Can you run an RV Air Conditioner on solar power?

A demonstration by Tony Barthel from Stressless Camping - Getting ready for a Furrion Chill Cube install at FROG!

Everyone,

I’m working on getting a Furrion Chill Cube Air Conditioner installed on my GeoPro G19FBTH camper at the FROG Rally in Goshen this August.

If all goes well, Tony Barthel from Stressless Camping and I will be parked next to each other at the campground, and he’ll be getting a matching Chill Cube A/C installed on his own trailer. Since we both have similar MasterVolt Battery / Inverter / Solar packages installed by ABC Upfitters on our RV trailers, Tony and I will be able to compare stock Air Conditioner battery power operation with the new 18,000 BTU Furrion Chill Cube Air Conditioners that have an Inverter Compressor similar to a residential Mini-Split A/C unit.

These new Chill Cubr air conditioners from Furrion are super quiet, have no inrush starting current, and are supposed to use much less amperage while running. But Tony and I need to test these units for ourselves.

So stay tuned for my own Furrion Chill Cube test at the FROG rally in August. More on that later, but first here’s an article by Tony Barthel on how long he was able to run his stock 15,000 BTU Air Conditioner on solar and battery power alone.

Can you run an RV Air Conditioner on solar power?

Can you run your RV’s air conditioner on solar/battery power? If it’s even possible how long can you run it? How many solar panels do you need? We did an experiment with our own MasterVolt system and our Coleman Mach 15,000 BTU RV roof-top air conditioner to get the answers. But, first let’s look at some facts and information.

You can’t run an RV A/C on solar panels alone…

A lot of people ask how long you can run an RV air conditioner on solar power. There’s a simple answer. You can’t.

Just as you can’t run your car on a gas pump. And, essentially, for the same reason.

What the solar is there for is to provide power to recharge the battery in your RV. The solar you have, or might be considering, provides power to a solar charge controller that, in turn, feeds the battery in your RV which recharges that battery. Or batteries.

From there the battery has the power reserves that you’ll use to run the RV’s air conditioner. But, in most cases, you first have to convert the power that’s in the battery into something the AC can use.

Most RV air conditioners, including the one in our trailer, run on 120vac household power. The assumption is that, if you’re running RV air conditioning, you’re doing so on shore power and that shore power is 120 volt AC.

Back to me…

Here is Tony’s baseline test data with a stock 15,000 BTU air conditioner, 460 Ah Lithium battery and 1,000 watts of solar panels.

Read the rest of Tony’s very informative article HERE

Let’s play safe out there… Mike