Next-gen 12v AC/Heat Heatpump

[SethB]

I’m excited to see that heat pump manufacturers are continuing to develop products that will someday be reasonable choices in off grid small trailer camping.

Here’s the first I’ve seen (haven’t really been looking). The review shows:
Settles about 300w at max.
Idle heat should be a lot less in a CI.
Not sure about desert AC power consumption, would it tend to idle down or stay high?
At sustained max would that be 200ah/2400w for 8 hours (check my math)?
10,000 BTU claimed.

Who would be willing to install 300ah+ of Li batteries (lose some bin space, but get rid of the ac), upgrade lots of wiring (including hard to retrofit areas like the ceiling), and upgrading charging systems (including solar panels)?

Not me, but I’m intrigued that prototyping this with a 1st gen unit may now be possible! And affordability for performance is not so far off as battery tech costs continue to decrease. @Sweeney is this a pipe dream or just around the corner?

 

[Sweeney]

595 Watts peak though --- for how long? Thats 50 amps - so at least for a time you'd better have some beefy batteries...I'll watch this video what I have a minute --- but I have to say I'm intrigued --- my service van could use this! It gets HOT back there! Not to mention cold in the winter, but most heap pumps don't work well in the cold...which ironically is when you need them most.l

 

[SethB]

You'll see when you have a chance to watch that the peak power usage passes in a few minutes, heat or AC. But you're right, you'd have to move a lot of power in those few minutes.

This is a pretty thorough review; "Tito" discusses expectations of how much gain or loss to expect. But I really don't know HVAC and heat pumps. I've been running one in an outbuilding for 10+ years, it's rare for our outside temps to dip below 35deg during the days, but when it does I supplement with a space heater. Not a good supplement option for heating for mobile use, unless on shore power. In the summer it should help a lot on the hot and humid days, even in your van. Here in the western PNW, nowhere near as humid as the midwest, the dehumidify setting on my heat pump chills things down a lot!

Intrigued, yes! I couldn't say if anything currently available, including this one, is really worthwhile, but I guess that even better solutions are coming, and even this could work. Of course you'd likely need to cover the roof of your service van with solar for long service calls...

 

[Sweeney]

You'll see when you have a chance to watch that the peak power usage passes in a few minutes, heat or AC. But you're right, you'd have to move a lot of power in those few minutes.

This is a pretty thorough review; "Tito" discusses expectations of how much gain or loss to expect. But I really don't know HVAC and heat pumps. I've been running one in an outbuilding for 10+ years, it's rare for our outside temps to dip below 35deg during the days, but when it does I supplement with a space heater. Not a good supplement option for heating for mobile use, unless on shore power. In the summer it should help a lot on the hot and humid days, even in your van. Here in the western PNW, nowhere near as humid as the midwest, the dehumidify setting on my heat pump chills things down a lot!

Intrigued, yes! I couldn't say if anything currently available, including this one, is really worthwhile, but I guess that even better solutions are coming, and even this could work. Of course you'd likely need to cover the roof of your service van with solar for long service calls...

I'm not sure how many BTU's it ramps down too -- that LRA would happen often, if it cycles the way the current AC offerings work. Though a side room and an open door help that a LOT. I still havn't had a chance to watch this, so I'm kind of extrapolating from my expereince.

Sadly something like this is an outlier -- its not going to influence what Jayco does.