mini split solar ac for go fast boats...
 

Ive been doing some business with a guy here in colombia that has the ability to build some killer compact mini split ac syetems for boats.
I was thinking of partnering up with him to make them if there is enough interest, and handling the marketing in the states.
He is building solar powered inverter style fridges and freezers currently.
he also has a large solar power company so has lot of knowledge in this area.
I was thinking small unit that mounts in the engine bay, open your engine hatch to expose flip out solar panels to power the unit and have the inside unit hang from a deck hatch...or be permanently mounted to a bulkhead.
Im picking up some stuff from him in the am so will ask him to try to cost out a system.

Please let me know if you would be interested in a system if i can sell a 7 to 9k btu system in the 2k price range.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated... rm

if you can produce 7 to 9k btu without turning the entire deck of my boat into a 40'x8' solar panel I'm in. do you have or can you get details on how big the panel is projected to be?

I do not think it's possible . I would like to see the details and if it is on the level I would be in. But I'm in the trades and just don't think its possible to start a compressor without huge battery back up.

Maybe he could have duramax315 put this pipe dream into his 35 Fountain project:lolhit:

Oh lets do a little farmer math here, 7000-9000 btus of ac needs about 2 kw, a typical solar panel at 100% max output yields 250 watts, it would take 10-12 panels to get your 7000-9000 btus of ac, the panels are 200$ eac and are 32" x 64" so we are talking 382" x 768" of area, translates to what, a 10 foot by 17 ft wide array, or I guess you could have 2 rows 64" high by 10 feet long, each weighing 42 lbs with no frame or bracklets added so 12 42 Lb panels, , so lets say 500LBS, panels would cost 2400$, they arent real rugged unless mounted safely, cant be banged around, um, yeah, not on MY boat!!!! http://www.gogreensolar.com/products...-microinverter
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/produc...250S1C-G2.html

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainabl...rket-soon.html

This system is home grown but its 10k btu, on the thread about the honda vs yamaha 1000 watt gensets guys are using on the swim platform or in the engine bay. But they were running very low tech 5k btu ac systems.

Now look at this large 12k btu or so it appears running on thrèe solar panels
So a hi seer mini split of 6k btu should run just fine on two smaller panels...

http://www.hotspotenergy.com/solar-air-conditioner/

So stick ur farmers math in the ole corn ole o ye of little faith. Lol

I have been looking at and trying different ac systems on the cabanas im building on my island hotel. A 5k btu window shaker draws about 500+/-watts
my 12k btu GE inverter mini split draws 650 watts so halve that for a 6k btu mini split inverter ac and u should be around 325 watts... so it should be very doable... rm

If nasa had your outlook we would still be dreaming about space travel... shuttle ride anyone?

So the 2 solar panels would weigh about the same as a honda 1000 genset
The mini sllit would i think weigh the same or less than an old window shaker... game on btches

Whats the best way to lash down the honda genset and window shaker? bungee cords or duct tape while wave crushing.
I think a small permanently installed mini split would be way easier to live with

Im sure the system would need a small pair of batteries, but with the inverter ac units the compressor never shuts off so there is only one start up surge all day when u first turn it on.

I would also think using seawater to cool the condenser would markedly up the ac systems efficiency! And the size could be greatly reduced.
Come on u badazzes use your melons there are some smart mofos on the board that im sure can add some other good ideas... rm

Never seen a ac unit with a SEER rating of 35(looking at your second link) but if its true then you may really have something!

Lets just say the solar panels can power the a/c unit, what are the specs on it's ability to cool? What will it cool 85* or higher ambient air temp in the cabana down to?

Biggest issue I see is that the main time I would want A/C is at night when we are sleeping in the boat. Will there be a option to plug into shore power to run at night?

I work in the hvac field, to say I'm an expert is probably a long shot. I do have some knowledge on the the theory in question. First, inverter technology is the way the market is going. It is more efficient and doesn't take a big power surge to start it. You convert an ac signal to dc, then smooth it out and back to ac. It gives you a false ac but the compressor doesn't know any better. They also take single phase and convert it into 3 phase while doing this. This allows them to spin the compressor, especially for heat, up to 300x faster then running at 60 hertz. The other luxury is no high starting amps. Think of it like a VFD or a motor starter for a larger 50hp electric motor. Noone just flips a switch and starts them, you just slowly increase the heartz/ volts and it starts nice and smoothly.

As to the never seeing an a/c system with a seer of 35. Mitsubishi and Fujitsu have 9,000 btu air to air mini split systems that have a seer of 30. If you can use the water and have a more controlled head pressure the possibility of a 35 seer is there. I can't say the solar panels would work well for the boat, however of you already have shore power or a gen. I w I would think that an inverter water source mini split would be the ticket on a boat. You could get heat or cool very easily and then use very little power to operate it. I think you are on the right track island, just make it run on either the solar or the power in the boat.

What I think you should do is find a way to get the existing type of self-contained water-cooled units to run on dc-inverter technology. Then develop a new swim platform where the whole surface of the platform is a solar panel. A couple of extra batteries and a solar charger / inverter. During the day A/c runs off of solar, at night if batteries run out switch to shorepower or if not available by then you're probably sleeping anyway.
My 2 sense !

On the subject of your hotel, I have these beautiful, ultra-quiet room units that are perfect for hotel rooms. They are completely self-contained and do not require the outdoor condensing unit. I've been testing them for about 2 years and they work great. How many do you need ?

Ive never seen them water cooled, can you send me a link to check them out? Thx, rm

I don't believe there is one. That's why I was saying. If you can put an inverter mini split and combine it with a water source heat pump you would have the best system for a boat. All you should really need to do is make the outside could a water cooled coil and there you go. Figure your temp will go from 55 to 85 on your water temp as apposed to 0 to 100. ( those are temps in pittsburgh)

what does the term split system refer to? just curious . . . .

it's a system where the condensing unit is remotely mounted from the fan unit.

Thx for all the good ideas guys... keep em coming, rm

More than likely the ac manufacturer here will supply us the units set up to run on ac so we will just tie in the dc for the inverter and figure Out how to auto switch them to ac as soon as they are connected to an ac110v power source.
We will have to figure out the water cooled condensing aspect as the manufacturer only makes fridges and ac units for homes no marine related stuff as very few colombians have the coin to own a pleasure boat. Rm