AC for bed of truck for summer camping?

Here you go. https://www.zerobreeze.com

 

Woah, thats pretty cool! I might buy one of these, total game changer imo. Not too bad of a price. The mark 1 is sold out, wonder if they will ever restock it.

 

A little extravagant...he can simply put one cube under each nut.

 

Im not 100% sure how they work now, or if ZB got a new model, but we have been back and forth with the ZeroBreeze for quite some time dealing with our OffGrid off road trailer.

My experience with the ZB is it does JUST that; it puts out ZERO breeze. OffGrid even put in a special space for it, and openings for inlet and exhaust for it, but in reality it works so-so in mild heat, but doesnt work worth a F@#$% in super hot and/or humid temps.

Personally after our experience with it was it was very much NOT worth the price paid. I would probably think it might work Ok, for a spot cooler, but its not going to cool any large spaces like a pickup bed on hot days. It just could not keep up, even in a small space like our trailer interior on very hot days. Experiment we found was a bust, but as always YMMV

 

Haha. I'm completely the opposite. I've camped in Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, south Carolina, and Arkansas all in the middle of the summer and loved it. But I also almost froze to death camping in TN in the winter. But my wife is the opposite of me so camping for us together is tough.

 

Pretty damn impressive.

 

It’s all about airflow…

 

Its depend on how you want to power the ac unit. Gen or solar, I don't think anything with a small or internal battery is going to make much difference in an unsealed truck bed.

 

was ur the zero breeze 1 or 2?

 

The ZB Mark II. The wife and I honestly expected a lot more for the roughly $1500 or so we got it for.

 

Good to know. I'd been considering it for my teardrop.

 

Bummer to hear it doesn't work for the $1.5k you shelled out but also not surprised. Definitely seems too good to be true.

As an engineer I have a hard time wrapping my head around how they could package an air conditioner so small, make it use so little power, and it work properly. But if it's cooling capacity is as small as its size and power consumption that makes alot more sense. Otherwise they'd have a revolutionary super efficient design that could be making alot more money in commercial and household installations opposed to a camping gadget/gimmick.

 

I use a van and an enclosed cargo trailer for camping in and decided AC powered by inverter generators are the way to go. If you are concerned with noise, you can always build a quiet box for the generator. I use an EU2000i and an EU3000is. Van has 5k BTU installed in a rear window. It was the most efficient AC I could find at the time. Cargo trailer has the most efficient 12.5k BTU I could find.

Here's the 3000 in a quiet box I made running the 5k BTU ac. The video is made with a cell phone, so the sound is super sensitive. It sounds loud until you pay attention to how loud quiet things are easily heard, like stepping in grass, sliding a lock off the shank, keys jingling, etc... Of course it's not dead silent, but everyone who's heard it in person was impressed with how quiet it is.

https://youtu.be/pWzF2TkXM-I

I did a lot of research before building this box. I found you can even stack plywood around the sides, angled to traject the sound waves up into the sky. That actually works decently for little effort.

Anyway, just another option to consider.

 

Doesnt it need more exhaust? Seems like a good idea, I just dont wana be that guy that ruins someones peace

 

https://www.jayco.com/rvs/travel-trailers/2022-jay-feather-micro/12srk/

Just get one of these

 

The best bet is to make a duct straight from the Genny to the hole in the box for exhaust. This way, no hot exhaust gets recirculated within the box. The 2 fans installed move 400 CFM I believe. The description below the vid has the.details. 2 more fans could be installed to double the cfm's if needed. 2 should be fine with a direct exhaust duct.

I planned to alter the design to a direct duct, but I moved to a cabin on a mountain, van camped less and priorities changed. Ah, life...

As for sound disturbing others, I have camped at gov't camp grounds that have no generators 10pm-6am rules. Take an extension cord and put it away from others, over a hill, behind something, etc... I had a camp host walk right past my spot and the 5k BTU ac was all you could hear with the Genny over the hill 40 feet away.

 

I'm about to make a panel the size of my tailgate...With a hole that a 5000 btu will slide into...Lower the tailgate and slide the panel in place...A 3500 w inverter generator will handle the peak wattage when the ac kicks on...And the new inverter generator, although pricey, is super quiet at 50 db....Maybe put a small insulated box around the generator and it's silent....200 bucks for the ac and 800 for the generator.....Have you stayed in a decent hotel lately ? 150- 200 bucks depending on how important the date is....This rig will save you tons of money in the long run...

 

Not cheap but it'd do the job. Heating and cooling. https://us.ecoflow.com/products/wave-2-portable-air-conditioner?variant=40559182413897

 

They are probably using the same OEM compressor from an counter top ice maker. Nothing too special.