Can you power a window air conditioner with a 12 Volt battery? Yes sir, you can.

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Published 2017-07-02
Ran this 5100 BTU window a/c unit 2 hours with 50% duty cycle on compressor. Used 520 kwh in two hours. Unit consumed 525 watts (approx) when compressor was running, only 55 with fan only and no compressor. Used a 12 V, deep cycle battery, i think it's around 100 amp hour capacity, a harbor freight 2000 watt inverter. i have battery, inverter, charge controller and a couple of ammo boxes used for storage of lights, electrical meter etc mounted on a furniture "dolly" to make it all portable. i charge the battery with harbor freight solar panels on the roof of the shed. Just a test i did before installing the a/c unit into my newly built, 4' x 8' mini camper. Thought some of you might be interested. Thanks!

All Comments (21)
  • The sun was out most of the day, so the batteries stayed topped off. I kept the thermostat around 74 or so just to make it so the compressor wouldn't keep kicking on. After 11 PM, the inverter beeped and the system shut down. You only get 1200 watts of usable power. You can only go down 50% of the battery. Any further does permanent damage to the batteries. Hence the reason for needing a ton of them.
  • @DanBeamer
    Really totally awesome! Thank you for the info!
  • Awesome! You give people like me hope! Bought a voltage meter and it seems faulty. Luckily my other one works fine! Terrible these items cost so much! People love creating and that plays a large part in the appearance of social function! That's how they get people to show up! They could make life more affordable to spark peoples interest! Nice work!!!!!!!
  • @billyfolse1316
    These are great to save on electrical bills. Use in combo with a smart trickle charger you mostly run on battery power storage
  • Man, that is awesome. After a bad storm or long-term power outage, that is a SWEET way to keep a room cool. All you need is like 10-12 large batteries so that sucker can run all night along with at least a couple thousand kW of solar panels to top off the batteries during each day.
  • @bigtomsvan4817
    Is that showing 524 watts? So thats why the 2000 4000 inverter? Great video I also use the harbor freight controller direct to batteries as a meter and use the plug in light alot. Enjoyed video thanks
  • @snn9019
    See our channel to see how I power a 5000 BTU A/C on 2 solar panels and 4 batteries for the entire day. The inverter barely gets warm to the touch running it. It works really well when the heat is out.
  • Currently watching this video while being blasted with cool air from a window ac, running off of two lifepo4 batteries. It can be done!
  • @3DTwinkies
    Meanwhile my toaster 600 watts on my setup (12v deep cycle 90ah) only runs for like 10mins before the battery is drained. tf am i doing wrong
  • Hi,I have an air conditioner 5000 btu and I wanna install it in my t-100 toyota.I need to know what kind of inverter and how many watts it is proper for my car and how I can install it.Thanks,I wait for you answer.
  • It was just running on fan this whole time. You never had the compressor going so does it actually power the compressor or is this a glorified fan?
  • @tarafrasher9240
    I have the exact same window AC unit, but due to the surge, my 750 watt Schumacher inverter can't start the compressor. Fan works fine, low and high, but only having .01 seconds of surge power really undercuts what it should be able to do.
  • 520 kWh in two hours? I doubt that. When I run my 10k BTU unit all day, my entire house only uses 40 kWh a day. Did you clear out the KWhs on your meter before measuring your usage?
  • how long will it last do you think If I was to have 3 12v together?
  • @marcusarce2113
    So you can just buy the Power inverter and charge it then use a ac with it? & for how long?
  • @FourHawkswomen
    So a deep cycle battery 12vlts with solar and what size inverter