Marine 12v air conditioning

[Whatta Life]

When do you expect to receive it?

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Whatta Life

When do you expect to receive it?

Part took a few days before they shipped then about one week via FedEx to Curacao. I won't be in Curacao for a few more weeks, but plan to install it shortly afterwards, if only temporarily to test. If the test is satisfactory, then I will install it more permanently. I'll track amp consumption and temp change to share with the group.
Air cooled aircon will be a blessing with the boat hauled out and that time of year can get hot as the breeze slows down.

[kiwin]

Any update?

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by kiwin

Any update?

I was just thinking about updating this post.

We have not permanently mounted it. We got to Curacao and flew to the USA/Mexico for a month. Just got back yesterday.
Our setup, we hung a clear shower curtain at the foot of our bed, so we are just trying to cool the bed area. It will drop the temperature about 1C and cut the humdity 5-8%. This seems small but is just enough to make sleeping more comfortable.

It's not strong enough to cool the whole cabin down like most would expect, or even keep the bed area cool with both of us in here, but it still makes sleeping much better in hot climates. How so you might be thinking...

Once we get in bed, we pipe the cold air discharge under the sheet or very light blanket. This cooling really makes sleeping better.

We are currently on the hard, so being air cooled is extra helpful. It uses around 100watts. You can turn the compressor up or down to vary energy consumption. I'd have to check further, but guessing about +/- 20% power variance depending on compressor RPM.

Don't bother with the thermostat. You'll want it running 100% of the time IMO. Just wire it up with a fuse to 12v.

Would I buy it again? Yes. It's amazing what a little cold air can do for comfort.

[kiwin]

I have two cabins I am thinking of cooling both have an area of a double bed plus just enough room to stand. The boat is insulated as it is 1" balsa cored sandwich composite throughout. I would guess the cabin volume at 3m³ or about 105 ft³.
My use case is just to cool a little at night in order to sleep, and especially to reduce humidity. If I can get the unit to knock off a couple of degrees C and drop humidity to sub 90% then that's enough. My boat is 24v, and the 24v unit is a bit more powerful - about 500 W of cooling or 1800 but/hr. Maybe that will be enough a small cabin?

[170122]

Not sure about your scientific experiment, but 12v self contained marine units are compact, easy to install, reliable, nice looking, they are available on 5000/7000/12000 BTU.. Google or search on you tube, 12v marine Air conditioners: no generator. No inverter needed, Ultra efficient.
The last one is a 17000 BTU unit inverter technology made to run on batteries, no starting loads, compact and quiet.

QUOTE=Bunji;3085375]U mention going from 115 volt to 12 volt dc. Many people run a 2.5 kw split system ac from a 600 - 1000 amp/hr lithium battery bank through an inverter, If u don’t have room for a split go the old box style (Rac) and use one of these, Micro-air easy start 364, would u rather be hot and sweaty or listen to a super quiet honda 22i. Funny that When I tell the Better half she makes more noise than the generator Haha[/QUOTE]

[170122]

[you should watch this video before discarting 12v units..

https://youtu.be/nFA3FNAHv_I

QUOTE=Pizzazz;3085654]My take on boat air conditioning is that 12V does not work. You can design a good 12V compressor, may be even use a large fridge compressor, you need about 400 watts for a minimum size 5,000 BTU capacity, which means around 35A, yes manageable. However, these parts are not mass produced and expensive.

The cheap solution is to install a portable or window air conditioner in a locker!, route the exhaust air outside of the boat and make ducts to take air in and out of the cabin. The benefits here are low cost and low noise.

The proper solution is a a marine rated unit but installation is a pain and I have not seen any quiet units. It is just not possible to design a quiet sea pump that moves 6 gallons of water per minute or whatever the minimum cooling requirement is. You are better off moving air out of a locker instead.

SV Pizzazz[/QUOTE]

[170122]

Here are some large boat manufacturer’s installations of 12v air conditioning units.. No generator needed.

Originally Posted by Mabruteam

[you should watch this video before discarting 12v units..

https://youtu.be/nFA3FNAHv_I

QUOTE=Pizzazz;3085654]My take on boat air conditioning is that 12V does not work. You can design a good 12V compressor, may be even use a large fridge compressor, you need about 400 watts for a minimum size 5,000 BTU capacity, which means around 35A, yes manageable. However, these parts are not mass produced and expensive.

The cheap solution is to install a portable or window air conditioner in a locker!, route the exhaust air outside of the boat and make ducts to take air in and out of the cabin. The benefits here are low cost and low noise.

The proper solution is a a marine rated unit but installation is a pain and I have not seen any quiet units. It is just not possible to design a quiet sea pump that moves 6 gallons of water per minute or whatever the minimum cooling requirement is. You are better off moving air out of a locker instead.

SV Pizzazz

[/QUOTE]

[170122]

The Dania warehouse got several in stock..

Originally Posted by Whatta Life

When do you expect to receive it?

[170122]

[here is a good reference for anyone talking about dc HVAC
https://youtu.be/nFA3FNAHv_I

QUOTE=Mabruteam;3085059]I am planning to replace my AC air conditioning on my boat from 115v AC to 12v DC, the one we have in the Master is noisy run with the inverter and consume 65amps producing 7000BTU, we were able to see a manufacturer at the Miami boat show presenting a 12v military 7000 with touch screen and heat running on less than 30 amps including the pump, that unit was very quiet, 17 F differential between the air intake and the discharge, 380CFM.. what else should we ask this company, their reviews are excellent.[/QUOTE]

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Mabruteam

[here is a good reference for anyone talking about dc HVAC
https://youtu.be/nFA3FNAHv_I

QUOTE=Mabruteam;3085059]I am planning to replace my AC air conditioning on my boat from 115v AC to 12v DC, the one we have in the Master is noisy run with the inverter and consume 65amps producing 7000BTU, we were able to see a manufacturer at the Miami boat show presenting a 12v military 7000 with touch screen and heat running on less than 30 amps including the pump, that unit was very quiet, 17 F differential between the air intake and the discharge, 380CFM.. what else should we ask this company, their reviews are excellent.

[/QUOTE]

You have pictures of installs of larger systems? 12kBTU - 20kBTU

[poiu]

I just installed a Velair 10k. I ripped out an old oversized 16k blower in a 24k Cruisair split system. The new one makes less noise even though it is a combined unit. I did install extra sound insulation though. It uses a tenth of the power of 1.1A at 230V inc pump when running overnight and maybe a quarter the total power overnight. 50Ah at 26v. Another plus is it stops and starts less and maintains a more stable temperature.

A lot of the power saving is from having its own efficient pump. My old system fired up a 1kW pump, which was oversized anyway and designed for the whole boat AC of 80k BTU. I fitted a dc brushless submersible aquarium pump for it where you can dial down the flow to match the required demand. It uses a ridiculous 15W instead of 1,000W. A big advantage of going with combined units is you match pump output to demand better and avoid the wasteful running of a large pump when you only have one cabin to be cooled. The 10k unit is still too big though. It would be good to have some 4K or 5K BTU units for smaller cabins, but the choice is poor.

One downside, zero factory tech help and ignored emails as often seems to happen with Italian/French/German companies. With Cruisair I got full access to control settings and good tech help.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by poiu

I just installed a Velair 10k. I ripped out an old oversized 16k blower in a 24k Cruisair split system. The new one makes less noise even though it is a combined unit. I did install extra sound insulation though. It uses a tenth of the power of 1.1A at 230V inc pump when running overnight and maybe a quarter the total power overnight. Another plus is it stops and starts less and maintains a more stable temperature.

A lot of the power saving is from having its own efficient pump. My old system fired up a 1kW pump, which was oversized anyway and designed for the whole boat AC of 80k BTU. I fitted a dc brushless submersible aquarium pump for it where you can dial down the flow to match the required demand. It uses a ridiculous 15W instead of 1,000W.

One downside, zero factory tech help and ignored emails as often happens with Italian/French/German companies. With Cruisair I got full access to control settings and good tech help.

I'm looking for a more efficient pump. Can you share more details?

[poiu]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I'm looking for a more efficient pump. Can you share more details?

Try Eflux 6009. Many others available. Iwaki are the best. Panworld good too. Or if you want the conservative choice stick to the regular March options. If sized properly are fairly efficient.

[Download7]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I bit the bullet and ordered one of the 12v small Rigid models. Shipping was outrageous but total price with thermostat was $850 shipped.

I'll get it and install in a couple of months. Our expectations are low. 1-2c temp drop with corresponding drop in humidity would be worth it to us. We should be able to handle the amp hour draw overnight without too much difficulty

How is it working? Is it enough cooling?