Have you tried an evaporative cooler?  They use 60 watts so that's 1/2 amp
which is easily handled by 400 watt inverters, and are no where near the
weight and noise level.  I saw one here:
http://www.atrendyhome.com/portableswampcooler.html

Thanks for the informative report!
TEMiller

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug in Calif" <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Portable Air Conditioner aka hybrid electric vehicle
continued - live and learn

> Well,
> I had high hopes for this idea of a "poor mans AC" in my non ac bus, and
> still may have some flicker of ideas for it, but I am taking the two units
I
> purchased back and tossing in the towel for now, live and learn.
>
> I did have good success running the ac units with my 1000w inverter from
> Costco, it ran them both.
> I cannot say how long or how reliably it would do it but it did work in
all
> of my tests, especially with the Daewoo.
>
> The Daewoo AC unit  DWC-55RL from Costco ($99) is by far and away the
better
> unit when matched against
> the GE unit at Sams, ($77) Daewoo puts out more cooling by 200 btu and
draws
> 1/3 of an amp less (4.6)
> I removed the covers from both units and inspected the quality and there
is
> a huge difference.
> There is also a big difference in how the two run, the Daewoo is quiet and
> smooth and gets cold right away.
> No strange sounds, just a perfect running machine. The GE is lacking and
> makes some strange sounds even after
> going back and getting a 2nd one.
>
> The Daewoo was my choice to try to work into the vanagon, even though tiny
> bit larger and 5lbs heavier. (42lbs)
> One place it really looked like it could work is atop the lid over the
stove
> and sink, I have the standard GL sliders and you
> can open the slider and just put the back of the unit out the window. It
> wouldnt take much to seal it off.
> I think for parked use this would make the most sense. But driving is
> another story, having a 42lb chunk of steel behind my head when some guy
in
> a
> Navigator hits me head on is is a good way to get a permanent impression
of
> a refrigeration compressor imbossed into the back of my skull, even though
> it would have been very easy to route the cool air from there.
> Its too heavy and bulky IMO and it needs to go on the floor and have the
> duct work for venting. In looking at it on the limited floor space of my
> westy
> I concluded it just uses too much real estate for my needs. I would prefer
> about 2000 btu size and about 1/3 the over all weight and size for trying
to
> haul with me.
>
> The new ac units ARE impressive on power using 4.6 amps to produce 5350
btu
> of cold is pretty amazing, its almost there for use in a westy but they
are
> designed for a 150 sq ft room. I did look at some "cabinet coolers" that
are
> in the 1000 - 2000 btu range but they are specialty coolers and draw 7+
amps
> on AC and are not made in a space or energy saving way, rats! foiled
again!
>
> For now.
>
> Doug
> Everybody have a happy and "cool" 4th
> I am definitely going to change out that heater valve ASAP now.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Doug in Calif" <vanagon@astound.net>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 5:15 PM
> Subject: Portable Air Conditioner aka hybrid electric vehicle continued
>
>
> Well.
> The results are in for the moment.
> I purchased the 5150 unit from Sams, (interesting number btw, in police
work
> 5150 means your bonkers)
> I think I must be but then I digest.
>
> As soon as I tested the unit I found out the cooling fan is running out of
> true, I was able to push it and make it better but
> I am going to exchange this one. fyi
>
> The unit weighs in at about 39lbs best I can figure on bathroom scale.
> Pretty small indeed 11x12x17
> NEWS FLASH! - IT FITS IN THE STANDARD VANAGON SIDE WINDOW OPENING!
> This will make some of you hate life in the smaller opening westy side
> windows, hey toss your screen and put GL glass in there. arrg.
>
> Okay with the Xantrex X power 1000 inverter I picked up at Costco a few
> years back WILL drive this unit.
> The AC has manual controls (NICE) and is not digital, so it has a "on"
> switch and a toggle for the fan from low to high.
> A rotary dial knob manual for the evap sensor is just a thermostat with
full
> counter clock turns off the compressor completely.
>
> With the 1000w inverter I have it will start the compressor if I have the
> fan switch set to LOW it will not start it with the fan on high.
> So I recon the fan is drawing some pretty good juice on its own.
>
> Once the compressor is started and running I can switch from low to high
on
> the fan and it runs continuous.
>
> NEAT HUH?
>
>
> Okay, now some thoughts.
>
> This thing is SO SMALL its not all that much larger (okay a bit) larger
than
> the rear heater under the back seat.
> I even thought of installing it there. it would work best in a 2wd vanagon
> so you could cut a couple ports in the sheet metal and vent out the heat
> from the back
> Seriously it could fit under there.
>
> The way this unit is designed is it has a fairly large blower motor that
> shares the same shaft for both the exhaust fan on the back and the cooling
> fan on the front.
> Its a pretty big blower motor and I am sure it draws some pretty good
amps.
>
> I would be VERY interested in how many watts the compressor by itself
draws
> as I think oil cooler 12vt fans on the evaporator and condenser would move
> enough air to duplicate the factory blower.   AND THOSE CAN RUN STRAIGHT
> FROM 12 VT SOURCE !
>
> Is a wise guess 2/3 of the spec of 530w AC? reasonable?    Thereby
reducing
> the AC load to around 400 w? for a 5000+ btu ac unit?
> Not bad if it works.
>
> At 39lbs how much weight am I saving over factory vanagon air?  anybody
> know.
>
> Also, during the winter it sits in the garage, AND when camping hooked to
> shore power can run it all day.
>
> Cheers and cold beers.
>
> Doug
>