Q: EcoFlow WAVE 2 portable AC

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TCABM

Final Approach
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Curious if anyone has considered the EcoFlow WAVE 2 portable AC as an alternative to the ice chest ACs. The biggest drawback I see is drainage and routing the ducting, but I guess each of those concerns could be overcome; the unit has an internal drain tank with pump and a lead that could send overflow drainage to an external bottle of some sort and the ducting could be vented to the tail but I'm just spitballing here. Perusing the user manual, I did catch these gems in the Warnings section:
6. Do not use this product in environments with strong static electricity or magnetic fields (such as a thunderstorm).
19. Electromagnetic fields created by this product may affect the normal functioning of medical implants or personal medical devices, such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, hearing aids, defibrillators and so on. If you are using these medical devices, please consult the manufacturers about the restrictions on the use of relevant devices to ensure that a safe distance is maintained between this product and the implanted medical devices (such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, hearing aids, defibrillators and so on) during operation.
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Any thoughts from the brain trust?
 
routing the ducting night not be not as trivial as you might think. There are several AD's on factory installed AC's because they pump exhaust into the aircraft, particularly when on the ground.
 
Salty said:
routing the ducting night not be not as trivial as you might think. There are several AD's on factory installed AC's because they pump exhaust into the aircraft, particularly when on the ground.
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Good point.

The intake can be ambient cabin air without duct much like the b-kool type ice chest ACs; I was more concerned about where to duct the warm AC exhaust to.
 
I've been working on an ice chest-type a/c setup and what to do with the exhaust air has been the biggest hurdle.

I haven't been able to build/test my latest iteration but I have a feeling it's a pretty minimal impact compared to the summer interior temp of the aircraft anyway.
 
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Sierra_Hotel said:
I've been working on an ice chest-type a/c setup and what to do with the exhaust air has been the biggest hurdle.

I haven't been able to build/test my latest iteration but I have a feeling it's a pretty minimal impact compared to the summer interior temp of the aircraft anyway.
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???
With ice chest coolers, the exhaust air is the cooled air that you want blowing on the cabin occupants. The inlet is the hot ambient cabin air. The cooling effect is accomplished by running the hot air through a heat exchanger that is circulating ice-cold water, which lasts until the ice is melted and can't absorb any more heat.
 
You got me thinking. I don't want to use this while flying, but I'd love to hook it up for camping in the PA-32. It's big enough to sleep in, if it weren't for the heat in the summer... I'm struggling with how you would vent it though and keep the doors closed for rain....
 
Jim_R said:
???
With ice chest coolers, the exhaust air is the cooled air that you want blowing on the cabin occupants. The inlet is the hot ambient cabin air. The cooling effect is accomplished by running the hot air through a heat exchanger that is circulating ice-cold water, which lasts until the ice is melted and can't absorb any more heat.
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Right. I'm working on an a/c-like unit the size of a small ice chest so that battery power is the limfac instead of ice.
 
Sorry for the confusion. I built an actual ice one first, and it worked ok. Was improving it before I went overseas and had to put it all in storage. Have some ideas I want to try on the next version but just don't think I can get the power draw low enough while still being useful for any reasonable amount of time and without weighing more than the ice version. If anything it's at least a fun min/max project to attempt.
 
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Salty said:
You got me thinking. I don't want to use this while flying, but I'd love to hook it up for camping in the PA-32. It's big enough to sleep in, if it weren't for the heat in the summer... I'm struggling with how you would vent it though and keep the doors closed for rain....
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Maybe make a cover for the baggage door with a hole for the exhaust. Or even better, make a platform that puts this outside blowing in through a bagge door cover.

Other option, duct it out the pilot window opening.
 
Salty said:
You got me thinking. I don't want to use this while flying, but I'd love to hook it up for camping in the PA-32. It's big enough to sleep in, if it weren't for the heat in the summer... I'm struggling with how you would vent it though and keep the doors closed for rain....
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In Europe since the houses didn't have AC, you could get a standing unit and then vent the exhaust out the window. They sold these vinyl window covers with zippers that would close around the duct. Kept the weather out while allowing the exhaust. Maybe make something like that.
 
TCABM said:
Curious if anyone has considered the EcoFlow WAVE 2 portable AC as an alternative to the ice chest ACs. The biggest drawback I see is drainage and routing the ducting, but I guess each of those concerns could be overcome; the unit has an internal drain tank with pump and a lead that could send overflow drainage to an external bottle of some sort and the ducting could be vented to the tail but I'm just spitballing here. Perusing the user manual, I did catch these gems in the Warnings section:

Any thoughts from the brain trust?
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Install a small access panel to suit the exhaust outlet size and in an appropriate location. Not sure how this works with a certificated aircraft, but I'm guessing it's not that hard to make the addition of an access panel legal.
 
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