A/C in a camper shell.

Capt Sport

Adventurer
Ok,

So this is less of a mod and more for information. Also, I realize it’s not for the purests among us. I just returned from 4 days in the Outer Banks camping in the bed of my truck with a portable room A/C unit 8000btu (the stand up kind, not the ones that you stick in a window) that I ran off a Honda 2200 generator. I gotta tell ya it worked fantastic! I set the thermostat to 75* because any lower and I’d get cold. At that setting the generator would run in ECO mode with the A/C unit fan running constant. The generator would surge when the A/C kicked on and run faster for about 5-6 minutes and kick off (fan only) for about 20 minutes before the A/C kicked on again, the generator ran a solid 9 hours before running out of gas. Keep in mind I haven’t insulated the camper shell in anyway, the floor has a bed rug on it, and the exhaust hose was just stuck out the back hatch with a blanket stuffed in the openings. My plan now is to insulate the windows to see if I can get it to hold temp better, and I’ll seal up some of the other gaps like around the tailgate. I also plan on mounting the exhaust hose more permanent.

I know this isn’t for everyone but if you’ve ever been in the OBX in the summertime then you know how hot and humid it can get, and with the skeeters keeping the windows open is not an option. With this setup I won’t shy away from camping when its hot out.

Cya,

jr
 

Capt Sport

Adventurer
Here’s the only picture I have. I used a Frigidaire unit, you can see it on the right in the above photo, it blows air out the top of the unit so you don’t have to worry about stuff being up against it. You can see how I stuffed a blanket in the cracks of the hatch window. Temporary to test it out, now to figure out how to make it more permanent.
 

Capt Sport

Adventurer
Yup that’s the one, worked great, there’s two water drain ports on the back that make emptying it very easy. I just roll it to the edge of the tailgate and unscrew the caps. Highly recommend this setup if you camp out of your truck/van or whatever, really makes summertime camping comfortable.

Cya,

jr
 

sancap

Active member
I just installed a system that works for my AT Summit topper. I used a Climateright 5000 BTU system. I cut a couple of holes in the aluminum side wall for cold blowing air and the return lines. I used a couple of stainless steel deck plates to finish the holes and a couple of RV sewer hoses with assorted fittings. Living here in SW Florida I had to come up with something. I will keep the AC and a Honda 2000 generator on a swing out a Wilco hitchswing bracket.

526533
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sancap

Active member
That’s pretty slick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It does a pretty good job of cooling at night when I need it. During the day with our temps in the low 90's with the humidity of 75-90% it doesn't help much. But when the sun goes down it will cool the Summit to high 60's to low 70's which works for us.
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
I have been toying with the idea of an aquarium chiller connected to a liquid cooled mattress pad. Put that inside a sleeping bag, and it should only take about ~200W of cooling power to keep one person comfortable.
 

andytruck

Observer
sancap, your Climateright 5000 BTU system wont cool on hot days, but would you say for sleeping that you can just blow the cooled air at yourself and stay cool? cold?
 

danfromsyr

Adventurer
I'm curious to the use/function of the climate right remote control
since the unit sits outside.. they state the remote is IR.. that doesn't sound very 'convenient' to control comfort or such from inside.
 

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