Air con, is it worth it?

These guys are using 12v to power their air-con and as it's likely to be sunny with the heat, then solar and a 6 amp hookup to add some charge to your hab battery would be doable I would think.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium And aircon - bliss!

Sitting at Bilbao docks waiting to board the ferry. It’s 36 degrees outside, just switched the aircon on to cool us down. It’s cycling between 65amps and 10 amps, all working fine on 200 amp of lithium. Solar working away in the sunshine. Very happy with this.
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
 
ShiftZZ said:
Most campsite we have visited have 6 amp hookup..
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This runs on 450w so would be fine on a 6 amp supply .
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Was 38 degrees yesterday in West coast (Bordeaux region) France. Dropped to 27 overnight. I set up a cheap fan in the bedroom and along with all the windows open actually slept really well. In fact around 3 am I switched the fan off as it wasn't needed.
 
Always found that a decent fan was the best way to cool the van.

We've owned vans with roof air-cons, one big van had two. Rarely did we ever bother turning them on. Some of them make as much noise as a genny, especially at night, so not a great way to endear yourself to neighbours.

At home last year one of our campsite visitors had their air-con on, boy was it loud at 3am. Luckily for those trying to sleep through it; the site had a mysterious power cut that lasted to 8am. :D
 
ShiftZZ said:
Most campsite we have visited have 6 amp hookup..
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This had me thinking.

The Truma unit that I have pulls 4.3 amps max when running so could theoretically run on a 6 amp EHU provided that nobody is being silly about what else they are running. It also pulls 28A for 150ms on start up. I have read reports of people running this unit on a 6 amp EHU but am slightly concerned about tripping on stat up. I can run it without any issues at all on 10A EHU.

My question is.... would the start up trip the breaker? It doesn't trip the 10A one or indeed 16A. Can any wise electrickery people advise? Thanks

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Using the aircon i installed last year, this is in England with ehu, so glad I did.
 
Have been pin EHU in Prague and now in Budapest, didn'tmcheck how many amps because if it is too many it trips the switch anyway. Have to say has been an absolute necessity on a couple of evenings. Good system you can't even here it is on outside.
 
I was worried about no aircon when I bought my van and was adamant that I would have it fitted as I don’t like it hot at night.
We have been away loads in the van with daytime temperatures up to 31 and I can say I’ve not had a bad night sweating or being uncomfortable.
If I got a new van I don’t think I would have it fitted with aircon.

Did have one bit of luck with going back to have work done on the van in Germany, seems they never filled the cab aircon up from new so bonus when it was fixed and working as it was hot in Slovenia and Croatia.

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DuxDeluxe said:
This had me thinking.

The Truma unit that I have pulls 4.3 amps max when running so could theoretically run on a 6 amp EHU provided that nobody is being silly about what else they are running. It also pulls 28A for 150ms on start up. I have read reports of people running this unit on a 6 amp EHU but am slightly concerned about tripping on stat up. I can run it without any issues at all on 10A EHU.

My question is.... would the start up trip the breaker? It doesn't trip the 10A one or indeed 16A. Can any wise electrickery people advise? Thanks
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In my experience - no it does not trip a 6amp supply. You have to play a merry dance on 6amp sites anyway running 1kw ALDE heating or microwave or travel kettle or air con but never at the same time 🥺😁

To answer the question - I think it is worth it for a bit of relief and my Truma Comfort Air is reasonably quiet in "night mode. This unit has the added advantage of being a heat pump as well which is useful at times when the ALDE system is slow to heat the van up.
 
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Ninjabob said:
In my experience - no it does not trip a 6amp supply. You have to play a merry dance on 6amp sites anyway running 1kw ALDE heating or microwave or travel kettle or air con but never at the same time 🥺😁

To answer the question - I think it is worth it for a bit of relief and my Truma Comfort Air is reasonably quiet in "night mode. This unit has the added advantage of being a heat pump as well which is useful at times when the ALDE system is slow to heat the van up.
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Yep. I like the heat pump part of it. Thanks for the info. It has been a godsend the last few days and when home tomorrow we will be hooking up and sleeping in the van on the driveway
 
Our old Dometic 2200 unit would run on a 6amp hookup, we would put it on while we were out for the evening, the van would be lovely and cool when we got back, enough to switch it off for the night.
It was in the Venice area and it was in the 40°c during the day other folk couldn't stand it and were leaving heading north for some cool.
 
Mine is a truma unit with heat pump and led lights, looks good works good. Love it, my disabled daughter cannot take heat, she has difficulty regulating her body temperature. Like a previous OP said we had to leave S France for cooler climes a few years ago. For me the air con is a game changer, but I do need ehu, takes just over 4 amps not too noisy and is only used when needed.
 
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Yes……. a godsend this last few days - even if we made you sit outside 😂

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Got one and use it often...would not be with out . Removed my max fan and replaced it with our freshjet 2200....
Bugger ....it gets cold! 😁👌
 
We have a Freshjet 2200 over the rear bedroom (Burstner 7.5 mt A class) and just turn the vents forward during the day, then close the bedroom door for to cool it down before going to bed as although the noise is reasonable it is very noticeable. Will run fine on a 6 amp supply if no other mains device on. We have 700 watts of solar, a Victron 12/2000/80 inverter charger and 200 amps of Lithium. With this type of set up we can share the load between mains and batteries by setting the incoming mains current. We were on a site in France and had to set the incoming ehu to 4 amps so as not to trip it. We got asked a couple of times how we could run the air con as it was 38 c. Though mostly we don’t use ehu as long as you don’t try to turn the van into a fridge our set up copes fine.

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When we used to take our RV to Spain on a regular basis’ we found aircon a godsend. We found set On low it didn’t disturb our sleep. The campsite upgraded the EHU on request, albeit charging for the privilege
 
Does anyone every use the vent facility in your van with a truma control, that circulates fresh air from outside and it has been brilliant this weekend at RAF Fairfors ( RIAT )
 
Jim said:
Always found that a decent fan was the best way to cool the van.

We've owned vans with roof air-cons, one big van had two. Rarely did we ever bother turning them on. Some of them make as much noise as a genny, especially at night, so not a great way to endear yourself to neighbours.

At home last year one of our campsite visitors had their air-con on, boy was it loud at 3am. Luckily for those trying to sleep through it; the site had a mysterious power cut that lasted to 8am. :D
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John & Mandy website ( Gadget John) or You Tube, show how to use a large but inexpensive computer fan with extended cable. Runs almost silently. Used all night without disturbance.Extensive use whilst touring Greece & Turkey with good results. I shall purchase another on my return to the U.K. in Aug/Sept.
 
NoName said:
John & Mandy website ( Gadget John) or You Tube,
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I wouldn’t trust anything that bloke suggests . He recently drilled through some cables in his roof . He’s a liability. I wouldn’t advocate taking any advice from this man .

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