Sport bus the Short bus

[cadillackid]

is this the Condensor you have?

SKIRT MOUNT CONDENSER 41,400 BTU/HR (10,433 KCAL/HR) 95CFM

if so that has a pretty high power fan on it... that one had the reefer style fan in the Pic...


-Christopher

[brokedown]

The condenser looks about right but the fan is totally wrong. It's a 14" fan. I was able to find a tag on the fan shroud but can't find it online. Possibly the fans were retrofitted to replace those reefer ones? Photos coming in a second.

[brokedown]

In order:

Label from the rear unit
Condenser hole for fan mount on the front unit, looks crudely cut
Front fan removed
Rear condenser with fan installed

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[cadillackid]

it definitely looks like they modded the units to use different fans... these things should definitely be puller fans..

I should be able to find the specs on the ProAir fan.. it looks like a SPAL or flex-a-lite knockoff..

Derale makes some really nice hotrod fans..

they arent cheap but they move air! im not sure how much amperage your current fans pull however this fan will have a decent surge current and probably pull 25-30 amps running. it can be wired as high or low speed.. high speed will likely move over 2000 CFM of air. as a puller..

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/d...hoC9s8QAvD_BwE


you need to make sure that you are properly fused or breakered / wired to use this fan.. but it will make your condensor stay cool.. if you are building an arduino or RPI set up you could even wire its high / low speed up to match the temperature of the Liquid line coming off of the condensor...

Derale fans arent quiet.. however this is your Engine air so theres already the noise of the 444E anyway.. you wont hear the fans..

I can look for other options if you like..

-Christopher

[cadillackid]

your system does appear to have a sight glass.. in the bottom picture to the right of the receiver dryer canister theres a hexaganol flat , that should be your sight glass.. wipe it off and should be able to see in.. it may have a Plastic dust cover on it that pops out..

-Christopher

[brokedown]

My HF meter says the fans I have pull around 5 amps, the front one has a tag that says 80 watts. They are puller. A pair of 22 amp fans might blow the bus over!

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[cadillackid]

if that fan is only pulling 5 amps itsn ot moving much air...
-Christopher

[cadillackid]

as for overkill - im just trying to keep you from ruining more compressors.... and keep your bus cold inside...

I know when we were at the last ECCB gathering and I was in your bus that the front unit at that time definitely wasnt cold like it shouldve been.. it was cool...
everyone was more into the gathering than wanting to hear me talk about A/C .. and I think you mentioned it might be low on freon at the time..

the principle of A/C is that the amount of heat you wish to remove from the inside of the bus must be removed by the condensor on the outside.. the freon simply "carries" the heat from one place to another... a messenger so to say...
-Christopher

[brokedown]

Yeah I think my meter is preventing it from getting more. Audibly it isn't spinning as fast through the meter as directly connected..m

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[brokedown]

Just ordered a pair of those fans, couple bucks less on Amazon, delivery Thursday. Still need to replace a fitting but we are sitting tight through the week here.

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[cadillackid]

good deal!! you'll have cold air again before long!
-Christopher

[BowserJournal]

Love the fact you have a kayak with you! We love to kayak!

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by brokedown

Back on the road. Huge thanks to our new friends Steve and Angela. You guys rock!


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Thank YOU for visiting!! We had a great time. You are most welcome back any time and we will certainly be stopping by when we get to Florida.

Safe Travels.

S.

[brokedown]

Got my new fans in today and installed them. They clearly flow a ton more air than the previous ones, and my pressures seem to be sitting much lower. Return hoses are cold! One is a bit colder than the other but they're cold not cool. Good sign. It's about 88 degrees outside and things were humming. Thanks for the fan recommendation, Christopher!

I kept the old ones, they look like toys compared to the new ones. I might hose them off and try to use them as window fans or something.

I also repaired my kayak. I've been stationary and I had a coupon for harbor freight to get a 1500 watt heat gun for $8, and of course another coupon to get a free blue flashlight, and the GF was next to a harbor freight getting her nails done. I use a piece of a Soylent bottle and hopefully the simple fix works.. If not I'll have to cut a bigger hole to make it easier to fix...

Sounds like the poop is about to hit the fan in Florida so keeping a watchful eye on that situation. My boat is currently docked in Madeira Beach behind a dude's house, and they just issued a mandatory evacuation for that area...

[cadillackid]

good deal on the fans!!! cold A/C is good!!!

positive energy for the area in FL... my apartment building downtown by the bay got called for Evac.. latest models trended the storm a tad further west... the original 7 day model had the storm running up the western coast of FL... the ONLY reason it trended so far east was the major cold front which is marching down the US.. (it was 88 in ohio 3 days ago now its 64 for a high!! that said. Jose being on irmas tail right now is trending it westward.. so watch closely as that front is beginning to weaken. so it may pull westward.. no place in the state is going to be good.. but the more it goes up through the middle of the state the more it can weaken in less-dense populated areas.. a track up the middle would still hammer orlando pretty hard as a mid-level 2, but skirting away from MIA, ft myers, and Tampa would surely help.. running up wither coast helps to keep its strength up..

sorry im a bit of a weather geek too...

-Christopher

[brokedown]

As they say, no rest for the wicked!

Between hurricanes and air conditioners I thought I had enough craziness.The universe disagreed and my alternator went kaput. My voltage was dropping slowly, but I could tell something was wrong.. I considered that maybe it was just reading low because I was running my new high power condenser fans but turning them off wasn't changing things. I've got 2 good size crank batteries but when my voltage was in the 11s and not the 12s I was getting pretty concerned.

After bumping my multimeter into various things I decided I should get the alternator tested. Of course, the voltage was already too low for the stupid meter AutoZone uses to test it in your car, so I took it out so they could bench test it. News to me, their bench tester needs a profile loaded for your alternator to test it, and they didn't have it and wouldn't touch it. I figured it would be an easy test, its a 150A alternator, if it craps out at 10A then its bad, right? But they thanked me for my time and sent me packing.

NAPA was no better. They were able to look up a part to sell me, but they also had a tester that required a profile, and that profile didn't exist.

So back to my first instinct, I called an alternator rebuilder. They knew my alternator right away, they had a real machine for testing them that wasn't a toy, and they had freshly rebuilt alternators on the shelf I could swap for if mine was bad. Unfortunately, they were 20 minutes away (according to Google), they closed in 35 minutes, and my bus was only half assembled.

I've never been much for speed-wrenching but I got the alternator back in place (faster than getting the belt off) and threw the air filter and intake into the bus.. And hauled bus-ass, formula 1 style with the turbo at maximum volume. I got there with a couple minutes to spare,yanked the alternator back out, threw it on the bench, and their tester's needle went straight to FAIL. Did I mention it was 1000 degrees and I could barely carry it with a glove holding a towel?

THey ended up not being in any hurry so we looked at possible upgrade options, but for various reasons (dollar bills and fabrication requirements) settled on a direct replacement with a nice 150A unit they had on the shelf. $188 later (after tax) and I turned my voltage drains into voltage gains.

I'm not yet convinced that I can run the full AC system at idle. Those condenser fans are no joke and are dual speeds, maybe a project soon will be to switch between low and high speeds based on pressure in the condenser? Need to see if that pressure sensor is just a switch or if I can measure it with an arduino...

In other news, we're waiting in Boise still for a package we overnighted from Florida on Thursday that still hasn't arrived. After that I think we're cutting across Wyoming as fast as possible, we're over a week behind our predicted travel plans.

[cadillackid]

ugh dont rebuild that old tech alternator... get a BOSCH SB-200. its a 200 amp alternator that will give you 80% output at 1200 Alternator RPM (note not engine RPM)..

i my DEV bus I have that and it easily runs 3 of those condensor fans and my dual high capacity inside blowers. for the rear and dash air at idle.. worst case you bump your idle up to 900 or so...
-Christopher

[brokedown]

I'll add that to my potential future upgrades list. Honestly those fans are probably the biggest draw of juice in the bus, over 250W each at full tilt. But I should still be well under my power budget, once my batteries build back up!

Either way I needed an alternator so it wasn't a good time to be picky

[cadillackid]

the fans I used to cool my hotrod Monte carlo were 42 Amps each on high speed. and there were 2 of them... one puller one pusher.. the A/C was ICE cold in that car

I had some success using a pressure transducer and a SPAL variable speed fan controller for A/C in that car..

-Christopher

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

BOSCH SB-200. its a 200 amp alternator that will give you 80% output at 1200 Alternator RPM (note not engine RPM)..

good looking unit. looks pricey...