this thing
only sprays water into a fan
you need very dry air for it to do anything
and it will still make you and your clothes and tent soggy
plus you have to feed it water
wle
For some of us, our idea of âcampingâ is staying at a hotel which lacks a restaurant.
Donât get me wrong, Iâve stayed in some remote locations, including one wherein the hotel probably had the only electricity for a good 50-100 miles, powered by two large Caterpillar gensets. It was surreal seeing wood fires across the lake while we were in full Western luxury with aircon.
This unit from EcoFlow was just announced. I donât have one yet, but I do have several of EcoFlowâs other products and can attest to them being first-rate quality:
Nothing personal but if you need an air conditioner while camping, you shouldnât be camping. Camping is all about roughing it which includes taking a dump in the bushes. Unless you have an RV that has all the conveniences of home.
If youâve brought food, water, a pack, a map, any electronic device, or are wearing clothing, youâre not roughing it. So what? Thereâs no reason to question how other people find joy.
@flashflood:
From their website:4000 BTU. AC input power Max 700W
For reference, my cheap, 15 year old 6,500 BTU window shaker only uses 475w-580w depending on temperature and humidity. No fancy inverters or special kickstarter marketing wank. Toss a âhard startâ capacitor in line with it and even a small genset or battery pack will run it happily.
I do have an industrial special-use-case coming up where Iâll need a small, compact, low-wattage AC and have just started researching how to go about building one. I originally was going to take a window AC apart and rebuild it, but a window AC will be overkill in capacity and isnât going to fit where I need it, even taking it apart and re-engineering it. So itâll likely be a fresh design.
Well said.
Some of the specs are not entirely clear, but this is probably the input power:
Rated cooling power (AC/DC)
460W/410W
The max 700W is probably what the circuit should be able to provide, to account for increased starting current or something.
The lack of clear specs further confirms that the âfoundersâ have no idea what theyâre doing.
and that this is just another Kickstarter cash grab: Find an existing product, find a design/build factory in Shenzen, come up with a new case and make it look âprettyâ, give it Bluetooth and a phone app (mandatory for all Kickstarter products), and then pour on the marketing wank. Suckers will put in their money, and may even eventually get a product. At the same time, the founders have a healthy income.
The Geizeer kickstarter link exemplifies this (although I donât see Bluetooth â how did they miss that?)⌠âŹ277,361 raised from 2,100 people. Itâs a plastic case, fan, lithium battery, and an ice pack. If it costs them more than âŹ15 per unit, Iâd be shocked. Probably closer to âŹ6 or less. Letâs be generous and say it costs âŹ20 per unit. 20x2100 = âŹ42,000. Or âŹ235,000 profit.
I was looking at all sorts of portable ac units to cool the back of my work van for the summer.
I use the back of my van (weather permitting) as a place to retreat and catch a nap before I have to go back to the shop.
I can`t run the AC all day in the van because of GPS.
I found `Frankencooler` on a google search and was thinking of picking one up and then I found a bunch of other links on youtube where I can make my own for cheaper. I`m going to try and make my own but I`m not sure how well it`s going to work.
Again, these types of coolers work off of ice, which I can get a butt load of at my shop every day.
Ftumch33
There are such things as two stage coolers.
The ice or evaporative portion is used to cool a secondary loop.
The moist air exits the cooler and is not used to cool the inside air.
The secondary loop cools the inside air. Usually recirculated.
This loop will pull humidity out of the system.
Commercial versions are expensive.
Going to need a pile of ice to last any length of time.
Still there are refrigerated units made for campers.
Unless you want to play, why reinvent the wheel?
All the Best,
Jeff
EcoFlow has a sort of hybrid business model. They crowd-fund new products on Kickstarter, then transition them to their standard (mature) product lines on their own web store. They are a legit business. I have three products from them: the R600 Pro, which I got via their kickstarter campaign, and the River Mini and some portable solar panels, which I got from their regular store. All of them have been rock solid. I realize this is getting a little off-topic, but not everything on kickstarter is a scam. Just do some research before jumping into projects there, and look for people and companies who have a track record of delivering.
I can get plenty of ice from work. I need something portable and works off a battery.
Like I said earlier I can`t run the AC in my work truck for extended periods of time since my company monitors truck usage (we have the worst performing hybrids ever lol).
I was interested in the Ecoflow but by the time it comes out and the reviews are in the summer will be almost over lol
@flashflood: Theyâre still doing the same thing â find an existing product, change its appearance, market the heck of out it on Kickstarter, profit. I donât see anything unique on their website which I canât get from another vendor, cheaper. Iâve supported a few things on Kickstarter over the years, but in those projects the creator was a single person without the capital to make it happen AND they were extremely up-front about actual costs.
@ftumch33: Modified ice coolers are commonly used in general aviation and work quite well for the purpose. The biggest issue youâll run into is that melting 1 lb of ice only gives you 144 BTUs. A cheap window AC is rated for 5,000 BTUs per hour. Most RV rooftop ACs are around 13,500 BTUs/hr. So for something equivalent to a window AC, youâd need 35 lbs of ice per hour. To match the RV AC, youâd need 94 lbs of ice per hour.
Depending on your work truck, this might work out fine. Use it for spot cooling instead of room cooling to reduce how much ice youâll need, ie: have its output as close to you as possible. In the plane these normally get tossed in the rear seat and ducts are usually set right behind the pilotâs neck. We only use them for taxi, take-off, climb-out, then descending & taxiing at the destination, or about 30-45 minutes of runtime. Even in Florida, cruise altitudes usually are cool and dry enough to be comfortable.
Not the video I was thinking of, but close enough: DIY Airplane Air Conditioner - YouTube
I was just about to watch that video but it`s getting late and I have to get up early.
I`ll definitely check it out in the morning.
The EcoFlow actually looks like it would work, because it incorporates inverter/compressor.
But the question is, is it worth like $1200 for just 4000 BTU and double that price for a battery power source ?
I donât think so.
And at 55db seems to be very noisy
You got me interested in this.
The Frankencooler - the official one - looks to be just what you are looking for.
The Blowbox Twin is the one I like.
An ice chest that cools a radiator that cools the air. And doesnât pump moist air from the cooler into the system.
Like others do - Icybreeze and most of the home built ones.
No need for any outside air sources.
Kind of expensive for the twin blower kit, but looks like itâs made for your application.
You could likely put one together for a lot less, still it looks like this guy is putting out a quality product.
All the Best,
Jeff
I was thinking of buying the plans.
20 bucks is pretty inexpensive and I could probably do the rest as far as acquiring what I need and putting it together.
One of his videos on youtube, he kind of gives you the layout of how he started to build his so I`m not even sure I need to buy the plans 
I wonder how easy it is to disassemble that red box from the cooler. If not, youâre going to have major mold & mildew issues.
Yeah, I think the only hard part is finding a radiator the right size with enough surface area.
I like the idea that the heat exchanger can be completely separate from the ice chest.
Everything else is a few Amazon clicks away.
All the Best,
Jeff