But "cool" isn't the reason I installed the auxiliary battery. I wanted to be able to write on my computer and download photos from my digital camera to my Zip drive no matter where I was camped.
With the isolator, I can discharge one battery and it has no effect on the other battery. If I leave the Bluesmobile's lights on and run down the main battery, I get my jumper cables out of the trunk, hook them from the main battery under the hood to the auxiliary battery behind the driver's seat, and jump myself off. Cool, huh?
You can't see it in the photo, but there is a rubber grommet inside the hole I drilled in the firewall. I wanted no possibility of an electrical short; thus the grommet. Don't just wrap your wire with electrical tape where it goes through your firewall. It will eventually loosen due to vibrations and present you with a fireworks display beneath your dash. Use a rubber grommet. Get it at NAPA, or Radio Shack for about 3¢.
Here under the Bluesmobile's hood you see the isolator, the finned object. I bought it at my local NAPA store for about $25. (Directions came with it.) The purplish wire in the foreground comes from the isolator and goes to the positive main battery post. Behind the isolator (and hidden) is a 20 amp circuit breaker, also from NAPA and about $3, and with one of its posts connected to the isolator. The purplish rear wire comes from the auxiliary battery through the hole I drilled in the firewall and connects to the circuit breaker. I soldered the ends of all wires to copper connecters I bought at Ace Hardware for 79¢ each. I wanted no bad connections; thus the solder.
It's hooked up with 8 gauge electrical wire I bought at Ace Hardware. The black, negative wire, runs over and down for maybe 12 inches and is securely fastened and grounded to the metal floorboard. The purplish, positive wire runs to the left, as you see in the photo, and goes under a plastic inside wall panel. From there it runs under the rocker panel, up and behind a plastic inside wall panel beneath the dash, then out a small hole I drilled in the firewall. The thick black wire you see clamped to the battery's posts and leading out of the Bluesmobile's door trails across the ground and into my tent.
My auxiliary battery is a 115 amp/hour deep-cycle marine battery. $54 at Regular batteries are for high amperage/short period use, i.e., starting a car. Deep-cycle batteries are for low amperage/long period use, i.e., running a trolling motor or a computer. 115 amp/hour means it will operate a device pulling 1 amp for 115 hours. Or 11.5 amps for 10 hours. My computer and Zip drive together pull a maximum of 4 amps. So 115 divided by 4 = 28 3/4. Theoretically, my auxiliary battery will operate my computer and Zip drive for more than 28 hours without recharging.
If I camp somewhere without electrical outlets, a wildlife management area primitive campground, for example, I can't use my air conditioner. But I can use my computer and my Zip drive. The Bluesmobile is equipped with a diode-isolated auxiliary battery. I installed it behind the driver's seat because of no room under the hood and I didn't want it in the trunk. (Note: automotive batteries ooze flammable gas. I don't smoke, and I drive with a window down. Put your auxiliary battery under the hood or in the trunk.)
One word of warning. I discovered over the winter that the inside of my air conditioner was matted with bugs. I'm talking lots of bugs. The condenser fan sucks outside air through the vent you see on top of the unit in the photo and through vents on both sides. Since I was camped next to water for over a week, it sucked in bugs night after night. I had to remove the cover and clean it. Next trip, I'll cover those vents with filters.
On hot afternoons, I can now use my computer in my tent. Before, I had to find someone willing to loan me the use of their air conditioned room and their electrical outlets. I now put a roll-up table in a corner of my tent and use the table like a desk, my notebook computer and my Zip drive on its top and powered via a regular extension cord.
I can now sleep late in the mornings. The hum of the fan and compressor motors drowns out the sounds of morning birds and insects. Ever noticed that morning birds are happiest when you have a hangover?
My air conditioned tent has allowed me to do things I couldn't do before.
5,150 BTUs are more than enough. My tent is a huge 9-man tent, and even on the hottest Delta afternoon it's cool and comfortable inside. In fact, I've never had to turn the control knob past "Low Cool." At night, I turn the thermostat just high enough to cycle the compressor every once in a while. To do otherwise is like sleeping inside a refrigerator.
My unit, shown in the photo, pulls 5.3 amps. It's a Daewoo Model WM-501, rated 5,150 BTU. I picked it from several different brands because it pulled the least amps. In fact, those units, all in the 5,000 BTU range, pulled from 5.3 to 8+ amps. My Daewoo cost $155 at where I also bought the extension cord.
There is a reason for that. Plug-in electrical connections generate heat. You don't want the tent end of the extension cord to get hot to the touch. Slighty warm is ok; hot is dangerous. Buy a low-amperage air conditioner and a high-amperage extension cord. Tents make dandy bonfires.
3. The extension cord must be rated for outdoor use.
2. The extension cord must be rated for 15 amps or more.
1. The air conditioner must pull no more than 6 or 7 amps.
There's three things you must consider before installing an air conditioner in your tent:
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. That's an air conditioner installed in my tent. It sits on three bricks in the rear door. I zipped both door zippers as close as possible to the sides of the air conditioner, then sealed the small openings between the door and the sides of the air conditioner with duct tape. In a downpour, it leaks just a little. Note that the plug is inside the tent to keep it out of rain. Note the 50 foot extension cord running from the air conditioner to the campsite's electrical outlet pole in the right background.
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