Has anyone devised a way to keep the A/C when a conversion has been done?? If so, how. Thanks.
[QUOTE=docpaul1;1277]Has anyone devised a way to keep the A/C when a conversion has been done?? If so, how. Thanks.[/QUOTE]
it shouldn’t be that hard as long as you have the compressor wheel hooked up to a drive motor… just i woudln’t suggest it because your REALLY taking away from the power/range of the vehicle. there are other ways to do it though. i’m working on it now so i dont want to talk about it too much till i have it all situated.
Wait a few years and pull the hvac system from a Volt.
If you live in a dry climate (AZ, NM, NV, etc.) a small swamp cooler (evaporative cooler) would do the job 
A unit large enough to cool a car would draw about 3 amps at 12vdc and take a few gallons of water.
Mac
You could make a air motor to run the Air conditioning system and thus it would eliminate the need to draw from your batteries, Make the tank large enough to hold enough air to run it until you were home charging again. Then you could charge it with a compresser and be ready to go when the batteries are charged again. This is a interesting clip. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4[/ame] 
Has anyone run the numbers for a system based on seebeck effect, like those found in water coolers ?
In the fifties people used to have evaprotive coolers that rolled up a the top of a car window as you drove down the road air would be forced into the coolers inlet and into the car. The back half of the cooler allowed air to escape from the car. My dad had a pair of them. a left and a right. When they were installed it looked like a pair of jet engines. They would probably rip a new cars window right off
Hey! I just did a search they still make them check it out.
What about adapting an electric appliance type compressor to the system? A Peltier junction might work, and I believe they operate on DC power, but it would have to be rather large based on what I have seen in water coolers.
Hmm. Using the ClassicAire system, it wouldn’t be too difficult to modify it to fit inside an EV fender or behind the grille, and route the ducts into the dashboard. If you’re going to do a conversion or build something from the ground up, you’re already doing a ton of work so may as well incorporate a system like this.
A simple way would be to install a cooler with a bilge pump in the bottom. Fill it with water and ice. Pump the water to the evaporator (if it exists) and run the air fan. Return the used water back to the cooler.
If you won’t already have an evaporator, use a transmission cooler, put a shroud around it with a fan on one side.
Not the most high tech solution, but pretty simple, really cheap, and could last a few hours.
Swamp coolers would be a major pain and wouldnt work unless you were in the desert. Between mold and refilling it with water. I would just get a motor to drive your factory compressor and use the rest of your factory stuff. If your worried about draining your main batteries just have a bank for the AC. Just get a 48v motor and 4 batteries. You wouldnt need a controller or anything just a contactor. When the battery pack is dead you roll the windows down. I am note sure how they were wired but I saw an MR2 at a green living thing here in Austin that had A/C. I can live without power steering, power brakes but I have to have the A/C.
How about using a Liquid nitrogen system like many food delivery trailers. They slowly release nitrogen through a heat exchanger. A bottle of gas should last a while at the relatively low levels of cooling required for aircon (as opposed to a freezer truck). The only power you’d use is for the fan.
DISCLAIMER - My line of work sometimes results in me spending a lot of time with nothing to occupy my mind other than my hobbies. As a result, I have time to sit a problem on its ear and look at many thousands of possible ways to resolve, and sometimes will go out of my way for a novel fix. If I actually did everything I thought of, mankind would advance 10,000 years for every year of my life :D:D:D:eek:
Anyway, I’ve been considering this problem for a while. A home window unit might be a possibility, say 9000 btu or so. They are already used by hillbillies to cool their cars.
I’m not talking about doing this though. My thinking is that the components can be broken down and installed in the existing AC system. You would need to have someone discharge the AC and recharge it after the reconfiguration. You would also need to figure a way to protect the condenser as the home unit isn’t designed to take 50MPH bug impacts. But, as the unit is capable of cooling at least a 10x10x10 room, it should be able to easily cool a passenger compartment. Being electric, there is also no limit as to where you can install the compressor, no need to have it under the hood. Another concern, you’d have to use the same kind of freon as came in the home system, no idea if that stuff is rated for automotive use. If the stuff is explosive, it is not.
Course, I actually HAVE played with the idea of doing something similar to the picture. Only, when I finished it would appear to be a factory install. On this one I would cut a section of the cab away, dead center at the floor. I would build a shelf to mount the AC to, with attention to detail to prevent vibration from the AC unit into the cabin. The bed would be cut away over the unit, with ample space for ventilation. Air ducting would also be provided to help keep a steady supply of cool air across the condenser. The ducting for inside the cabin would also be sealed, replacing it with metal ducting if necessary to keep outside air from getting in. A separate duct would be needed for the fresh air inlet to keep it out of any exhaust streams. The cutaway portion of the bed would be enclosed with a removable cover with heavy soundproofing. The in-the-cabin unit would be painted and upholstered to match the interior of the truck, and the control unit for the HVAC would be moved to the dash for ease of use.
If you wanted to go with a more conventional way, 18 wheelers with sleepers on them also have a pretty sophisticated HVAC system, with components designed to operate off either mains power or shore power. RVs also have HVAC systems that can be used. I’ve also been on the search for a plain 'ol electric powered compressor, and found that Danfoss may be a possibility. Sanden also sells a specific electric automotive compressor, but they are very proud of it AND it requires 384 volts to operate. This is the one used on factory electric rigs. Masterflux also offers some possibilities, but their lower voltage models don’t look like they would be able to do the job on a full vehicle system. Cebi sells a heater system that lets you use a water heater core with an electric vehicle with their 1.5 liter capacity water heater. Metric Mind sells the CEBI for 750+ bucks, pretty expensive.