Window air unit seer rating???

[RobOfYork]

I am shopping for a small 5,000 BTU window AC for occasional use in a very small area of the vehicle.

I keep hearing about seer rating. Not sure I am spelling that right. What would be considered a good seer rating?

Also, I keep hearing about adding a starting capacitor to the AC to reduce the surge when the compressor kicks in.

Anyone use one?

[Bert06840]

The EER is a number that tells you how much cold air you get for one unit of power that you put in. Higher is better. You ideally want 20 or above, because on the road, power is very sparse.

The s stands for more seasonal, specifically how well it does from spring to fall.

Modern A/C units that aren’t complete garbage should have acceptable starting currents and an extra cap shouldn’t do much or making it even worse.

[RobOfYork]

Originally Posted by Bert06840

The EER is a number that tells you how much cold air you get for one unit of power that you put in. Higher is better. You ideally want 20 or above, because on the road, power is very sparse.

Thanks.

So far I have only been able to find 5000 BTU units with an EER of about 12 or 13. I'm wondering if only the larger units have EER above 20?

The area I need to cool on occasion is only around 200 "cubic" feet. It's extremely small.

[Bert06840]

It depends how much power you have. On shore power, go with the cheap inefficient 5000 BTU type.

If you’re on solar on a shortish bus, it’s better to spend the extra $200 on a much more efficient A/C unit vs. getting $2000 extra in batteries/panels/charge controller to achieve the same outcome.

Even if you have to get a larger (say 12kBTU unit) that’s twice as efficient, you’ll run it only a fraction of the time.

[RobOfYork]

Originally Posted by Bert06840

Even if you have to get a larger (say 12kBTU unit) that’s twice as efficient, you’ll run it only a fraction of the time.

I did not think about that. Thanks. The area it needs to cool is only 7' x 7' and about 4 or 5 feet tall. So even a 5,000 btu unit is overkill.

But, if a larger one runs less and uses less power....

This is going in a small sleeping compartment in the chase van. It only has 600 watts of solar and a 280Ah LiFePo4 battery.

The plans are to run it when needed off the generator. And maybe 10 or 15 minutes off solar when absolutely necessary from time to time.