12-volt air conditioner - TrailManor Owner's Forum

Bill

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Join Date: Feb

Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine

Posts: 10,226

Sino Air Conditioner contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.

Here's my take

This will b a little techie. If you're not up for techie, feel free to skip it.
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Dave -

The RTX specs say " watts/ BTU @ 12Volts". What does that mean?

At 12 VDC, watts is 167 amps. That is a whopper of a current draw! But watts can't mean 167 amps of current, since the unit's fuse is only 80 amps. In fact, the spec says that the unit 's max draw is 58 amps at 12 VDC. This means that the max electrical power used is 58 X 12 = 696 watts from the power supply, not watts. And running 58 amps through an 80-amp fuse is a reasonable number, so I tend to believe it.

At the same time, it is worth noting that Dometic also offers several 13,500 BTU RV rooftop air conditioners, operating from AC power, for about $-. These units provides twice as much cooling as the RTX (13,500 BTU vs BTU), for laboutn half the cost - about $ lower cost.

So the "big difference", the "new technology", is that the RTX unit operates directly from 12 volts DC, while an ordinary Dometic RV air conditioner operates from 120 volts AC. This might be useful if you always operate solely from solar and batteries. On the other hand, you could buy a -watt Renogy pure-sine power inverter for about $400, run the ordinary RV air conditioner from 12 volts, and save several hundred dollars. You could run the A/C on LOW COOL and get similar cooling capacity at a bit lower power consumption, or on HIGH COOL to get twice as much cooling at higher power consumption. Your choice.

The bottom line is that electrical watts are not the same as thermal (cooling) watts. Dometic's description is poorly written and confusing at best, and I am not sure where they are trying to go with this product. It is definitely an interesting device - thanks for flagging it to us, Dave. For TM use, though, I see no advantage in the RTX, and substantial added cost. According to the write-up, Dometic's target audience for the RTX is long-haul trucks, where it might be worthwhile. I find it interesting, though, that most long haul trucks have 24-volt or even 48-volt electrical systems, not 12 volts.

Bill

QS (aka SL)
Ford F-150 4WD 5.0L
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__________________ QS (aka SL) Ford F-150 4WD 5.0L

Yeah sorry no AC is for poor people. I only sweat my nuts off on the lake. Even the pieces of shit I drive all have ice cold AC. I have a back wall AC in my CUCV that will make ice cubes. Life is too short.

So I have two vehicle that sucked to get AC in due to compressor mounting. An 8.1 swapped square body. Only the van accessory mounts work and they are very rare. Managed to score one after looking for months.

The other was my CUCV that was 24v with two alternators. Ended up going 12v and using an A6 mount out of an ambulance. Sanden makes a scroll drop in with the same form factor.

Both work great, I'd highly recommend trying at all costs to package a compressor however possible. If not then maybe cross the bridge with an electric but I don't think a 12v will do what you think it will. I'd opt for a 120v with a small gennie before wasting money on a 12v system that doesn't do much.

For more information, please visit 12v Parking Air Conditioner.