Anyone know of a cheap DC powered window unit?

[Ericsstinnett]

Anyone know of a cheap DC powered window unit?

[ranger58sb]

"Window unit" for what?

-Chris

[Sailmonkey]

Air conditioner?

No such thing as a cheap Dc Air conditioner.....nor are they low power consumption.


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[DeepFrz]

Wreckers may have them at a reasonable price.

[rwidman]

A fan blowing over a bucket of ice?


If there is such a thing as a 12 volt DC window air conditioner, it would probably be found at a large truck stop or a catalog for truck accessories.


The reason we don't see 12 volt air conditioners is that the energy required to cool a boat is more than the energy we have available. We would need a bilge full of batteries to run an air conditioner for any significant length of time.

[skipmac]

DC air conditioning is a frequent question on the forum. A quick use of the forum search function will give you these links to many previous discussions. Here are just a few. Some are 3-4 years old but the technology has not changed, yet.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ng-155561.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...rs-171001.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...nly-60439.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...nly-60439.html

[BambooSailor]

Or you can get inverter (e.g. my favourite Xantrex PROWatt SW2000, ~$340) and window unit from Home Depot or Costco ~$180 and you got yourself 12V window AC for ~$500. Plus you can find multiple uses for inverter. Just a thought...

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by BambooSailor

Or you can get inverter (e.g. my favourite Xantrex PROWatt SW2000, ~$340) and window unit from Home Depot or Costco ~$180 and you got yourself 12V window AC for ~$500. ...

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my previous post, but even though your suggestion would work in theory, if you actually attempted this, your battery would be discharged in a matter of minutes. You would need an extremely large battery bank to run the AC for long enough to cool the boat and a way to recharge the battery bank.

[BambooSailor]

I know, running AC from battery is a stretch to start with (but it can be done - I did it, though not window AC unit), but I assume original OP already has enough capacity to run an AC. Xantrex SW2000 runs at 90% efficiency, so in theory you need ~11% more battery capacity vs. pure 12V system.