rusticandy Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Hello all, Please forgive the newbie questions. I appreciate everyones knowledge and prior experience! Anyway, my question is essentially this- Running the generator while driving seems like such as waste. What does one need to do to run your AC off of your engine (alternator) while you are driving? Any tutorials out there covering this? My searches did not reveal any, but Im not sure what keywords to use. Thank you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Run the genset its cheaper in the long run. You can hang a curtian behind the cab seats so that your cab ac isn't trying to cool the entire unit. The cab ac is designed for cooling a pickup sized space. The answer to your orginal question is, yes it can be done given enough money. You would need about 150ah worth of house batteries, a 3000w pure sine inverter and a 160 amp alternater. Even then a single belt alternator is limited to around 80 amps, so you would need 2 belts or a newer serpertine ribbed belt to drive the alternator. Even with all that your still going to need 5-7hp from the engine to power the big alternator, do you have spare hp? Whats that going to your mpg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred heath Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 You could always revert to 4/80 air conditioning. Open 4 windows and go 80 mph. Just had to throw that in. Humor is sometimes lacking in many posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 If I wanted more AC in a small RV like a Toyota - while running down the road, I'd just install a 2nd AC cooler unit in the rear and daisy-chain it to the front factory/truck AC. Of course, that only works if your Toyota has factory AC. Both my 78 Chinooks and my 88 Mini-cruiser have it. Putting a high amp alternator in an older v-belt Toyota is limited to the single belt drive which is not adequate to make the 140-200 amps needed. A newer 9500 BTU unit will run on 140 amps @ 12 volts via an inverter and even that will take dual V-belts on an auto alternator - unless you can rig up a flat ribbed belt. Some of the new Roadtreks come with all the AC working from the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 affordable way: http://rv-marine.tripod.com/solarcool.html makes use of Cel Dek, so you probably have to keep feeding it expensive water pads each year etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Run the gen set if you need rear A/C it will use less fuel then any other attempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 ^ agree with this the genset if it runs the rooftop will make the most cooling for the buck without humidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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