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Peewee86
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# Posted: 14 Jul 2026 04:15pm
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At our cabin, we have living space both in the cabin and in a bumper tow RV. Last year I purchased a window air conditioner for the Cabin. It’s a Midea U shaped model that I bought at Costco. We have been thoroughly impressed with this unit. The inverter based air conditioners are so much better if you are running off solar. The model that I have is 12,000 BTU and it will draw over 1200 W when you first turn it on, but then once it gets running throttles back and usually is only running on about 600 W. Because the compressor is outside with the U-shaped design, it’s very quiet. I can’t comment on it long-term reliability, but for the past two summers, we’ve been very impressed.
Our positive experience with this unit got me thinking about the air conditioner for the camper. The one that came with it from the manufacturer was a 13,500 BTU Dometic. Several years back I had installed a soft starter that allowed us to run it off a 2200W Honda generator, but I’m all in on solar and I wanted to figure out a way to run the camper A/C off solar like we were doing with the cabin. Inverter based roof air conditioners are just starting to hit the market. They are very expensive. Ultimately, I purchased a portable air conditioner that ducted out the window. I was able to custom adapt piece of plywood as a window insert. The unit for the camper is smaller only 8000 BTU, but it seems to hold its own. I’m in Minnesota. Maybe it wouldn’t keep up if I was down in Arizona. The portable A/C does take up a little bit of floor space in the camper but it’s a trade-off that I was willing to accept. Like my experience with the window unit this thing is very quiet. Much quieter than the factory air-conditioning.
Over the long Fourth of July weekend earlier this month I was able to give the camper air conditioning it’s first full test and I am very pleased with its results. Once it’s up and running, it’s humming along at about only 500W. For reference our camper is a 12v system, the inverter and solar components, for both systems are all Victron. It has 1050W of solar and 628 amps of battery. The portable AC was also purchased from Costco. I think each unit was on sale in the $350 range. I can’t remember the pricing exactly but the ability to control heat when it’s 90° out is priceless for the rest of the family.
Maybe the people that are deep into solar are aware of this, but I thought it was worthwhile information to know how much more efficient the inverter based compressors on newer air-conditioning units can be.
Our Cabin also uses an inverter based compressor for its refrigerator. That thing uses less than 60 W when it’s running. Perhaps I should start a separate thread topic about that one.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jul 2026 07:12pm
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Good real-world use info!
Pls do a new topic on the fridge, I need to know more
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philpom
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jul 2026 08:53pm
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This is an interesting topic, while we use 2 5500 BTU units to cool our cabin in the summer I can easily run one of then with a 2200 watt inverter generator, never tried 2. The ones we have are just $99 Walmart specials. They'll cool it down to 70 when it's in the mid 90s outside. I need to get a watt Guage to see what they actually pull.
I'm working up plans for a hybrid solar, battery, generator, and finally grid system. 2000 watts solar, 600ah battery, auto generator for huge loads, and finally grid power as a fail safe. I know that last part sounds oxy moronic. I've also thought about tossing in 500 watts of wind. Cool air is important to my family.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jul 2026 11:13pm
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Ive yet to see anything in small scale wind that is worth the time, trouble and expense....
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travellerw
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2026 12:10am
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Our mini split is inverter based and crazy efficient. Pretty sure we have a 15000 BTU unit. Its very similar, starts at about 1200 -1400W then throttles back to 600-700W. Even at +35C it will keep our 16X28 lofted cabin at about +19C.
If you search in the RV forums, there are tons of people who convert RVs to mini-splits. Put the outside unit on the bumper and run a "roof cassette" to replace the old RV unit. Not super pretty as the lines need to run up the back and across the roof. However, they work amazing.
I will note that our mini-split is a different beast in heating mode. It draws a constant 1200-1400W in that mode. However, it pumps out a ton of heat.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2026 10:52am
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We have a 12kbtu mini split in our 750sqft cabin. I have seen it at 1400w and throttle back to 300w. 4th of July weekend we got there at the tail end of a heat wave. It took almost 12hrs of running the mini split to cool down to 73f. We tried with thr same situation a few years ago with a 5k and 6.5kbtu window units and couldn't get the place below 77f.
My 7.5cuft cheap fridge pulls about 70w with no Inverter.
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Peewee86
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2026 05:14pm - Edited by: Peewee86
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It’s nice to see positive reports from mini-split owners.
Eventually, I plan to put in a mini-split system that also will allow for heating during the winter months. Although we will have a wood stove, that stove cannot be the only source of heat according to my insurance company. I have to have a system with a thermostat or they will not insure the building.
Since that’s probably still several years in the future the window air conditioner is my temporary solution.
For reference, these are the two units that I have purchased: Midea 12,000 BTU Air Conditioner MAW12V1QWT
Hisense 8000 BTU portable Air Conditioner HAP0824TWD
I’m sure there are many others that are viable options. I think of it more of an endorsement of the quiet and energy efficient inverter technology, and not necessarily the exact units that I purchased. The inverters use a variable speed compressor, so they don’t have the spike in amperage when the unit first starts. This makes the technology a more suitable companion to off grid power.
gcrank1 - I will start a thread talking about my refrigerator when I have the time but here’s the quick info:
LG model LRONC0705
My measurements say uses 58W when it’s running. Unfortunately it looks like this model has been discontinued and replaced by one that is slightly shorter and one less cubic foot. Mine was considered a seasonal item and I bought it on clearance a couple years back from Sam’s Club for about $310. At that price, I thought it was a steal.
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philpom
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2026 10:04pm
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Quoting: Brettny We have a 12kbtu mini split in our 750sqft cabin. I have seen it at 1400w and throttle back to 300w. 4th of July weekend we got there at the tail end of a heat wave. It took almost 12hrs of running the mini split to cool down to 73f. We tried with thr same situation a few years ago with a 5k and 6.5kbtu window units and couldn't get the place below 77f.
I'm curious about this, it seems off to me. We are at 768sqft and when I show up at 5pm in July and Temps are 95ish I can get down to the low 70s in a few hours using one el cheapo 5500 btu window shaker downstairs and one upstairs. Upstairs typically takes a little longer.
We've got 6" of insulation in the roof and 4" in the walls with double pain windows. Pretty air tight. Can keep it 69 after 6 hours even if we're at 98.
Thoughts?
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2026 11:06am
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Quoting: philpom I'm curious about this, it seems off to me. We are at 768sqft and when I show up at 5pm in July and Temps are 95ish I can get down to the low 70s in a few hours using one el cheapo 5500 btu window shaker downstairs and one upstairs. Upstairs typically takes a little longer. We've got 6" of insulation in the roof and 4" in the walls with double pain windows. Pretty air tight. Can keep it 69 after 6 hours even if we're at 98. Thoughts?
At that time we where opening and closing the door alot. With the mini split i have lowered it 5*f in 1hr but the door didn't open a single time. We also have 16ft ceilings in almost half the cabin. We have r48 in the ceiling, R21 in the walls and 4in foam in the floor. With new windows and doors. But R value dosnt matter much when your opening and closing the door every 10min.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2026 11:11am
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Quoting: Peewee86 Eventually, I plan to put in a mini-split system that also will allow for heating during the winter months. Although we will have a wood stove, that stove cannot be the only source of heat according to my insurance company. I have to have a system with a thermostat or they will not insure the building
Dont bother if your just putting one in for heat. This past winter we got to our at about 20F interior temp. I fired up the mininsplit right away, then lit the wood stove after another maybe 5min. In 30min I turned off the mini split because it couldn't hold a candle to the amount of heat the wood stove was throwing off. It may be good to take the chill off but nothing heats like a wood stove.
If you need a heat source with a thermostat for insurance purposes just get line voltage baseboard heaters. An 8ft section and a thermostat is about $120.
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