Rear A/C question

[Munkiebunz3]

Currently the 2016 EL model I have has a rear unit and separate controller. As it is now, the front climate has to be on for the rear to work. Is it possible to separate that so that the rear controls can turn on the rear system?
Also, I'm going to put a second battery, inverter and solar panel in the cargo area in place of the 3rd row & still have the flat cargo area. Is it just a pipe dream to be able to wire a portable a/c in tandem with the rear unit to keep the expy cool during the summer season while we go shop with the engine off?

 

[TobyU]

Are you wanting to keep it cool with engine off for animals?
I have considered putting a low profile RV roof unit on top of excursion.
You would need an big inverter and probably two batteries-maybe even the 4D ones.
I wonder if there is enough room to fab a box or tray under truck or maybe on right rear inner quarter side.
We were considering this with a couple of stretch Navigators and Excursions limos. They have a lot of inner room area in the middle stretch part.
Had a MCI bus with one of the portable floor ac units and an inverter and two batteries for it in one of the luggage compartments.
It used 2 8Ds for its 24 volt system for starting. Couldn't use those so as not to run them down and get stranded.

Solar is beyond wimpy and inside will get very little usable light as the windows filter a lot of UV rays.
Even on the roof in bright sun I doubt you could get over 350-750 watts from a whole SUV roof or solar panels so for any run time you would need a lot of battery reserve capacity.

 

[Aspen03]

Aside from keeping animals cool I dont see a benefit to having an ac run the whole time you shop. If it's purely for comfort the 4th gen is obscenely easy to install a remote start on and you can get some significant range on the newer systems, enough that even if you're a 10min walk away you're good and itll be nice and cool when you hop in. If you happen to be closer to the vehicle, start it when you get in line at the store, same result, chilly when you hop in. I know gas in CA is up there but I cant see a battery/solar setup being any less costly not to mention the added weight which will cause loss in fuel economy.

It MAY be possible to even trigger the cooled seats via remote as well, I've not done that on a newer Ford yet, if its controlled via data then most likely not. When I put a Viper DS4 in my 03 I'll have it setup with auxillary functions on the remote to trigger heated or cooled seats.

 

[Munkiebunz3]

The 2016 is a 3rd gen & mine already has the remote start. The remote start runs for a maximum of 15 minutes and it does not run the rear unit as it's just the driver area. it runs the cooled seats based on the ambient temps. The solar panel I would get is a 350-380W one which would be charging my one or two odyssey pc-1800 ft (or similar) batteries which would be supplying power to a 2000w inverter.
I'm not going to add a roof mounted a/c because that would prevent me from installing a roof tent. Just seeing if anyone knows if the control panel can be wired to work independently of the front head unit because of the programming.

 

[Munkiebunz3]

The benefits would be that it doesn't get to >135F when it takes me 15 seconds to walk to the truck after hitting the remote start and have to load a baby into the hot cabin. Because men's bathrooms still don't have changing tables & I have to return to the truck to change a diaper. Because maybe I buy ice cream and want the cooler in the cabin to have an easier time keeping the ice cream a solid. Lots of reasons for me to get that done. I never thought of pets since I don't have any.

 

[TobyU]

Don't know how well it will work out. I think a high end phone based app remote start might be more economical and feasible even though it doesn't do exactly what you want. I think they make those.
Odd, we have had changing stations in men's restrooms for decades now. Now a lot of family rooms too.

 

[Jimdar]

There is only one ac compressor for both front and rear. I'm pretty sure its still pully driven. The engine has to be running. Solar panels won't help.

 

[TobyU]

The OP was considering running a portable air conditioning unit off of an AC inverter and batteries so the engine is turned off. Problem is the portable AC units are bigger than window units and window units have to have the redneck maneuver to them out the side or a window.
You might be able to make a shroud on the back of a small 5500 BTU window unit and funnel it down into the dryer vent hose that the portable ones use to exit out the floorboard or side of the vehicle or even one of those vents that she roll your window up onto. It wouldn't be as efficient because the fan wouldn't have as much force to keep the condenser cool but you have so many more BTUs than your need it was still probably cool just fine.

 

[Plati]

How bout those solar powered window fans that circulate outside air inside the vehicle to keep it under 197 degrees F in the hot sun? Do they work?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Solar-Po...5963&wl11=online&wl12=159270560&wl13=&veh=sem

 

[stamp11127]

You may have a little problem with the output from the solar panels. In order to charge a battery you need 1.5-2.0 volts more than the rated battery voltage. Just because it states 380 watts you need to know at what the voltage is also.


Reserve Capacity - The number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80°F will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts.
The battery you chose has 475 minutes of reserve. As long as the inverter doesn't pull over 25 amps you will have about 7 hours of run time. But I'm going to guess it will pull 75-100 amps to run an a/c unit.