Member-only story
DIY Solar Powered Window Air Conditioner: Part 3, First Test Run
The Solar A/C was installed in a window and ran for 12 hours! I learned a lot building this project to this point, and it’s been fun to actually see something I built in use in my lab. You can read more about my A/C in Part 1, Design/Parts/Prototype and Part 2, Redesign/Prototype — these also include links to all the parts I purchased.
Fire it up!
You can watch it in action on Youtube. I was surprised by how quiet it is. It ran for 12 hours, and did its best against 85–90 degree temps. You can see the data/chart later in the article.
Test Configuration
Here’s the configuration for the test. I did install a strip of wood for the window to rest on without crimping the hoses going outside, and the Peltier is mounted vertically to save space (more on that later).
This test run is on 110v for consistency. my eventual goal is really to run on solar, but 110v is easier to work with in this case. I don’t have 250W of solar feeding into this room, and while I can run this on 48v batteries, I’d have to swap them out every few hours… so for now, mains power until I settle on a final design.
The power supply and hot side radiator are both outside, only the hotside of the peltier and “cooled” hot side water/pump are…
