inverters and air conditioners

larrythompson · #1 (**permalink**) 03-20-2002

Does anyone have any thoughts on running an air conditioner off of an inverter from the battery bank or from the charging system while motoring? Does anyone have a source for fiberglass battery boxes short of making them myself. Need to hold 4 trojans 105''s.

joub · #2 (**permalink**) 03-21-2002

An inverter large enough to run an air conditioner would probably suck your batteries flat before the cabin got comfortable! The power just isn''t there unless you have a genset of some kind.

Can''t recall the dimensions of a 105 battery. Are they the same size as a golf cart battery? If so, Blue Sea Systems(they have a web page) offers battery boxes for two 6 volt golf cart batteries. As I recall they run abound 80 bucks each.

Jim

scnicklefritz · #3 (**permalink**) 03-22-2002

Have you considered a strong fan rather than AC?

I lived on a sailboat in southern Florida a few years back and used one of those 3 speed box fans to keep me cool at night, rather than AC. It worked well and it also kept the mosquitos away - they can''t handle the wind.

JohnDrake · #4 (**permalink**) 03-23-2002

There are two DC air cooling units that I know of. One, Cool Currents, works by pumping water from under the boat through a radiator and has a fan to blow the air across. This would not work well in FLA or the islands where the water is warm.

There is another unit I just saw in the West Marine catalog. It uses ICE in a regular ice chest to cool the fluid going through the system. On paper, this actually looks like it could work well. Might be difficult to regulate the temperature of the cool air, as the ice melts... but it looks like the only real solution that has a chance of working.

I do agree with the fan though. I like fans much better than AC.

Hope this helps.