cooling your tent or van

[unjonharley]

I brought my bucket cooler for demo's.

Sat it next to my chair blowing on my torso, so you don't need to be enclosed to be cool.

Just keep it portable so you can move it where you want it.

I would still be fun to show the temperature in and outside as you watch the sweaty people go by..

[andreas97]

To motskyroonmatick: I've done a number of small-scale/portable solar systems.... I'd definitely recommend having a battery system in-line. Panels are very finicky, and often you can get clouds (or dust storms) even in the hottest part of the day. But, regardless of which way you go, on playa you will need to clean them constantly. I am a newb to the playa, but from what I'm told, this last year was about the most dust-free in a long time... and I still had to clean panels several times per week to keep the electrons going. Remember, it's not all about voltage with solar panels, it's about current flow.

-andreas

[teardropper]

regardless of which way you go, on playa you will need to clean them constantly.
-andreas

How did you clean them?

I have thin film panels. I picked up half an amp before and after cleaning. I just started doing it every day.

[andreas97]

How did you clean them?

I have thin film panels. I picked up half an amp before and after cleaning. I just started doing it every day.

Honestly? just simple green's blue formula and paper towels. (I found out after the first time that if I tried using normal towels, I'd blow through them faster than we had time or water to clean them).... but I'm sure even just plain ammonia and water in a dilute solution would be fine.
But I saw the power output go down daily. We had all monocrystalline panels. I'm not sure on thin film, as I've not used them.

-andreas

[teardropper]

Yeah, paper towels. I dusted them first. I used a real dilute vinegar spray, like I would for any window, and just wiped till it was clean and not too hazy. That worked for me but there might be a better way...

[andreas97]

Yeah, paper towels. I dusted them first. I used a real dilute vinegar spray, like I would for any window, and just wiped till it was clean and not too hazy. That worked for me but there might be a better way...

If you find one, I'm always open to suggestions.

[andreas97]

If you find one, I'm always open to suggestions.

(Because the amount of paper towels I had to use..... horrified me.)

[teardropper]

I'm needing more power this year. Right now I power LED rope lights, 12 volt so no inverter, which was way better than the inverter, a small sound system and misc small electronics. I don't ask of it too much, so no blenders. But, as the general rule of ANY power goes, I need more... So I was thinking of one or the larger watt glass covered panels in a separate system, putting the thin film on the RV with the swamp cooler. What's your experience transporting them. The thin films are bomb proof, very easy and safe to transport, but they're larger to carry. Any special glass precautions...?

[andreas97]

What's your experience transporting them.

I've never had a problem..... for most of the times I use my system mobile, it's a glass panel mounted to the roof of a toyota 4runner. I have been, (at the speed limit, of course).... down the highway from MA to DE and back, and had no problems. It is currently sitting in my back yard, and during the recent freak blizzard, the system powered vital systems in my house for 2 days. On the drive out to the playa this past year, the panel I speak of was put on top of a mattress in an RV, (after having been wrapped) and then had things stacked on it.. (making sure of course to only sit on the framing, and not the back of the cells) I then did a temporary mount to the top of an RV using 2x4's... and I have yet to have a single problem with it. They're made to be hurricane-proof... so.... even though I handle it with kid gloves as I move it and mount/unmount it.... I probably don't need to.

[FIGJAM]

Go to page 40 for a complete recap of the cooler builds!

Bump.

[Canoe]

I am curious about minimizing the electricity usage of these. Would either of these options work for replacing the pump:

• Gravity fed: water drips onto the pad from a reservoir above the fan at the highest rate such that no water comes off the bottom of the pad (you'd need a way to adjust the drip rate).
• Capillary action fed: the pad is made out of a wicking material dipped into a reservoir below the fan (the amount of material could be adjusted to control the rate).
• Could a solar chimney create a draft strong enough to replace the fan?

If no water is coming off the bottom of the pad, then you'd have a dry section at the bottom of the pad for the hot air to flow through without getting chilled. You'd be mixing hot air from lower down with chilled air above. You want all the fibers continuously wet with a thin layer of water.

Gravity fed with enough flow to ensure the fibers stay wet, then once the water has collected to a given depth in the bucket, a pump turns on and pumps the water back up to the reservoir. The throttling of the water flow out of the reservoir and the water-level sensor to drive the pump are now two additional places for failure. But you'd save power.

Capillary fed. I just did a test on capillary mat. Dry mat hanging vertical into water lifts the water 1.25", with another 3/8" damp. Priming the mat with water keeps it wet up to 3.5" for several hours, but eventually falls back to barely more than the dry mat could pull up when placed into water. Dry mat passes air surprisingly readily. Fibres may be too close together to provide maximum water surface area for the air flow for the footprint of the mat. Suspicious that this may not be a suitable replacement for the blue fiber mat. Could be used in a horizontal wet filter configuration, but you'd need a much larger footprint than the designs that we already know work well.
But, cap-mat could lift water out of a reservoir onto the blue matting, but unlikely to have enough water flow to keep up with the job. You'd have to have lots of matting to feed the top of the blue mat to ensure enough flow to avoid dry sections. Don't know if you can have enough for it to work.

Would be interesting to see what a layer of capillary matting would do placed between the two layers of the blue fibre mat in the bucket. Could hold enough water to allow the pump to cycle on a timer, instead of continuous when the cooler is running. Would save some power if it worked, and only adds a timer, which you'd test to determine the cycle required.

Solar chimney. Possibly, but the structure you're cooling would have to be very very well sealed to rely upon a negative pressure inside the structure to pull air through the cooler. If you had something gathering wind to push into the cooler on the intake side, a solar chimney as the air exhaust for the structure would help. Done right, the wind blowing past the solar chimney would create a vacuum and also help. You'd still need the fan as backup, but they could provide a slower rate of cooling, some with solar chimney only, more in a modest wind, and more with the fan running. You'd need to be able to block the wind/chimney from running it when you didn't want to.

[teardropper]

Hey fig - I know you probably don't want to get into custom fitting - BUT - you know, well maybe just this once -- heh-heh...

OK, I've got a 20' class C and am thinking about your 5 gal orange one. Think that will cool it?

It is about an average size...

[FIGJAM]

Hey fig - I know you probably don't want to get into custom fitting - BUT - you know, well maybe just this once -- heh-heh...

OK, I've got a 20' class C and am thinking about your 5 gal orange one. Think that will cool it?

It is about an average size...

I dont think it would work as well as the unicooler.

Is there a shelf next to a sliding window?

If I was building for a space that large, I would make a unicooler the size of a large suitcase that would take a full sized pad on the intake side. (Need industrial size vent regester)

2"x2" foam rubber around the intake to act as a seal around the window.

If the window is an odd size, replace the screen with a piece of heavy cardboard and cut a hole in that to accomidate the intake.

The endless breeze would probably do the job, but this might be a better option. (though more expensive)

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200422029

It will be portable enough to put in place only when parked and you could set it outside for cooling and showing off!

[Canoe]

Assuming that the pump would handle the job, and that a larger/taller bucket could be used, for the computer fan you recommend for the HD bucket version, do you think the fan would provide enough air flow for a larger mat area?
Twice the size?
Three times the size?

[FIGJAM]

I think the bucket cooler as designed is at it's max as far as affectiveness is concerned.

This is due to the power used by the fan.

The puter fans that put out 250 cfm use 3 amps.

The endless breeze, including the pump amps is 2.5 for 900 cfm!

[Canoe]

Could the Endless Breeze be run horizontally, with its axis vertical?
And what's your guess on the max square inches that fan would pull air through?

[FIGJAM]

About 924 sq. ins.

Hard to get that much with a bucket, but youy might find something that will work.

It was easier to build a box, and much easier to duct!

[Canoe]

About 924 sq. ins.
Hard to get that much with a bucket, but youy might find something that will work.
It was easier to build a box, and much easier to duct!

Thanks!
There's a few garbage pails that could work, but I'm looking at a flat panel design with a box likely made from the hexayurt type panels, with a passive water feed. Ends up with some odd-ball stuff, trying to eliminate points of failure. Not elegant like the two designs you've developed so far, but not dead in the water yet. It can be done, just not sure yet if it's worthwhile. If all it's drawing is the fan, I get to save the power of the pump.

[FIGJAM]

Hereis the amp draw without the pump.

low 250 cfm 1.18

Med 500 cfm 1.62

high 900 cfm 2.58 ( = to 10mph wind)

With the sunforce fan you could triple the cfm, so three times the pad sq. in. and it's all solar.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200422029

[aka'aka]

OMG. Awesome Idea! I'm gonna make one for my 1971 16ft travel trailer asap...

[Canoe]

Nice info.

Here is the amp draw without the pump... high 900 cfm 2.58 ( = to 10mph wind)

The endless breeze, including the pump amps is 2.5 for 900 cfm!

EB@900 & pump can't drawn less than the EB@900 alone. Pump is around 300 mA?
Must be a mistype here?
Thanks,

[FIGJAM]

I did'nt have the specs in front of me when I said "2.5 including pump".

I never need more than the low speed, so that's the one that sticks in my mind, just shy of 1.5 with the pump.

That is also what the bucket cooler uses as far as power for 190 cfm with pump.

[Canoe]

... I never need more than the low speed, so that's the one that sticks in my mind, just shy of 1.5 with the pump. That is also what the bucket cooler uses as far as power for 190 cfm with pump.

1.5A
Wow!
Thanks,

So a lot of work to save 300mA doesn't make a lot of sense. A design using the Endless Breeze with more air flow for less current - that makes more sense.

Found a ready-made unit. The shape of their design is interesting for those looking to build something for an RV. Built right, it could hang in a window?
Now, how to modify the design so a strong playa wind can't blow right through it from one side and out the other, like a cross breeze. Some sort of a wind shield...

coolingEvapDurango1.jpg

[FIGJAM]

$487!!!

Needs an external water source piped in.

110 volt.

Unit has to sit outside the space.

These are the reasons that I designed the unicooler to go inside the space with the air intake on only one side of the cooler.

For half that price, I could design a cooler that's 12 volt, just as affective, portable, and would include a big battery to power it.

[andreas97]

These are the reasons that I designed the unicooler to go inside the space with the air intake on only one side of the cooler.

Indeed!!

As a funny note, I had someone stop by our camp and look at my setup last year, and they told me the unicooler "won't work" because it was inside the yurt. No matter how many times I explained that it was only drawing air from outside, they would not be deterred.

An added bonus of having it inside is that your cold beers floating in the bottom of the resevoir are inside the yurt too.

[FIGJAM]

Did you demonstrate it for him?

If you did and he still was'nt convinced.....

Oh, I believe he was de-turd!

For those that want to just throw money away there are these...

http://www.swampy.net/hprices.html

There were even some reviews by burners!

but I think mine are better.

[andreas97]

Did you demonstrate it for him?

Her... and yes... it was running at the time. *shrugs*

There is just no getting through to some people.

[Canoe]

$487!!! Needs an external water source piped in. 110 volt. Unit has to sit outside the space. These are the reasons that I designed the unicooler to go inside the space with the air intake on only one side of the cooler. For half that price, I could design a cooler that's 12 volt, just as affective, portable, and would include a big battery to power it.

Don't buy one!
An RV owner can build a swamp cooler based on your design, but with that shape so they can hang it in their RV window. No ducting, no new holes.
Hang it as soon as you hit the playa gate line.
Hang it on the side of the car...

[Canoe]

...told me the unicooler "won't work" because it was inside the yurt. No matter how many times I explained that it was only drawing air from outside, they would not be deterred.

New theme camp: teaching pigs to sing...

An added bonus of having it inside is that your cold beers floating in the bottom of the resevoir are inside the yurt too.

Now there's a design criteria!

Here's a "swamp cooler" fridge...
Don't remember where I found it.

evapocooler-2-dominic-kahumbu.jpg

[FIGJAM]

Power seemed to be the big question last year, so here's a few tips.

The 115AH battery from costco for $80 is a very good buy for what it is, but it is a lead acid battery.

I don't know the life expectancy on that.

The battery I use is a Deka 105AH AGM (absorbed glass mat) that I only use for BM.

The acid is in the mat, so even if a corner gets broken off, they don't leak.

They can be stood on end, on their side, or even upside down, it does'nt matter.

Mine stays on a control charger when not in use. (BatteryMinder)

I don't discharge below 50% and with the mantainance charger should last 10 years.

They cost about $240, BUT if you keep an eye out you can find factory seconds for half that price.

Mine were factory seconds just because they did'nt have labels.

I have 2.

One for my camp lights and cooler, the other for my swiss army ashtray. (trike with bells and whistles and a 30 mile range with one of those batteries.)

If I run the trike alot, I may have to hook my jumper cables to the trike battery and idle the truck for an hour to recharge.

That's how I manage Burning Man without a generator.