This system is exactly what I want as well when I do get my van build going. Realistically, dwelling in hot weather without AC is just no fun at all. I enjoyed a look at the radiator, answered some questions.
Just a fyi I worked for a Radiator and Heat exchange manufacturer the way we would straighten out the fins after brazing or sonic cleaning was a pair of wide end Tweezers. You can use the sharp tip to gently get under the bend then squeeze and Straighten out the fins.
Hey big guy, always digging your vids. If you get a chance to respond would appreciate. Feel like an idiot with mine compared to your world anyway back to the 04 Savana hitop. I’m gonna drop the lid bc Maxxfan 6200 on the way. So confused now about insulating ( ie don’t do if in mostly warm climate....) with the lid coming down might as well do something so bought sheet of 1” faced Rmax which will cover most of ceiling(could try PL300/ 3m77 onto the fiber) and a couple 1/2” sheets one side faced being more pliable for beveled portion over cab and could layer it on sides and back portion The raised roof material is fiberglass with raised ridges front to back, where the meaning shallow valleys. 1. Should I splice strips to fill. 2. Instead of using 1/2” faced sheet for 2nd layer should I use 1/2” pink XPS. The sun is brutal so the vans like a microwave. I thought of using the 1/2” RMax c it to fit the 3 big rear and 6 door windows reflecting sun but insulation cause for even warmer int. What would Jarrod do sealing with this ol fiber roof. Good choice with your ac. Stay cool bro✌️
@Jarrod, you should look into electrically isolating that fancy new aluminum condenser and mounting frame off the steel crossmembers of the van. Aluminum loves steel so much it will gladly sacrifice itself over time and while it's clearly preferred over the steel wasting away it's reasonably easy to prevent.
It looks good, but I'm wondering does it have enough pitch and yes it's definitely going to get a lot of air back there for sure, but then again. The question is will it get enough air for example when air stream goes over a pickup truck does ample enough air go into the bed of a truck, engineers say it doesn't go into the bed at all and on a 15° angle I think he should have put 15° sides on each side sence he's trying to protect the radiator after all that's the goal tocci
I would use stainless steel screen instead of that aluminum screen to protect your radiator, because that aluminum thing he showed, blocks too much air flow. It needs more holes in it.
There are a lot of things I can not show during that process, sorry. What I can do is set up a sit down with the owner and he can explain things better for everyone. I will beg for him to show what he can
Question: What is going to happen to the fans under the van when you drive through mud & slug on the roadways? That does not look appealing for the function of the system. Answer?
that's what I thought too but there's a pro hvac guy and he cut the lines on a window air conditioner and extended the condenser and fan under the van the same way. years later no problems. i think as long as you don't install it where the wheels can kick up rocks it's fine
@@nmartin5551 he's pro hvac, he has a diy tutorial it's here, he said over a year no probs with rocks under the van ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AXgHIrFqm9o.html
What will happen when they run through dirty puddles and stuff on the road? They will get dirty. And when you run into a cleaner puddle, they will get clean if by that time, you haven't taken your ride to a car wash and cleaned off the underbody
Question: When screwing aluminum to aluminum, did you go with nylon/Teflon bushings and stainless steel screws and nuts? Or did you use titanium screws and nuts? I am asking because of galvanic corrosion issues.
Galvanic Corrosion would be more likely where he screwed the aluminum brackets to the steel crossmembers on the van's unibody. Good news, the aluminum should be the sacrificial metal, bad news the radiator is part of the aluminum...
Mike this is why I was asking. Usually steel will preferentially corrode over aluminium. And the bolts used looked like stainless or normal steel. Hence the question of bushings or titanium bolts. We’re you using 6061 T6 or 7075 (bugger me I forget if there is a T number) for the framing. Also which weld filler were you using 4043 or 5056. The reason I ask is the 4043 weld material has a higher silicon content, and therefore is more affected by salts. Beautiful baby by the way.
I would be worried about keeping that grill clean. It will get lots of dust & mud in it & will need to be cleaned somehow just like a radiator. That is my major concern with this system.
Lily, our 2019 Sprinter, 170 extended, XD, 4x4, has been in 47 of the 48 and North Dakota might happen next month. Lily has been from Vancouver Island to Key West. From Los Angeles to Montreal. She's been to the bottom of Death Valley and 12,000 ft up in Rocky Mountain National Park. All of this would have been a lot less enjoyable without our HD series, 24v, split Cruise N Comfort AC system. Save your roof space for a deck or better yet, more solar. Don't risk another hole in your roof; you won't know you have a leak until the damage is done. Cruise N Comfort and with confidence. PS: we did have a problem with our system; it kept losing its charge. Nobody would consider diagnosing the problem, much less fix it because it's a Mercedes and if they didn't build the van, they didn't want to fix somebody else's problem - and that's exactly what it was, our up-fitter builder didn't crimp the lines at the evaporator properly. Even though she was out of warranty, both the upfitter's and Cruise N Comfort's, we took Lily to THE specialist - to Cruise N Comfort in Tempe, AZ. Chris (Chris Frye, Owner) got under the van and spotted the crimping problem immediately. Chris set us up with new (and improved libes and fittings) and a local guy that could install them. Yeah, happy campers again! Thank you Chris.
Jarod - awesome video. Can't wait to see how you charge the system with refrigerant. I see you went with the 8K BTU system. Cruise-N-Comfort also has a 5K BTU unit. Do you recommend the 8k, I am getting ready to place an order. I can see what you mean by welding, not much room to bolt on a bracket.
I think 8k is the way to go. More power usage. Also depends on where you'll be I think. Also how much battery you'll have too. I'm going to try and go over that kinda stuff in part 3 of this mini series
Jarod, awesome video. You’ve convinced me to do this vs the rooftop Mach 8. I was wondering about the 5k vs the 8k as well. Can’t wait to see part 3. I noticed you upgraded the 8k with the double fan but the standard 8k comes with the single fan. Do you think the single fan 8k will be sufficient? I’ll only travel west of Denver.
@@grg2110 I haven't tested the single fan. From what I hear it's very worth having the double fan. Cruise N Comfort has really good customer service so if you ask them what the big difference between single and double I know they would give a better answer then I would
Jarrod, I'm trying to reach Nomadik to install my Cruise-n-Comfort condenser fan. Chris Frye also suggested them since I'm in the NW. I left a message. Do you know if they are taking phone calls, or on vacation? It's prewired and hoses routed, only needing the actual mounting of the fan unit. Are you aware of other's in the NW qualified for mounting a condenser unit?
If you haven't tried yet you can email them. Not sure how backed up they are with emails or doing side jobs on vans so it's best for them to email back and find out. They, like many builders, is hard to get a hold of through phone because the phone rings off the hook. Definitely not on vacation as Marc the owner hasn't taken a day off on almost 2 years. You can also try Off Grid Solutions PDX but not sure if they would do it but worth reaching out to them. I'd start there and if neither gets back to you in a about a week or so then email me and I have someone that does side projects in the Portland area info@jarrodtocci.com
I just bought a Sprinter 144 that has the same A/C. I can’t believe how loud it is on the outside! It’s almost better to run the chassis AC 😂. Is there a way to muffle the sound?
You can wire a switch to power the fans in either parallel or series power to help manage the noise. Mine is this way, but uses a relay to limit the length of the heavier AWG wire.
I ended up removing output air diffuser grill off my dometic AC. Helped with noise. Still less than ideal. Unfortunately small fan (to keep unit small) = faster rotation = more turbulence generating sound. One problem without grill, no protection from reaching up into unit and contacting squirrel cage fan (that is, if fan is on output side of evaporator coil -- not sure).
As said in video with custom van builds we often need to sacrifice things and in most cases the spare tired is either moved or taken out for this or even water tanks sometimes
do you know anyone i can hire in Portland to install a solar panel on my van for me? I got everything from LightHarvest Solar but they cant put my panel on the roof.
This is a mini split system with about 8000btu. I think it's amazing so far. It's all installed already but I have a ton of footage to go over. It runs on 12v and so far at most I had it running at 47 amps
Yes, this is considerably more efficient since it all runs off 12 or (better yet) 24 volts DC. An inverter to convert to 110 volt AC immediately adds 20% inefficiency or some such, and mini splits for home use don't have to worry about sipping power. If you want to run it off lithium batteries at any point, you should just buy this specific system. It costs more than a cheapo home mini split, but it's much more fit for purpose, and it's also smaller.
This makes me wonder if this might be more efficient and effective than a home mini split unit - in my house. Have you ever seen the electric bills for those things??!?
But i feel like the cost of a battery bank and solar setup to manage a roof ac like the dometic evens out... butttt dometic has a 12v version out now that’s cheaper than the cruise n comfort so... idk
Jarrod, the website says about $3,000 to $3500 for those AC kits alone. Will you reveal in another video how much the total unit and installation (labor) or total cost (with labor) is for the unit you selected?
I installed aftermarket air-conditioning units in cars for five years.... I don’t understand why you are not mounting the condenser in front of the radiator....
Vandalorian it’s a 12 volt that’s reliant on solar that he wants to cool the back living space of his van and only has about 5 feet of tubing. You would put it up by engine? I’m not being a smarty, just trying to figure out where to mount it on my van and am interested in your insight.
Vandalorian's point is likely tied to the typical mounting location for condensers being near the front, these are of course condensing from a compressor mounted on the engine and connected to the AC system within your dash. @Vandalorian, random guess, the space is often occupied by the vehicles native condenser, as well as any oil cooler that may have come with the vehicle. That said there is also a small benefit to the location when he's parked as the cooler air under the vehicle should allow a slightly more efficient operation when the vehicle isn't in motion as compared to the grill location.
Realistically you can only run one of these off lithium ferrous phosphate packs if you want your batteries to not die in a few weeks. WIth no power going in, 10 hours would require 600 Ah. But, 60 amps 12 volts is 720 watts (and that's on maximum) so if the van has solar panels that are at 1000 watts, the battery drain in the daytime would be much much less, might even be power left to slowly charge them on a sunny day.
Take a flat bar tocci Lye on that table take tape to the table and what ever your run is multiply your run x your multiplier of for electrical it's calling for 3.9, so 3.9×2' is 7.8 now me I'm a instrument fitter I believe he said 2' so being under the van he has to find the run and just like in pipe or tubing being that it's not flat bar if you get the run what you do to one side of the flat bar you do to the other to have a true 15 degree slope. Now in tubing it's a different number but close I think it 3.586 or 3.86 something like that is your multiplier one could be accurate if you have the multiplier just smooth but being it's under the van hey me I'm perfectionist I got paid for quantity and quality
At minimum you should probably put a grommet or some kind of protection on the battery cables coming through the frame. Looks like a problem waiting to happen...
Those wire have nothing to do with the a/c unit. They are for my DC to DC charger and have been there for a year and were professionally installed so I know they used the proper wire.
@@JarrodTocci Yes... we heard in the video that it was for your charger... that is the concern. The gauge of the wire is not the problem... the issue is that the wire can easily be cut or chaffed causing your system to trip or a fire. They should of put the wires in a protective sleeve to protect against road debris and a grommet in the hole to protect against cutting and chaffing.
NIPPLES ARE ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT I’VE NEVER SEEN A NIPPLE IN THE CENTER JUST SAYING IN MY EXPERIENCE I’VE NEVER SEEN IT. EVERYONE THAT ONE TIME IN CANADA 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣
