Edward,

We must be on the same wavelength.. I was thinking this the other day...
along with the question are there DC powered AC units... that aren't
$5000(normal small camper rooftop stuff).  I'm just guessing that going
through the inverter would be an extra step and you'd lose some efficiency.

An alternator producing 100 amps constant is also a bit of a concern... even
the units that are rated as such are for peak output, however if a unit was
beefy enough it would be interesting to play with.

Definitely worth looking into further I think.

Jim Akiba

On 7/8/07, Edward Maglott <emaglott@buncombe.main.nc.us> wrote:
>
> Questions/Ideas:  Is 1200 watts enough to power an AC unit big enough
> to cool a vanagon going down the road on a hot day?  Or one parked in
> the sun with the top up?  I'm thinking some adjustable air deflectors
> inside the van to direct the cool air toward the drivers when driving
> or elsewhere when not.  Maybe big flexible hose for that?  Perhaps
> the outside air heat exchanger could take advantage of ram air when
> moving to improve efficiency?
>
> Edward  (also added another vanagon post on my blog
> http://gismemories.blogspot.com )
>