No there isn’t. And it’s very expensive to power air conditioners on batteries…
Hey Mike,
I just saw my grandparents last week and talked to them about what generator I should get for Oshkosh. Now, we were looking at the rules for Oshkosh and see they don’t allow gas generators at all during the quiet hours, which are from 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM. We have been monitoring the weather and the temps are gonna be hot at night. So we really need to get a generator that’s electric (not gasoline) that can run everything for our situation without making any noise. -Tyler
Hey Tyler,
Actually, there’s no such thing as an “electric generator”. I think you mean a Solar Generator since they don’t use gasoline or propane to make electricity. But the so called Solar Generators you see advertised aren’t generators at all. They’re just lithium batteries and a 120-volt AC inverter in a box, which also have solar panels for recharging. So they only store electricity, not actually produce power like a gasoline generator does from fossil fuel.
Here’s a Solar Generator from Bluetti that stores 2,000 Wh (Watt Hours) of energy. Now, a standard RV air conditioner requires around 14 amps of current at 120-volts, which is 1,680 watts. So if we divide 2,000 Wh / 1,680 Watts it works out to about 1 hour and 12 minutes of air conditioner running time. That’s how how long it could power a rooftop RV air conditioner before its battery is down to 0% charge and needs to recharged for several hours using a gasoline generator
How many batteries do you need for air conditioning?
Now with enough batteries in your RV and an efficient air conditioner you can get 8 or 10 hours of sleep on batteries alone. But it will take at least 800Ah of Lithium batteries and a 3,000-watt inverter to make this happen. That would be eight lithium batteries the size of a car battery that are 100 Amp-hrs and cost around $300 each. Yikes!!!
And you’ll also need a 3,000-watt gasoline ⛽️ generator for powering your daytime RV air conditioning while recharging those RV batteries for the next night.
Is it possible?
Yes, but maybe not practical unless you get an RV designed with that much battery storage to begin with. For example, my GeoPro camper has a 400Ah (Amp-hr) MasterVolt Lithium battery and a 3,000 watt Hybrid inverter with 600 watts of solar panels on the roof. That really big battery can power the 13,500 BTU rooftop air conditioner for 4 to 5 hours. After that, I need to plug into a 3,000-watt generator to run daytime air conditioning while recharging the battery bank. And yes, gasoline does cost money.
Yes, this is all expensive!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this ain’t cheap. There’s just no inexpensive way to power an RV air conditioner in a remote camping setting without using a gasoline generator. However, this would be a great application for a propane fuel cell. I’ve watched them being built in a test factory and I’m on the short list to get a review sample. But that’s all I can say for now. 🫢
Let’s play safe out there… Mike
