Jerry - Rig AC ( 84 110, RHD, 2.5 )

[nate6472]

Keep in mind I am converting this 3 door into a camper.

Would this work? Power the smallest window unit available (10"H x 14"W x 12"D, 514watts, 7 amps, 5000 BTU, $150) using at least a 1000+ watt inverter on a dual battery system. The unit would be placed in the floor section of the rear right behind the wall behind the front seats. I would cut out a section of the 9" wall punching in the area behind the passenger seat. Dirt and water shields would be developed.

Advantages - very inexpensive ($300 total), no drag on on engine, can be run when engine is off via battery (for a very short while) and via wall outlet.

Disadvantages - not the proper way but that is what is so fun about Defenders - make it work with what you have and can get your hands on. And . . . ?

[VTBKRDS]

Don't forget the aquarium duct taped to the roof . Also works as an enclosed observation port.(Red Green show) Could'nt help myself sorry.

[derekchace]

I say try it. What could go wrong?. Best case it works worst case..........the world end and everyone dies.

[xjr13]

I say try it. What could go wrong?. Best case it works worst case..........the world end and everyone dies.

I looked in to doing this too. Or a roof-mound unit such as for RVs (also, the ones that go back inside the rear of commercial vans up inside the roof, mounted ot the ceiling). The shortest roof mounted one I could find was still about 10" tall, which would look silly even with a tall roof rack.

The negatives I ended up with are: 1 - loud; 2 - no easy way to drain condensor condensation; 3 - invertor gets really hot; 4 - the output is small compared to the huge energy drain. You have to calculate how much alternator energy is needed to keep up with the 7 amps your inverter draws. I was going to add a solar panel charger to supplment it, and a second battery, but it seemed like the drain would outrun the charge by far, and that raised the overall cost to nearly $800 (ac unit, solar panel/charger, 2nd battery, inverter)

Please post whether it worked. I chickened out!

Regards