Great stuff @Ziggster , really gives a real world example of the theoretical and mathematical models being tossed around here. How did the system work with the 145A alternators? The other thing is to consider as well is that there are alternators that produce more power. We typically ***ociate alternators for our purposes with around 85-100A, the basic GM 1 wire. But many factory vehicles like the Suburban and Express vans have high output alternators that can produce upwards of 190A. There are aftermarket suppliers that make even higher output options, like 250A, 300A and 400A. That's not to say that electric AC is a good idea, but merely that if the limitation is the actual production of power to run it, it's potentially a surmountable issue.
IIRC, it was ok. The cab was small ( only 2 person), so that helped. However, being roof mounted the vents were in the roof just above your head, so not the greatest. After things were sorted out, they worked ok. Only issue we had was with the powder coat finishing coming off, as our powder coater had some problems with the white (UN requirement) paint. As an aside, we worked through a third party to supply the systems. That company repeatedly beat us over the head to keep costs down. Then one day in the office of the manager, I saw an invoice showing what they were selling it to the government for. If was for three times what we sold it for! They did absolutely nothing (no value added) other than just essentially being a sales agent for the government. Actually, later on with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a huge scramble to come up with ways to cool all sorts of military equipment. At the time, our German made Leopard tanks had no a/c. I couldn’t imagine being in a tank over there with no a/c.
It reminds me of a joke which came out of our local problem with kleptocracy. The government put a job out to tender, and three tenders come back: one for R18000, one for R22000, and one for R2018000. Who wins the tender? The last one. How? R1m for you, R1m for me, and R18000 to pay the lowest tenderer to do the actual work.
Haha! Yep! After that job with the HVAC company, I actually got a job within the federal government at the Dept of National Defence. The waste I saw (in my little corner) was in the billions…
I stumbled upon this unit on amazon i’ll let people more knowledgable than me discuss it’s merits https://www.amazon.com/NEKPOKKA-12V...air+conditioner+for+car&qid=1719673463&sr=8-4
Here is the Vintage Air info on electric AC. https://vintageair.com/tech-topic-is-an-electric-compressor-a-good-option-for-my-hot-rod/
I looked into while planning my build. It seems that most of these electric AC units are meant to auxiliary to the primary unit, say to cool the back half of an RV/van, but don't work well as stand alone units. There's also the power requirements. The Vintage Air article is good.
We run them as a secondary cooling unit on our Beechcraft 300's. They make a terrible amount of racket and have a dedicated pallet that fits in the nose of the aircraft. They work ok, but nothing to write home about. From my experience, I would forego the idea.
The Jalopy Journal
