Hello All.
Just purchased 1995 Monarch in which wife and I plan to live for 6-12 months or until we find a house for sale in the area of northeastern Nebraska we are moving to.
Lots of firsts:
1st RV
1st time living in RV
1st time living in Nebraska.
1st time joining message board.
Looking to swap out heat pump with mini split unit and potentially run off solar power. RV has existing solar that is upgradable. I found AM Solar in Oregon ( We currently live in the PNW) for the solar install. What I am hoping to find is someone to install ac unit. Any recommendations in WA, OR, NE, MN, SD, IA would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!!!

Welcome to Barthmobile! Good luck with your new lifestyle and project.

There are several members here who should be able to comment on your project. Of the many things I have done to my Barths, solar is not one. I too am interested in the concept.

Another Monarch. We had all 5 of the one we knew of at the Minnesnowta GTG last year.

Welcome, Welcome,Welcome,Welcome

Where did you find it? How long?

AM solar has been around a long time. My uncle, used them to install the solar and inverter charger in DBarth in earl 2000’s. They did a great job.

I have 360 watts of solar on mine but have room for expansion. I have 3 100 amp hours of lithium batteries in Midnight. There are others who have much bigger systems in the group. Running air conditioning takes a huge battery bank. Never heard of anyone swapping to a mini split. Doesn’t mean never done. Heat pump/air is what most have.

I saw it done once. They installed the condensor unit on the rear. Ran the lines inside. They are far more efficient.

Have a split system in my house, does a great job, no forced air with a boiler system. They are super quiet, would be really curious how it works out in an RV!

A well engineered custom system could be very impressive. Dad considered it for his boat. An external condensor, with internal evaporator(s) strategically placed, and two compressors would cover all needs. One compressor, engine driven, to operate while under power. Another efficient electrical compressor for shore and solar power use.

Evaporator location, fan size and heat capacity could be matched to the internal cabin cooling needs. These, in turn, would dictate what size the condensor unit and compressors should be. Engine driven compressors are easily available in many sizes.
A larger unit would allow extra capacity for initial cooling, then cycle to maintain the temp.

The electric compressor would ideally be soft start and maximum efficiency for solar use. A small motor with nearly constant duty would be most efficient, but not as capable of initial cooling when started up. A larger motor would allow faster initial cooling, with shorter run cycles to maintain temps, but some efficiency would be sacrificed.

A skilled engineer could design a very impressive system. A good technician would be needed to fabricate cooling lines, and evaporator and condensor enclosures. Very cool, literally.

At last years GTG the only other attendees were Gary and Monica, and their very nice Regency had a split system that Gary installed. The unit was in a basement compartment and the inside module was in the face of an overhead cabinet. The biggest advantage was that it was so quiet. You barely knew it was running inside the coach, but it cooled the entire coach very well. I have no idea how much electricity it demands or uses, but I now know that it is at least possible.

Never considered how much power is needed to cool a moving vehicle. Was surprised to learn a midsized car A/C compressor puts out about 60k BTU at highway speeds. Not sure how much it cycles at that speed or if it needs to run all the time. My guess is it needs that many BTU's or they would not make them that large, well they are car engineers so who knows!! If the unit now in Nose starts to compressor cycle, it gets shut off if I am trying to sleep!

My house split system is only 20k BTU and easily cools over 1000 Square foot. The roof top A/C in Nose is 15k BTU and will barely cool it, even when not moving. Nose is only about 160 square foot.

Interesting problem how does one make an efficient evaporator that will handle a 60k engine compressor or more when needed, and then drop back and use say 20k for a large stopped, insulated RV on electric power. A poorly insulated unit like Nose cycling on and off would be quite a pain to have to put up with or even a variable speed fan. Needs some thought. Maybe multi-evaporators in parallel, so a selection can be made based on the available power might work. That is a bit complicated, probably need a computer

Might be best to just run the Generator when using A/C and accept the fact it may not get as cool as one might like, unless you run the dash A/C too.

Steve, Dometic purchased Cruiseaire from Taylormade. These are seawater cooled remote compressors servicing remote evaporators with a fan,usually multi-speed. As you might imagine they very quiet. Given the large difference in heat capacity of air and water
I'm not sure of translation.

Cruise-air became Taylor, is now Dometic. These have remote water exchange compressors feeding remote evaporaters with their own fans. Quiet with water exchange but the water pump is .5 to 1.0 hp to manage the business. The system doesn't want much more than 6 or 7 degrees F rise. I have electric heat for mine.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:
Welcome to Barthmobile! Good luck with your new lifestyle and project.

There are several members here who should be able to comment on your project. Of the many things I have done to my Barths, solar is not one. I too am interested in the concept.

Thank You.
The RV is named "Rosie" with a pic of Rosie the Robot on the front and back. I think pix have been uploaded from previous owners. (Who are super cool people) She's going in for service this week and should be ready for delivery soon. After talking to a few folks, we are going to hold off on the split unit. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

quote:

Originally posted by Dana:
Another Monarch. We had all 5 of the one we knew of at the Minnesnowta GTG last year.

Welcome, Welcome,Welcome,Welcome

Where did you find it? How long?

AM solar has been around a long time. My uncle, used them to install the solar and inverter charger in DBarth in earl 2000’s. They did a great job.

I have 360 watts of solar on mine but have room for expansion. I have 3 100 amp hours of lithium batteries in Midnight. There are others who have much bigger systems in the group. Running air conditioning takes a huge battery bank. Never heard of anyone swapping to a mini split. Doesn’t mean never done. Heat pump/air is what most have.

We have not seen any pics from Sneelock (Chuck and Julie)the previous owner. I had forgotten he had a Monarch. He didn’t want to fight with Photobucket. We sure understand that!

Look forward to a pic. I know Chuck did a lot of work on Rosie.

quote:

Originally posted by Dana:
We have not seen any pics from Sneelock (Chuck and Julie)the previous owner. I had forgotten he had a Monarch. He didn’t want to fight with Photobucket. We sure understand that!

Look forward to a pic. I know Chuck did a lot of work on Rosie.

With the current Photobucket situation, just attach photos to your posts. Limit of one per post, just do multiple posts if you need to. If they aren't the right size I will resize them. Good luck with your "new" coach. Enjoy it!

Have Barth, will travel

Well I went and looked at Portlands Craigslist and saw pictures of “Rosie”! Looks like is DBarth and Midnight had a child.
Early Monarch Nice storage, nice Coach.