12V Dometic Rooftop A/C install in a Westy

[elizer]

https://us.ecoflow.com/products/wave-portable-air-conditioner-extra-battery-bundle


According to their website 4k btus.

It will only last 3 hours with the ad on battery pack. You can purchase extra batteries ($699) or attach it to one of their power stations. The issue is on ac it will run and charge, but on solar/car plug it will only blow the fans.

Their portable power units are listed on costco. Might be an option some might wanna consider.


Edit... you can only charge the batteries when attached to the wave. Theres no plug or anything to charge it alone.

[MarkWard]

[dieseltdi]

I spoke with them when they first came out. There are actually two tubes that attach to the back and go out a window. They conveniently don’t show those in the ads or videos.
_________________
Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion
2022 ID.4 Pro S
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[MarkWard]

The draw back is for the air exhausted out the van, outside air has to find it’s way back in to balance the pressure. The window unit does all the heat exchange outside the van, so you are just recirculating cooled air in the van.

The dometic at the beginning of this thread likely does the heat exchange outside like the window shaker. So a more efficient design. Not saying folks haven’t successfully used portable ac units with an exhaust duct out the window. Just not as efficient.

I’m looking at a fully electric ac for my 911. I saw an article where a tik tok star is living in her car making $3000 a month from sponsors. Evidently she has ordered a Tesla that has a cooling system that is usable when the car is parked. Probably designed for dogs. She hopes to use it for camping Crazy times.
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☮️

[dieseltdi]

My new VW ID.4 will run the AC with the car off. It is a pretty standard feature with EVs I believe. In fact, not only will it come on as soon as I sit down and close the door, I can program it to have the car cooled or heated before I even unlock the doors. AS I understand the EcoFlow unit, it draws outside air in from the outside and then vents that same air out. That gets the heat of the AC action out of the car. The cool air is only circulated by the front intake and vent outlets. This keeps the heat OUTSIDE the vehicle. Hayden
_________________
Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion
2022 ID.4 Pro S
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[steve244]

At the risk of repeating myself...

You could buy a portable A/C and a honda 2200 watt generator (quiet, efficient inverter generator) for less than what that ecoflow costs and get more than three times the cooling (and heating to boot!) capacity. I'll bet the generator is quieter than the A/C.

You're burning gas in the vanagon, what's an extra couple pints (of petrol) to keep your cool? Just throw the genny and A/C up in the luggage rack and pretend you're tough until the significant other screams at you.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Honda-2200-Watt-Remote...AzxMUyQUQ0

https://www.homedepot.com/p/BLACK-DECKER-12-500-BT.../317867770

Or if you're extremely cheap and can tolerate a little more noise get the Chinese knock-off WEN generator:
https://www.amazon.com/WEN-56235i-2350-Watt-Genera...PDKIKX0DER
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[steve244]

[dieseltdi]

Don’t know why VW included the dot except to maybe indicate the different cars like different version: ID.3, ID.4, etc. hayden
_________________
Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion
2022 ID.4 Pro S
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[steve244]

The ID stands for Intelligent Design. That should start some eyes rolling. heh heh heh...
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[MarkWard]

[steve244]

Once the interior is cool, the A/C drops to low energy. the compressor slows down, fans slow down. At this rate it's probably drawing 600 watts.

The ID.4 has an 84kWh battery, so with no reserver its 84,000watt-hours/600watts=140hours or about 5 days.
_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...

[TheMonk]

A dream come true, airconditioning. These are my considerations for this rooftop ac unit as an owner of an aircooled '82 camper. I'm in Australia so I've never seen an airconditioner in an aircooled Vanagon (T3 kombi) here, only in the watercooled models, so retro fitting a traditional ac system to my camper here could be problemmatic. The Domectic product provides an all in one unit that, of course, must run off additional batteries, but offers a rather straight forward answer to my needs.

The downsides include having to cut a hole into the roof, having, perhaps, an unsightly ac unit hanging off the roof (although it's no higher than the poptop and is reasonably sleek). Cost iis acceptable when you factor in fitting an alternate traditional system, buying the system from the US, shipping it then the cost of fitting it.

My main goal is to have ac when driving, not when sleeping (this would be a bonus). There's only the two of us now and the dog so we're up front so I'd drop in a thermal curtain or something to contain the cool air where you want it. I have the Country Homes Camper popup so there is space to position the ac unit similarly to the images supplied.

Domectic also manufacturers the RTX2000, 12v which is said to draw 10amps after start up in its eco mode. There's a few youtube vids on these being placed into Sprinter vans and alike.

For us, wife mainly, it would allow for comfortable year round use of our camper

[djkeev]

You would probably do better getting that A/C unit from Europe.
Our access to lots of nice RV stuff is quite limited here in the States.
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[82westyrabbit]

This comes up every summer, and I've certainly posted these result before.

I certainly like the Dometic AC in the roof idea, but these topics always turn to portable air conditioners. Any of the portable air conditioners, including the one posted at the top here, have some pitfalls. I tried three different ones in my van before reaching some conclusions.

All portable air conditioners which only have an exhaust for hot air are designed to pull into the van the equivalent of all of the air that they push out the back of the uint. Consequently, I did not see any appreciable cooling in my van using the portable window units. They just pull too much hot air into the van to be able to keep up. In the end I ended up with a 5000 BTU window shaker air conditioner hanging out the window over the sink. It meant that I could not use the sink or stove while it was installed. At night, camping and driving, it would keep the van at temperature, but during the day there was just so much heat coming in the windshield that it became questionable weather that was worth the bother.

One of the beauties of the 12 volt Dometic mounted in the luggage rack is the first thing it is going to do is to cool up by the windshield, and second, the cold air is blowing on you as driver/rider. So there is some chance this will be an excellent option. But like everyone else here, if it is really only putting out 3500 BTU, I would question if it will really be enough to cool the van while it is driving. It would certainly be enough to cool it when it was parked. It also concerns me - 18 amps is a lot of power to draw out of your charging system long term. So I would certainly be thinking about my wiring and possibly upgrading the alternator. On the other hand, if I could find a unit that size that ran on 110 volts with close to the same dimensions and about 6000 BTU and powered off my generator, the way I did my 5000 BTU unit, I would probably start the installation today. This unit would probably be less money as well.

[dieseltdi]

The Ecoflow uses two hoses to move the air around the compressor and take air from outside to do this and then vents that heat outside. Only inside air is cooled and then returned to the interior.
_________________
Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion
2022 ID.4 Pro S
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
Way too many previously owned to list!

[surfinwesty]

Just installed the Dometic RTX2000. Wow!

A few side images. The unit is really sleek.

I recorded the install in detail. I’ll start another thread with my steps and notes to help others looking to ‘chill out.’

Based on the results I’ve experienced, I’d imagine these will be commonplace on Vanagons over the next 2-5 years. Very efficient.

In 88 degree heat I had the pop top open and it was like camping in a hotel room. Seriously cool upgrade.
_________________
Current Love:
"Adobe" 1984 VW Westy w/Subi

Retired:
"Swell Chaser #1" 1980 Westy (in VW Heaven)
"Swell Chaser #2" 1981 Westy (sold to loving family on TheSamba forum)

[drj434343]

I think there are a lot of people here (myself included) who are anxious for hard performance numbers and detailed testing conditions. On paper the BTU output of this unit doesn't add up to sufficient cooling for a Westy in any sunlight, parked or driving.

Would love to be proven wrong by testing though!

[surfinwesty]

I purchased the larger unit with about 7,000 BTU. There’s a heat wave coming to California this Sunday, I’ll test it under true conditions and report back on the results (temp and amps).

The strange part is that I’ve been rolling down Vanagon windows for the past 15 years…really wired feeling to not do anymore.
_________________
Current Love:
"Adobe" 1984 VW Westy w/Subi

Retired:
"Swell Chaser #1" 1980 Westy (in VW Heaven)
"Swell Chaser #2" 1981 Westy (sold to loving family on TheSamba forum)

[crazyvwvanman]

Very interesting project, looks great. Can't wait for the detailed write-up.

Mark

[steve244]

subscribed!

This uses 2kw which is more than most tent sites provide (17amps at 120V or 170amps at 12V). How are you powering it?

CORRECTION: it has 2kw cooling power (not used to seeing it expressed that way). The draw is 150W (fan only?) to 700 watts. This is good efficiency for 7000BTUs cooling.

This website says 12-58amps with only 19amps in eco mode. Assuming this is 12V it's doable. A 180 amp battery would power for 10 hours in eco mode.

How well does it do just driving around, or do you have engine driven A/C for those times?

Here's Dometic talking about it for the retailer rackup and go:


Link

_________________
82 AC vanagon approx 200K miles (3K are mine).
DD is a 2015 Leaf
Road Trip to Hell (FL 2023)
The Vanagon's drivetrain and chassis restomod thread. Best sung to the tune of I Did It My Way...