Non OEM air con

[alcarmichael]

I have recently bought my first van and am eagerly awaiting delivery; I will be carrying out a camper conversion and had a tour of my mates pop topped T5 yesterday to try and help me decide whether to go that route or not. I think rather than have a pop top, I would much prefer an AC unit to keep the van cool while camping in the kind of weather we’re currently experiencing. Without it being cooled, I imagine it would be pretty unbearable right now, never mind taking it somewhere seriously hot. With that in mind, how feasible would it be to fit something like this:

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[Dellmassive]

Power. Power. Power.

Mobile AC is power hungry.....

So unless you are on EHU you will need a beefy 12v system.

 

[alcarmichael]

Well, the good thing is: I am slightly taken aback by the amount of options available when it comes to power, I still haven’t got much of a clue where to begin! If you can call that good news...?

 

[Pete C]

For something that you will use infrequently, you need to consider that:

You will need to be on mains hook-up for it work, or,
You will need a massive 12v powerbank of leisure batteries,
It will be noisy, particularly in a smaller vehicle like a T6
It will take up a lot of roof height.
It will be noisy at night.
It will be very close to your face in bed, so may be too cold.

There‘s a reason they aren’t fitted in smaller vehicles like a T6.

Pete

 

[alcarmichael]

I’m only guessing here, are you against the idea Pete?

 

[Pete C]

The beauty of our vans is that we can do whatever we want, so crack on if you want. Just want to make sure you are aware of the potential issues

We have used our T6 camper in France, Spain and Portugal, and if it got really hot (i.e. 40 deg C) then we booked a hotel for the night

Pete

 

[Ishawy]

I’m sure if it is sound proofed and insulated correctly, the amount of heat absorption through the body work is reduced massively. Also limo glass and insulated blinds or curtains will also help to keep the heat down.

 

[alcarmichael]

It will be correctly insulated. I just can’t sleep when I am too hot and I imagine being in a van in this heat would be horrific, never mind the likes of southern France. Then again, I have never slept in a van before and it appears that the consensus so far is that it doesn’t actually get too hot.

 

[Ishawy]

We was away this weekend and it was in its 30s
We slept fine and that was with a duvet too.
I slept in the poptop and it was not to hot at all

 

[$immo]

It will be correctly insulated. I just can’t sleep when I am too hot and I imagine being in a van in this heat would be horrific, never mind the likes of southern France. Then again, I have never slept in a van before and it appears that the consensus so far is that it doesn’t actually get too hot.

Hi, I would speak to some poptop manufacturers first to make sure their roofs can handle 32kg bolted on top and still lift up & stay up.
Also check the how much the internal unit sticks down into the van, as when shut they are pretty flush to a mattress, it may not actually fit?

Good luck, let us all know how you get on.

 

[alcarmichael]

Sorry, the AC unit would be instead of a pop top. Not as well as