air conditioner with inverter

[tim.moore]

Below is correspondence I had with an inverter distributor about using an inverter with two separate 6volt batteries.  Does anyone think this is false?

Depending on the size of your battery, you will get right around 45 minutes of use without charging the battery.

--- On Sat, 3/28/09, Timothy Moore <timmoore98@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Timothy Moore <timmoore98@yahoo.com>
Subject: inverter question
To: customerservice@TheInverterStore.com
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009, 6:09 AM

I want to run a small  1800 watt portable air conditioner off of two 6 volt deep cycle batteries (Exide GC 135).  The batteries would be wired in series to make 12 volts.  If the use of the inverter and air conditioner would deplete the battery before 30 minutes of use, I would have a battery charger to maintain the batteries with a Honda 2K generator.

WHY?  I have an electric vehicle without air conditioning and I want to add a separate plug and play system to give me air conditioning.  Others power off the electric drive motor, but I want mine separate from that system.

[terry.kane]

Tim - have you seen this unit that's being marketed for use in EV's?  Did your Escort have A/C when it was an ICE car?

http://tinyurl.com/c4ne57

[todd.dore]

Terri -

If my EV had AC, but I pulled out the radiator, condensor, etc. - would this device work?

Where is the evaporator located?

[rich.rezny]

The Cool Blue a/c compressor/condensor unit looks pretty neat.  Only 500 watts=maybe 1/2 ton of cooling capacity.  Most ICE a/c units are equal to a 3 ton home a/c unit.  They are required to quickly cool a hot vehicle interior so they have a lot of over-capacity. Most ICE a/c compressors draw between 3 to 7 horsepower. Most vehicles built today run the compressor non-stop and vary the displacement to regulate/maintain constant refridgerant flow. The EV-1 used a heatpump system that heated and cooled the interior as well as the battery pack.  Sanyo makes electrically powered a/c compressors. Just my .02

[terry.kane]

Rich and the other mechanics I've spoken with have a lot of knowledge in this area.  I would put heavy weight on what they have to say about sizing a unit, etc.  However, we're not always trying to "match" performance of OEM/ICE systems; just to install something that makes us more comfortable during our time in the EV. 

You can actually accomplish a lot with 5 gallons of ice water, a coil of copper tubing, a small pump and the evaporator already in your system, but that's not the "ideal"; it's a work-around for the lack of good technology appropriate for EV's.

Todd- the answer to your question is "yes" the electricblue system would work in your bug.  Since it's a fairly small cabin, I expect it would do quite well.  Assuming you can fit the compressor/condenser under your hood, you can route the refrigerant lines to the firewall connections on the bug, then take it to a shop for leak test/pump-down and refrigerant charging.  Should be a straightforward installation.  Of course you'll also need a 500W+ 120VAC inverter.  Don't know if there's an inverter available to tap full pack voltage and make AC out of it or if going with an off-the-shelf 12VDC-to120VAC would be better.