Keeping cool at night

[Ksar-el-kebir]

We use this in sweden all year, mainly to get fresh air in the cabin. In warmer temperatures it seems it makes no practical difference. We have both side windows open or the complete side door to cope with temps 25 and up.

How long will it run on the 12v Leisure Battery?
How is it fitted and how/where does it get rid of the heat from the condenser?
A link to the Unit would be useful.

Demetic under bench Freshwell 2000. Either run off Mains hook up or leisure batteries. I'm getting it fitted for around £350. You can see a picture and spec on O'Briens site. A roof mounted wouldn't be good for me as I don't want to increase the height, verve by 50mm and it's problematic with a pop-top

 

[CYCLOPATH]

Demetic under bench Freshwell 2000. Either run off Mains hook up or leisure batteries. I'm getting it fitted for around £350. You can see a picture and spec on O'Briens site. A roof mounted wouldn't be good for me as I don't want to increase the height, verve by 50mm and it's problematic with a pop-top

I am interested how it can run off the leisure battery.
Power consumption 650 watts....the invertor manages 150 watts max.
Obviously ok when on hook up, but from the instructions( in German) I couldn't see where the heat generated goes.
I would be fascinated to hear how you get on....my fan solution only pushes hot air around in hot weather, which is better than nothing, but not ideal.

 

[MattBW]

I just use small USB fans via an adapter if we think our dogs will be too warm. When on hookup these can be used with my mains multiplug which has USB ports in it.

 

[andyinluton]

When we had a big white motorhome we had habitation area aircon unit fitted. The 250amp 12v batterys would last about half an hour if we weren't on hook up. On 240v the thing was as noisy as having the engine running - not just inside the van but for the adjoining campers as well.

As hot air rises, fitting aircon at low level means you will get cold feet downstairs & still roast in the poptop.

If you sleep upstairs its going to be ineffectual - check out the threads re temperature difference in winter with the heater downstairs.

If you sleep downstairs the last thing you will want is a noisy unit under your bed.

For occasional use in a heatwave, I would just turn on the engine & cab aircon for 15 mins to cool things down or go for a short drive.

 

[WelshGas]

Demetic under bench Freshwell 2000. Either run off Mains hook up or leisure batteries. I'm getting it fitted for around £350. You can see a picture and spec on O'Briens site. A roof mounted wouldn't be good for me as I don't want to increase the height, verve by 50mm and it's problematic with a pop-top

Best of luck.
Dometic and O'Obrien state a 1800 watt Inverter is required with a Minimum Leisure Batteries of 250+ amps and Current usage of 30 - 113 amps/ hr. giving you about 2 - 3 hrs use if you wish to preserve the leisure battery. Also you would have to find a way of doubling your Leisure Battery capacity as the Ocean only has 2 x 75 amp/hr Leisure Batteries.

 

[andyinluton]

Your going to need a bigger van to put that lot in, that amount of electrics running is going to generate a fair bit of heat as well. Its not just the amount of batteries that you need to provide the power, your next problem is going to be finding enough power to recharge them again.

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

I agree, it's a non starter. Soz to waste time. Went to a Demetic installer today and he said to forget it. He did put me on another track though. I'll post if it seems feasible.

 

[ChrisB]

I live in a ferociously hot region of Spain and the Spanish know a thing or two about keeping cool.

The trick is to try and keep the sun out of the vehicle in the first place. Use foil reflective window blinds on all windows (including tinted) as much as possible. You can even do it on the poptop roof.

Pre made ones are very good but can be expensive. Cheapo ones from the local pound shop will have a dramatic effect on reducing the internal temp'. They might look a bit naff, but believe me, they work.

They are easily available from 'Chino Marts' in Spain. You can cut them to an appropriate shape and use suckers or even sticky tape to hold them in place.

Spend the money on good window and tailgate vents as shown in previous posts. Try to avoid leaving doors wide open and windows down as they soon turn into a nice little 2kw heater!

Once you have secured the sunshine, you can 'burst blast' the aircon to cool the vehicle down inside. It wont take too long either because it doesn't have to fight the sun so much.
Hope this helps.

 

[Yorkie]

I live in a ferociously hot region of Spain and the Spanish know a thing or two about keeping cool.

The trick is to try and keep the sun out of the vehicle in the first place. Use foil reflective window blinds on all windows (including tinted) as much as possible. You can even do it on the poptop roof.

Pre made ones are very good but can be expensive. Cheapo ones from the local pound shop will have a dramatic effect on reducing the internal temp'. They might look a bit naff, but believe me, they work.

They are easily available from 'Chino Marts' in Spain. You can cut them to an appropriate shape and use suckers or even sticky tape to hold them in place.

Spend the money on good window and tailgate vents as shown in previous posts. Try to avoid leaving doors wide open and windows down as they soon turn into a nice little 2kw heater!

Once you have secured the sunshine, you can 'burst blast' the aircon to cool the vehicle down inside. It wont take too long either because it doesn't have to fight the sun so much.
Hope this helps.

Having spent a month in Spain I have made some topper foils to help:

 

[Velma's Dad]

The trick is to try and keep the sun out of the vehicle in the first place.

Excellent point. The aim is to stop direct sunlight falling onto, and thereby heating by radiation, the solid surfaces inside the vehicle. Once hot they will then re-radiate/convect the stored heat back into the interior air for ages, like a storage heater.

We keep a cheapo lightweight internal reflective shield** in the van door pocket and pop it on whenever we have to park in the sun even if it's just for half an hour. It makes a huge difference when you get back to the van. It also incidentally serves as our night-time front window blind so we don't have to dick about with the stupid grey fabric curtain that comes with the T5.

** The type that has two flexible wire hoop 'springs' to keep in place. Really easy to curl up again and stuff in the door pocket when not in use. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DTZC276/?tag=vwcalifornia-21

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

Excellent point. The aim is to stop direct sunlight falling onto, and thereby heating by radiation, the solid surfaces inside the vehicle. Once hot they will then re-radiate/convect the stored heat back into the interior air for ages, like a storage heater.

We keep a cheapo lightweight internal reflective shield** in the van door pocket and pop it on whenever we have to park in the sun even if it's just for half an hour. It makes a huge difference when you get back to the van. It also incidentally serves as our night-time front window blind so we don't have to dick about with the stupid grey fabric curtain that comes with the T5.

** The type that has two flexible wire hoop 'springs' to keep in place. Really easy to curl up again and stuff in the door pocket when not in use. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DTZC276/?tag=vwcalifornia-21

I spend a lot of time in Morocco where it can get quite hot. Having been a lorry driver for ? years on European routes I know about keeping the cab cool.
I want something to keep the van cool at night without letting wee bitey things in.
Been looking at the Indel B SW. Now comes in 12 volt and plugs into a lighter socket. Not cheap at £1,800 but on a van costing as much as a California, not too much to spend to keep cool at night.

 

[T6Beach]

We are off to the South of France tomorrow and where we are staying is predicted to be 46 degrees over the weekend and into next week.

The main thing we have sadly done is put the dog into kennels as to take a dog to that sort of heat would just be pure stupid and not fair on our beloved pet. ( anyone else considering taking their dog to this sort of heat please do not do it, it takes a dog 60 days to climatise itself)

For us we are not so worried however we realise we will have some very few uncomfortable days and nights of not being able to do anything so just looking for some tips on how to make it more bearable especially at night as we know from experience that the Cali is not a very pleasant place when hot?

 

[Ryemslie]

I spend a lot of time in Morocco where it can get quite hot. Having been a lorry driver for ? years on European routes I know about keeping the cab cool.
I want something to keep the van cool at night without letting wee bitey things in.
Been looking at the Indel B SW. Now comes in 12 volt and plugs into a lighter socket. Not cheap at £1,800 but on a van costing as much as a California, not too much to spend to keep cool at night.

Where were you thinking of mounting it?

 

[flying banana]

I'm just back from a hot Europe. found at night especially if you can bag a shady afternoon spot. ask where SHADE is or check for yourself . we didn't find it uncomfortably hot on a night time at all. with Windows open and drinking plenty of cold beers your bladder will be your biggest issue. even our dog slept ok. enjoy.

 

[westfalia]

I'm just back from a hot Europe. found at night especially if you can bag a shady afternoon spot. ask where SHADE is or check for yourself . we didn't find it uncomfortably hot on a night time at all. with Windows open and drinking plenty of cold beers your bladder will be your biggest issue. even our dog slept ok. enjoy.

View attachment 36152

Haha, that dog looks like it wants one of your beers.

 

[flying banana]

Haha, that dog looks like it wants one of your beers.

he also eyes up my snap on the safari chef.

 

[Lewis]

I spend a lot of time in Morocco where it can get quite hot. Having been a lorry driver for ? years on European routes I know about keeping the cab cool.
I want something to keep the van cool at night without letting wee bitey things in.
Been looking at the Indel B SW. Now comes in 12 volt and plugs into a lighter socket. Not cheap at £1,800 but on a van costing as much as a California, not too much to spend to keep cool at night.

Really like the look of this. How would you feed the hoses out though without leaving the windows down to let in midges/possible intruders?

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

It only arrived yesterday. Working until Monday so I’ll have a look Tuesday and let you know.

 

[Gasgas]

We have purchased an a/c unit from " cool my camper " it is a split pack connected by an unbilical cord ,you hang one half outside the sliding window on a table with the other half sitting on the glass kitchen unit . I had to buy a sheet of 2mm plastic and use the Cali fly screens as a template and make a solid screen with a small cut for the cord to seal the interior ..it really does keep it nice and chilled

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

We have purchased an a/c unit from " cool my camper " it is a split pack connected by an unbilical cord ,you hang one half outside the sliding window on a table with the other half sitting on the glass kitchen unit . I had to buy a sheet of 2mm plastic and use the Cali fly screens as a template and make a solid screen with a small cut for the cord to seal the interior ..it really does keep it nice and chilled

It looks good!

 

[kurienp]

It looks good!

The decision is also between the 'cool my camper' which works only on AC power and the indel which can work on 12v DC. Indel for stealth camping. Will be interested in how you plan to fix.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Volkywagen]

My friend owns the Transcool business up here, (cooling systems for vans and caravans) so if anybody is interested let me know. I might be able to rustle up a decent discount or two

 

[Ksar-el-kebir]

My friend owns the Transcool business up here, (cooling systems for vans and caravans) so if anybody is interested let me know. I might be able to rustle up a decent discount or two

Evaporative coolers are good in a dry climate but when it’s humid they add to the humidity.

 

[Annik]

Just looked at some videos of the cool my camper unit and it looks big and bulky in the motorhomes so I suspect it's even more bulky in the Cali. Don't you find you need to keep moving it from place to place if you use it on the worktop? Some images of it in use would be cool please?

 

[Gasgas]

Hooked together they are bulky ,but apart not so as the internal unit is smaller and much lighter. I have only had it a little over a week ,the test that I did was to leave it running for about 1.5 hours in the Cali on the worktop facing the bench seats with the homemade screen in place and it was lovely and cold ,so imo no need to move it unless it was getting uncomfortably cold . We don't often use the sink in the Cali when we camp so it's not really in the way. They do say it is not suitable for campers with sliding Windows but by using the vw fly screens as a template with a solid piece of plastic seems to work well. When I did my test I did have the roof up and also the internal ceiling with the upstairs windows shut . On the making of the screen I had to sand the lugs on the corners to make them thinner so that they fitted correctly (as per the original vw ones)..I will try and post you some pics soon