Can you help me get information on solar powered portable air conditioners?

Wow, such a thing exists? It takes a lot of power to run the compressor and fans on an air conditioner, your solar array will be bigger than the roof over that room.

@dabbler I am hoping it exists. I am not sure.

I doubt it could ever be cost effective to power a AC with the current prices of panels. You could do a array of batteries to help. But we are talking thousands of dollars for supplies to save to save 5 bucks a month.

edit: if portability is the problem you would be better off buying a small gas generator.

@johnpowell It is not to save money. It is for when I am at a race track sweating my ass off.

@JLeslie :: See my edit.

Do you have a budget of $5000.00 ? They make solar panels with inverters for ~7 AMP 110 volt service. You would need several (read a dozen 12 volt batteries really your power source ) .
Panel and batteries be most of the $5000, AC unit for about $500.00

@johnpowell I think of gas generators as being very noisy? Are there quieter ones now?

@Tropical_Willie $5,000 would definitely blow the budget LOL.

Panel for 5 to 7 AMP at 110 volts cost $2500 to $3500. Most AC units draw more than that, the batteries are the real power source.

@JLeslie :: I can’t imagine the noise of a generator is going to come close to that of a racetrack. Ours is pretty quite, like a lawnmower engine idling. And it was pretty cheap. I haven’t tried running my small AC from it but by the numbers it should work.

I think that air conditioners use to much power to have a battery big enough to be considered “poerable.” Depending on what you’re looking for, you can get a portable solar array, and plug an AC into it, but you would have to haul it on a trailer.

For a 12×12 space, you’ll need about 10,000 to 12,000 BTU (the experts will say that’s too much for that size space, but if you want your space to get cooled down from blistering hot to comfortable in your lifetime each time you come home, that’s the MINIMUM what you’ll need). Now, a 12,000 BTU AC draws about 12 amps at 120VAC. So, basically, you’ll need a mid-size solar farm to power that sucker (and a basement full of deep discharge batteries for cloudy days, but hopefully you won’t need to run your A/C on cloudy days so maybe you can skip the batteries, as others said the batteries are your biggest expense). Hope you have an acre or two of land to place solar panels :-p

@HungryGuy, I power a 1500 square foot unit with 2 window AC’s in Bakersfield California with 12 panels in Hot City, (Bakerfield, CA) and we over built. We usually get a credit on our power bill. (Sorry, I can’t remember how many Watts the system is, I have to ask the hubby.)

@Judi – To determine watts, just multiply volts times amps (the amperage should be listed on an information plate somewhere on the unit). If this is a home unit, it uses either 120 volts or 240 volts. A/C units of 15,000 BTU or less generally use 120 volts. Units of more than 15,000 BTU generally use 240 volts. If your plug looks like a happy face (2 vertical slots and a “nose”), it’s 120 volts. If your plug looks like a sad face (2 horizontal slots), it’s 240 volts.

@HungryGuy ; I meant the watts that the solar array produces.

@JLeslie

If you’re at a race track, then I’m assuming this is an automotive race track, right? Cars? Loud engines? In that case, the relatively lower noise of a portable generator that you add to the mix can’t be too objectionable, can it? Small gasoline or propane powered generators that produce up to 3000 W @ 120 VAC but which you wouldn’t want to live with (enough to power a normal / small size window air conditioner) are available for about $200 – $300. If quiet operation really is a concern, then expect to pay about $700 and up for the same power output. Look for “RV type” generators in that case. They’re designed and built specifically for quiet operation, not simply housed in a box.

And that’s a standard, off-the-shelf 120VAC window air conditioner of the type that you’d see stuck in windows anywhere in this country.

I was just looking at freestanding portable room air conditioners at Lowe’s last night. They have a good selection of non-window units for $300 – $500. No window required. Just plug it in.

You could always go the old-fashioned way and get a battery operated fan and a chunk of dry ice. Put the dry ice in front of the fan, and let it blow.

@BarnacleBill – That’s not entirely true. I’m aware of such units. They do require some means of venting the hot air outside, otherwise they couldn’t possibly work (no getting around the laws of physics, I’m afraid). Plus the same is true of A/C units as with computers: you pay more per “unit of performance” (whether BTU or GHz) for a portable unit than a more permanent unit.

Might not be as good as an AC, but I’ve seen solar powered fans that go in your car window to keep it from being ungodly hot while in a parking lot. You could maybe adapt one of those.

@JLeslie – I happened to stumble upon this—> http://www.solarpanelsplus.com/solar-air-conditioning/. It’s not portable, though. But I’ll wager that it’ll be neigh impossible to find something that’s both solar powered and portable simply due to the number and/or size of solar panels and batteries and other related equipment that goes along with it…

Thanks everyone! Very informative.

The track noise, yes car racing track, is not very loud over where we set up our trailers and canopies. A generator right next to you would be louder and more annoying than track noise, that is considering the generators I have experienced. I’ll maybe think about looking at RV generators if I really pursue this. Even 10–15 degrees would help, it doesn’t have to be super fantabulous 65 degrees inside or anything like that. It would easily be vented, just stick the tube outside the side of the “tent.”

We probably should have a generator anyway for when the electricity goes out during a storm or something.

Yeah so many companies are coming up with Solar powered products. I am not sure where you live. Please check with them if they can offer service at your place. http://kingtecsolar.com/contact/