Has anyone used one ? I know the EV cars have them . It would keep the engine bay clean. Just armchair thinking.
Ev cars use the high voltage battery for AC , not the 12 volt battery. Here's the expert opinion: https://vintageair.com/tech-topic-is-an-electric-compressor-a-good-option-for-my-hot-rod/
Seems the too good to be true crowd is hawking A/C hard this summer. I keep seeing NASA designed toaster size "Cools the entire room in seconds" junk. It takes power (energy) to move energy. I may not know all the formulas for a BTU and the volume of a room enough to size an appropriate cooler, but come on!
There was a Beverly hillbillies episode where Jethro converted the family truck to electric power. He wanted to drive it to Washington to show the President. But he couldn’t fit a big enough spool of extension cord on the truck to get there
Déjà vu https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/12-volt-mini-ac.1351816/#post-15904221 Power required is high, its very high. A/C works, on most vehicles, by a gas being compressed into liquid. And when it expands it cools. But that compressing takes some HP. 12Volt system will require ~300A to run an electric compressor. Your trunk/bed would look like a hopper.
Not practical but off Fly wheel / crank or extra pulley @ front with shaft / axle to drive ac compressor in trunk maybe even cable
PowerTakeOff driven off the transmission for the compressor. Rest of the plumbing would be the normal stuff. Used to be lots of transmissions with an option to run a PTO off the side of the transmission case.
Okay, what a rabbit hole. I have a machining YT channel I enjoy. I'll never do the stuff, but it's great to see them do it. One of the comments below was mentioning a couple other channels that the commenter liked also posting. Intrigued, I checked the first one. It has a few month old video on a low power energy storage and A/C system. Lots of math here if that's your bag.
I watched both of Cotton"s video's on installing a 12 Volt under dash air conditioning unit. The $500 eBay sourced unit "worked" (i.e. it was cooler than no air conditioning). Specifically, the air flow to his face was weak. He did successfully use this on a road trip In the second video, he upgraded to an under-dash evaporator with twice the airflow (from 300 CFM to 600 CFM) - The air in his face was greatly improved. He also upgraded the electric fan on the condenser and added a second battery. Some Comments: 1. This car already had an 150 Amp Holley alternator installed. 2. As of the 2nd video, no road miles on the upgraded system. 3. This 2nd battery installation is to isolate the 12 Volt AC system from the main automotive battery. If you deplete the battery using this aftermarket battery (for instance, a long traffic jam), the main battery is still charged and the car will not stall. 4. No discussion of the additional heat load on the cooling system. Cotton's car appeared to have lots of high tech go-fast parts. The situation might be different if you have an old beater with a tired cooling system. Over the years, I've installed aftermarket AC units is several older vehicles. Note: I am 81 years old, most of what I have learned is from having to correct my mistakes. 1. 1971 IH Camper Special pickup (20+ years ago). Small heat/defrost/cool unit in the foot well (Old Air Products). Ran flexible hoses to the stock vents and defroster ducts. Towed a small 5th wheel travel trailer, no real problems - careless driver totaled this truck. I gave this AC unit away and it was installed in another pickup truck. My recommendation: Next time buy a bigger CFM unit - more air flow is better) 2. 1975 IH Scout (17+ years ago). Under dash unit (American Mobile Air - not currently shown on their website). P***able cooling without spending large amounts of money. Still working when sold. 3. 1986 Ford F150 with a ***mins 4bt (4 cylinder diesel) engine swap (14+ years ago). Under dash heat/defrost/cool unit (Vintage Air). Cooling was adequate for a well insulated cab, I rarely drove this truck in cold weather (This 40 year old diesel engine did not provide much heat). The original Vintage Air unit did not want to provide air flow to the windshield (the new unit work much better). This truck was driven to 37 states. A couple of months ago, I p***ed it on to a younger family member. Exactly 4 days later, the blower motor seized up while he was headed for Phoenix, AZ. We decided to rebuild this system with new Vintage Air parts (the same parts, only a newer generation) - Under dash box, compressor and dryer/pressure switch. All the hoses, condenser and condenser fans were unchanged He had the Freon evacuated before he brought the truck to me. We installed the new parts, pulled a vacuum and charged it with Freon. He should be good for another 15 years. NOTE: Vintage Air has my vote for the best supplier. The new Vintage Air under dash unit showed several improvements. The previous vacuum operated heater valve and defroster door are now simplified into mechanical linkage. And the defroster works with enthusiasm. 4. 1962 Volvo PV544 2 door sedan (looks like a shrunken 1946 ford sedan) (5+ years ago): Cobbled together AC system working around severe space limitations (not a lot of space available due to the floor shifter - and not much space available under the hood - and an impossibly small radiator opening...). I found a small cool only evaporator box on the Speedway web site (no longer available) and played lots of Tetris trying to get some cool breeze on my face. The big problem was an inadequate cooling system. Over the years, I tried lots of "stuff" - A Volvo "racing radiator", Derale auxillary cooler, multiblade fan, fan shroud, etc. And a 94 Amp Delco alternator to power everything... It still wanted to overheat in an Arizona traffic jam. This car was rear ended - still blowing cold when Copart picked it up. I did drive it to Lead Ain't Dead 2020. Either electric or belt driven gets complicated. My design recommendation is to start with the compressor power requirements. Gonna need a big high-Amperage alternator. Maybe reconsider a compressor driven air conditioner. On all 4 of the conversions, I started by tracking down air compressor brackets for the engine. Both IH's used York style single cylinder compressors ("paint shakers"). Then ordered the adapter bracket for the Sanden style rotary compressor. Lots of fiddling with pulleys and idler pulleys to make things work. Russ "The line between Yankee ingenuity and ghetto fab is mighty thin"
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