem, at least with a small unit. To use a start cap, you would have to have a cap lead and power lead coming out of the motor. Then you connect one side of your power to both the cap and the power lead. The other wire goes from the motor to the other side of the cap. Then there will be a third lead for the ground, or other side of the power. I'm not an electrician, but I do believe that the motor has to have a set of windings for the cap. How you would connect one to the whole unit, I don't know. I'm not even sure that it would help.

I may stop by up there, but with my current to-do list, financial situation and state of health, it will be a while. Thanks for the invite. I'll be happy to share photos with you in the meantime, but all I have is my power system in, and the rust hole.

-d