13,500 vs 15,000 BTU A/C.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by blw2

.....cut.....

Anyway, too bad they don't make an RV unit smaller, say in the 5,000 btu to 8,000 btu range. I'll bet just a little one like that as the secondary unit would be more than enough to take care of the issue and would keep the power loading way down....simplifying a lot of this.

It's been too many years since I used to work on little window units so I had to look up an example.... found an 8,000 btu window unit rated at 6.2A....just for a point of reference.

Thor uses 5,000 BTU/hr window-type A/Cs in rear of Class C toy haulers along with a 13,500 in front living area. Keep in mind the rear garage can also be used for sleeping, and I'm sure a 5,000 A/C is plenty to keep garage cold at night. They list this combination of 13,500 plus 5,000 A/Cs with 30-Amp service and 4,000 watt generator. Unfortunately the 5,000 looks like cheap brand which probably means it's not high efficiency.

For comparison, there are slightly-higher-cost brands of 5,000 BTU/hr A/Cs that have EER of 12.2 that only pull 410 watts, or under 4 Amps.

Also, Jayco uses 2 X 11,000 Power Savers (total 22,000 BTU/hr) on some models and run off 30 Amps and 4,000-watt generator. They do include power management though. Still, at +/- 9.5 Amps each (standard condition) they should run most of the time unless a third high load like microwave was started for a few minutes. Other than microwave, hair dryer, or coffee maker, I can't think of too many items that would force shutting one of the two A/Cs off for a few minutes -- likely the bedroom A/C.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by blw2

curious, how much trouble did you have fishing the line voltage cable across or through the ceiling, up at the AC?

Anyway, too bad they don't make an RV unit smaller, say in the 5,000 btu to 8,000 btu range. I'll bet just a little one like that as the secondary unit would be more than enough to take care of the issue and would keep the power loading way down....simplifying a lot of this.

It's been too many years since I used to work on little window units so I had to look up an example.... found an 8,000 btu window unit rated at 6.2A....just for a point of reference.

Coleman makes a unit which is 9200 BTU. Not down to 8K but is under 10K BTU. I believe it is the Mach 8 or Coleman Cub.

[Chance]

Last time I looked at specs for 9,200 unit it wasn't a Power Saver, and was rated to use more power, hence no real advantage from an electrical standpoint. From a thermal/cooling standpoint it may make sense so it doesn't short-cycle as often at night when installed in "tiny" RV bedroom. Personally, I'd go with the 11,000 PS if it pulls less power.


By the way, I saw reference in Onan generator specs to a "7,800 BTU/hr high efficiency A/C (5.5 Amps or less)" but haven't been able to find information on it. Something like that size, if roof mounted RV type, would be ideal to supplement a single-A/C motorhome that needs a little more capacity. That small an A/C unit should run on a 30-Amp service or 4,000-watt generator.

I'm just wondering if Onan picked a 7,800 BTU/hr high efficiency A/C out of thin air as a hypothetical example, or if they actually know of one that exist?

[Chance]

blw2, you may be interested in seeing some of these small Dometic A/Cs which start at less than 5,000 BTU/hr. Unfortunately they seem to only come in Euro electrical spec, although they offer a 12-Volt kit (I'm assuming that's nothing more than inverter to run them off batteries). The smallest at 3,400 BTU/hr only uses 430 watts (not very good efficiency but small size would be nice to run off large battery bank at night to cool bedroom when generator is not allowed).



https://www.dometic.com/en/se/produc...ioners-for-rvs

[Mousemate]

For my second ac unit in the bedroom I ended up putting another twist lock connection above the existing ... my wife. Wanted a easy connection when she took it to Disney two weeks ago

[Oneilkeys]

Originally Posted by Hittntherooad

Yes. The orange wire comes directly from the AC unit. The grey wire comes from the 20 amp breaker I installed in the rv panel. I can plug into the grey wire and run the unit from the generator or when plugged into the pedestal with the 30 amp rv plug. I can also plug the orange wire into the 20 amp pedestal receptacle and run both units at the same time. I have run both units on the generator at the same time but it runs the amps right up to 30 with everything else off.

Nice setup. Thanks.

[drhadley]

Originally Posted by Chance

Thor uses 5,000 BTU/hr window-type A/Cs in rear of Class C toy haulers along with a 13,500 in front living area. Keep in mind the rear garage can also be used for sleeping, and I'm sure a 5,000 A/C is plenty to keep garage cold at night. They list this combination of 13,500 plus 5,000 A/Cs with 30-Amp service and 4,000 watt generator. Unfortunately the 5,000 looks like cheap brand which probably means it's not high efficiency.



For comparison, there are slightly-higher-cost brands of 5,000 BTU/hr A/Cs that have EER of 12.2 that only pull 410 watts, or under 4 Amps.



Also, Jayco uses 2 X 11,000 Power Savers (total 22,000 BTU/hr) on some models and run off 30 Amps and 4,000-watt generator. They do include power management though. Still, at +/- 9.5 Amps each (standard condition) they should run most of the time unless a third high load like microwave was started for a few minutes. Other than microwave, hair dryer, or coffee maker, I can't think of too many items that would force shutting one of the two A/Cs off for a few minutes -- likely the bedroom A/C.

We have two 23.5k BTU A/C's in the main living area. We have a 5K BTU in the Toy Hauler. No problem cooling.
Our coach is a Thor Outlaw.

[blw2]

Originally Posted by Chance

blw2, you may be interested in seeing some of these small Dometic A/Cs which start at less than 5,000 BTU/hr. Unfortunately they seem to only come in Euro electrical spec, although they offer a 12-Volt kit (I'm assuming that's nothing more than inverter to run them off batteries). The smallest at 3,400 BTU/hr only uses 430 watts (not very good efficiency but small size would be nice to run off large battery bank at night to cool bedroom when generator is not allowed).



https://www.dometic.com/en/se/produc...ioners-for-rvs

yeah, that's exactly what I was imagining!!! except the the voltage

[SammyC]

I have a 2016 Ace 30.2 and we have the 15,000 BTU. We live outside of New Orleans and camp the gulf coast. Last weekend it was 98.2 at Gulf State Park Alabama with humidity at 93 and i have no complaints with the ac. I do however put a small fan on the floor in the kitchen to push some air to the back at night.