Using rear-A/C unit when stationary.

[AustinMiniMan]

Hi All,

I recently bought a 2002 Starcraft E-450 shuttle bus that I'm going to use as a motor home some of the time and a mobile workshop/race car hauler the rest of the time. I have a question about the rear A/C. It has a Carrier unit, not sure what model exactly. I'm guessing an RM35. These have stand alone compressors, right? Therefore, if I feed it enough 12V power, I should be able to get it to run without having the bus turned on? It'd be nice to re-use the existing system because it's already integrated and works (mostly). I'd like to avoid the cost/complexity of having to use a roof-top one if possible. Has anyone done a set-up like this?

Thanks. -Ted

[roach711]

My shuttle bus and the few others that I've seen all had engine driven compressors. My AC hoses were routed down the back wall of the bus then along the frame up to the engine compartment.

You'd need a huge battery bank to run an 12v AC compressor even for a little while.

[AustinMiniMan]

Well,the plan was to run it off a generator, presumably with a AC to DC converter, thus it wouldn't be running directly off the batteries.

[AustinMiniMan]

I was planning on powering it with a generator, presumably with an AC to DC converter, so battery capacity wouldn't matter.

[roach711]

Originally Posted by AustinMiniMan

I was planning on powering it with a generator, presumably with an AC to DC converter, so battery capacity wouldn't matter.

If your compressor is electrically powered, a generator will do the job. If the compressor is engine driven you'll have to come up with plan B.

Once you figure out which one you have we can go from there, but I'm betting your compressor is engine driven.