Status update on my Battery Powered Air Conditioner 

Great work! Thanks to both of you. I'm looking forward to this product, both in my sailboat and in my truck camper. Boondocking/anchoring out would be much more pleasant. 👍 Be well.

Love watching two engineers nerding out on a tiny device! I'm patiently waiting for the final device!

Appreciate that your including a ducted intake. Most older systems I've been looking at lately (helping maintain) have no intake plenum for the return so they put them under a dinette, berth or cabinet, cut a hole in the woodwork and stick some kind of filter over the hole. Of course most air bypasses the filter and the unit vacuums up dust from stateroom carpeting, etc loading up the unit and leaving a dust ring around the cabinet doors and drawer openings. On a 36 foot cruiser it takes about 28,000 BTU to cool the entire boat which can draw around 2,700 watts requiring a dedicated 30 amp panel on its own shore power connection to run them. It would be nice to change over the 6,000 BTU AC systems in the V-Berth and Master Cabin to these quieter DC systems. Looking forward to the final version and cost info. Best!

I'm glad that's still happening satellite for a while. That whole part of the business was going to stop because it was going to be too busy

Looks like you found the right person to run things. In other news, you may remember I put out the idea of using the innards of a cheap portable fridge to convert an Icebox. Well project complete. Found a sub $200 compressor driven 12/24/ac fridge and took the cover off and removed the foam. I cut a hole in the icebox to stuff the tubes through and then filled the hole with foam. I used the mounting plate on the "sled" (I think you call it) to mount the compressor to the bulkhead on the other side from the icebox. It works fine. I just have to make a beauty plate for the control panel because I am using the hole left by a speaker. I also need to insulate the top of the icebox because the people who built the boat in 1969 didn't feel that was required. I, on the other hand, want to give things the best chance of success I can. Thank you for the encouragement.

I love what you are doing! Looking forward to seeing the finished product and it would be nice not to have to run the generator while at anchor.

Why is everyone in boating not beating down your door? This product is going to help me make the case for my wife to be on the boat.😀

There is a huge need for an efficient DC air conditioning solution for over the road Big Rig trucks. I have been following Clark since his first videoon his air con system, hoping one day to be able to install it on my truck. This could be a HUGE market for you. Keep up the work... I'd pay the costs to be a test case.

Good refining the kit. Certainly better than the standard offerings.

Making great progress. Both of your excitement is contagious

Good to have an update. Looking forward to the single unit one being available.

Glad this is still going on. I bought two of your kits.. still on the never ending todo list :)

wish I had waited for the new one

Have been waiting patiently for the all in one unit.

Make a pre-charged version of the air cooled RV one so each side can sit on opposite sides of a little door or hatch that one side can slide through and leave only some small cut-outs in the door for refrigerant lines to pass through. Sell it with the hatch, a shelf kit for inside and outside and a weatherproof housing for the outside. All the customer needs to do is cut a hole for the hatch where you can hang the two shelves. Or have it set up for ducts like the boat one so its easy-install. Ideally, the shelves can be mounted to the hole before the door goes in and locks the shelves in place if that makes any sense, but the door makes an easy pre-charged installation, especially since it is so small the door can be small. I live in Merritt Island, Florida and can help with small production runs of fiberglass housings and possibly other stuff like the shelf parts if needed.

Make sure to consider alternate dc voltages 48v and 24v are becoming the new marine standar

Idea for using a heat storage component to improve defrost cycle has been reported in latest issue of PV Magazine, with the title "New defrosting tech may increase coefficient of performance of air-source heat pumps by up to 11.2%". It sounds simple enough in principle, and I'm surprised that current heat pumps don't employ such a 'heat flywheel". Maybe you guys can add that to your development plan. Open source plans may be an option for the DIY enthusiasts here.

It seems like the air-cooled version is basically a pure DC mini-split (mini mini-split?). Very cool, literally and figuratively speaking.

Great info

Hi Clark, I love the idea for mini split system. Can’t wait to see the finished product or Oder a test unit. I’m curious what is the expected average power consumption?

Amazing certainly of interest to RVS

I can see a big market for this if you can fit it in a standard form factor for an RV roof-top unit. You may have to increase the capacity to about 15,000 BTU but I don't see that as being an insurmountable issue. Keep the good stuff coming.

My boat runs a 120 volt 16700 btu combo heat/AC unit that easily fits inside a 20"x20"x16" box with room to spare (water cooled). This unit is made in Stuart, FL by an outfit called Tropical Marine Air Conditioning. I have a Cruise Air self contained unit. (boat is a 2011 model). They make a whole line of units from 6000 BTU up to over 30,000 BTU. It draws just over 12 amps.

I am interested for sure. There are many DC split system on Amazon and aliexpress right now but they are all too large. I just want a small DC unit to cool my V berth at night.

The only thing I'm waiting on is the technician data pertaining to performance. I know that the AC powered mini split I want is overkill for my 100 ft. space and uses about 230 watts. I've been looking for something purpose-built for 100 sqft. or less and uses fewer watts while being DC-powered.

Very Cool! Glad to see this is coming back to life! Really like the chart showing power consumption and BTU. Does the total wattage include the water pump?

This is going to be a dumb question...sorry, I'm a mechanic, not an engineer. I assume the boat version uses thru hulls for the cooling water intake and return. Here is the dumb question: The top layer of the sea water has been heated by the sun all day, but 4 feet below the surface the temperature and heat load is much lower. Is there any thought about this or thinking about a coil that can be lowered over the side to take advantage of the lower temp water 4 or more feet below the surface? Well, I DID say it was going to be dumb.

For us Canadian live-a-boards, any possibility of adding a reversing valve for heat pump use? I find my 120V marine heat pump works fantastically down to about freezing, below which I have to switch to the diesel heater. I'm assuming this would similarly work down to about freezing with an appropriate reversing valve and correctly programed thermostat

I love seeing this progress. Would this new be able to use a closed loop with an heat exchanger on the hull? Thank you

Did I miss it? I did not see info as to power consumption...

Air cooled would be good for trailer boats too as on a trailer able boat if you don't have a self priming water pump you lose prime when you take the boat out of the water and even sometimes when on plane.

Very interesting technology, I'd love for my teardrop but it's pricey at $2500 to $3000 my camper only cost $6k to build...

I need a new coaxial condenser for my 16,000 btu unit. Any ideas on where to source one?

Great video on the update Clark. When do you estimate the air to air unit to be available. I want one for my 16’ camp lite trailer.

Would it be reasonable to build a variant with a through-hull condenser a'la vitrifrigo's hull-mounted condenser (e.g. keelcooler50). This might reduce the number of moving parts and possibly maintenance. I'm not sure if it is capable of sinking enough heat though.

Why no reversing valve? Seems some market is being left on the table by not addressing seasonal needs.

Hi. Need this. How can I order

There are so many DC options available for much cheaper from China. I had a DC air conditioner 5 years ago from china 600bucks delivered. Variable speed compressor and digital control as well. Seems a little late and expensive.

Please give some thought to creating a universal components unit/ kit. Think of all the things needed on every live aboard boat that are universal, nothing changes no matter the boat and doesn't require recharge more than once a year. Perhaps a solar power supply, with a boat A/C, with a... marine radio, with some kind of efficient cooking element, with a GPS, with an AIS, with SOS, a bell, a whistle, a smoke detector, WIFI, phone chargers, USB ports, navigation system and screen, weather component, speedometer?, boat depth gauge?, wind meter? bilge pump? Alarms?. My thought is that there are things that EVERY boat has to buy and they all usually buy the same ones. Be able to buy the entire "Car Dash Board" with one product. Call it the Boat Dash Board or something. So instead of trying to find each and every component you need, it is all there. And make it easily serviceable. If the wind gauge display breaks, just unscrew the gauge, pull the plug and insert the new one.

Whay type of refrigerant will they use? Just thinking of availability if we ever need to add any.

Is it just me, or is there a loud tinny buzzing sound in the audio?

You stated the supply and return air backwards. The return air is the warmer air.

unit from china , 800$

It is subcool, not supercool.

Interesting. Why do you reverse supply and return terms from normal HVAC? Supply is the conditioned air and return is room air "returning" to the AC unit. Also subcooling is the correct term for the liquid line side of the refrigerant system, not super cooling. Super heat is the temp of the suction line. Super as the temp is above the temp that the refrigerant changes state. Sub cooling is the temp of the liquid line below the temp that the refrigerant changes state. Sub is for lower. Super is for over. These are semantic issues, but why not use the standard HVAC language that techs and engineers use? I am a retired HVAC designer from both the residential and commercial world. Currently I have an 8,000 btu/hr Midea window AC unit on my 44' motorsailer. It cools the entire salon & captains stateroom after the sun sets. It is 120 volts AC so I run on my Victron inverter. It runs overnight on my 1350 amp hour flooded liquid battery bank. It is variable speed so it regulates temp as you are discussing. For now it is aircooled. It is rated at 16 seer. It maxes out at 850 watts and dilas back to about 150 watts once the space gets to the setpoint. Fan only is 10-30 watts. Very quiet and comfortable. I have two 12 volt fans installed to help circulate the cool air throughout the cabins. When I am alone on the boat I sleep in the salon with the cabin door closed. This cuts the consumption overnight by about half. 8,000 btu/hr is basically useless when the Florida sun is shining, but as soon as the sun sets the AC works great. Daytime heat is tolerable when you get a good nights comfy rest.