What is the top of the range air conditioning unit and what size to use
Land cruiser said
07:41 PM Oct 30, 2017
Hi, I am totally new to the RV scene. I am looking to spend the New Zealand winters up in the warmer weather in Australia For the next few years (Will probably be 50:50 camp site free camping)
Im about to order our first MH. Haven't totally decided on which one as yet. Considering the NZ Trail lite 758 X landmark.
Jaco conquest. Or the paradise inspiration supreme..
On my last post here you all helped me to sort out how much water to carry.
Now I need to decide on the best air conditioning unit to buy. I like to buy the best as technology changes so quickly. Some suggestions are that you should have two units ( in up to 30 feet RV ) could take a bit to power?
My current feeling is that one should be OK but may be a 15k unit. Some say you don't need AC as you spend much of your time outside. Any suggestions would be appreciated
two other things I need to get sorted is do I fit auto levelling? Looking at available units on utube, it looks like the jacks wouldn't hold a RV once the wheels are off the ground and on a slope? Any one had good or bad experience with them. Are they worth the money. Hey I love gadgets!
one other thing, or should I start another topic?
do many of you use a generator ? I hate it when I'm out in the boat, in a quiet bay, and some Jin palace comes in and has there generator running all night grrrr
so are they worth having, what is the quietest brand. Want to use diesel so I can hook up to the MH tank. Was thinking a minimum of 3000 watts
whew! Hope this isn't too long. But any comments suggestions would be very much appreciated. Coming over to Au next week to make a decision. Deposit, plan to get on the road 1st June next year
Eaglemax said
08:36 PM Oct 30, 2017
Welcome again Land Cruiser. Hope you get all friendly replies.
Just my view but cruising up north in the winter didnt require an air conditioner UNLESS you went further than say Mackay and prior to mid June.
Last year we got to Darwin mid May phew!! So humid, hot....a/c mandatory. This year July saw us at Bundaberg- lovely. I'm sure others have some ideas.
mr glassies said
10:56 PM Oct 30, 2017
Hi we run a split inverter 2.5 kelvenator but you need to put the Wall unit up high .
Dibs
macka17 said
12:43 AM Oct 31, 2017
Hi.
IF you installing from new. in a M\Home or van.
I'd suggest installing a Household split unit. They've been using for yrs.
Much more efficient than the 30 yr old Caravan units. even the "Ibis" etc.
LG are one of the better recommended units. Reliability and efficiency wise.
You want air cond. it spells "INVERTER and GENERATOR"
and worth every cent and decibel.
Where did the bias come from??.
We used 'em 50 yrs ago in vans and M\H's. and will do 50 yrs in future.
Be practical mate.
Hot. Sticky. Sweaty. or nice and cool with genny over there on end of cable.
We used to get the genny vans together, in a virtual circle.
Genny's in middle. Kept the bulk of noise off the whingers
who sat there all sweaty and sticky. and quite welcome to it.
Priorities first in my eyes. Play some music in earplugs. ALL gone.
Footprints said
10:20 AM Oct 31, 2017
You could consider the are Denso roof mounted. Awarded the Australasian Engineering Excellence in design. They can also be retro fitted to replace other brands. I have one and am very happy with it. Cheers Allen.
macka17 said
01:27 PM Oct 31, 2017
The day they finally Manufacture a "quiet". mobile-Caravan. Air cond.
is the day people will willingly buy them.
They ARE the noisiest items I've ever heard in any van. Apart from a blender or vacuum.
Bloody atrocious. How they think they can get away with such OUTDATED rubbish is beyond me.
A $650 split home unit does a 100 times better job. while being quiet.
THEY haven't improved more than a couple of %ages in last 35 yrs.
They NO different.
I've used them since they came out.
Rubbish then. Not much difference now.
What is so hard manufacturers?. PLEASE enlighten us if you can. DARE...
Eaglemax said
03:56 PM Oct 31, 2017
Re: "They ARE the noisiest items I've ever heard in any van"
You havent heard my wife snore...
Roving-Dutchy said
04:13 PM Oct 31, 2017
A small a/c unit can never be as quiet as a domestic split. The problem is the size of the condenser and evaporator both are small and must have the same quantity of air passing over the fins as a larger uni, so the fans need to be spinning at a much higher speed, so higher fan speed also means more noise, also the compressor and both fans are in the one unit and closer to
to the occupants of the van.
Cheers
David
PeterInSa said
05:34 PM Oct 31, 2017
Air Conditioner We have used the Air command series of roof top air conditioners on our Caravans (past and present) and on a Mercedes Benz Campervan, earlier models than the unit below, consider they are noisy.
Re (A small a/c unit can never be as quiet as a domestic split. ) Agree, but have never heard of a Caravan/MH manufacturer installing in the initial build.
Generator We use the Honda 20I this is not a 3000w model but runs our air con and is liftable. Suggest your geni should have a remote start/stop and be permanently mounted in a bin (with air access)
Re Levelling of Mh's, have seen this topic on the CMCA Motorhome Forum Rather than jacks I think most use the common Plastic ramps.
Have you considered:
Diesel Heater To me in some parts of Oz, makes life more pleasant in the early mornings in September (re your 50/50) and of course will help with a future resale of your mh.
Roof top Sat Dish
Roof Top Broom Stick Aerial for Mobile Phone/Data, Like a number of RV'ers in Oz we have said aerial on top of our Winegard TV aerial for remote calls/data.
Peter
-- Edited by PeterInSa on Tuesday 31st of October 2017 05:40:19 PM
macka17 said
07:13 PM Oct 31, 2017
Pete.
I've heard a lot of vanners (spoken to) on the rounds. with self. or Sparkie installed Split units over the Caravan ones.
A lot actually took the Dometic type out to do so.
Plus.
You can buy 2 or 3 splits for one van one.
Philw said
09:49 PM Nov 3, 2017
We just have the factory fitted air on the Jayco Conquest. Its a little noisy but it doesnt get used often. If its hot we book into a caravan park for power. Most of our travels we choose the climate we are heading to. Ie tropics in winter etc. However on a trip to victoria one summer we had extreme heat so cara pk for two nights until it cooled down. Used the reverse cycle and it was fine. We dont carry a generator. Diesel heater for the cold when we free camp, which is most of the time, and we use an inverter to bring the 12 volt system up to 240 volts for the microwave, coffee grinder, the fruit juice machine and for charging and using the tablet and lap top computer. We only have a 120 watt solar panel and 2 x 120 amp batteries but with that we have free camped for 4 weeks . The beauty of the motorhome is that you have a built in genny when you start the engine. So a drive into town after 2 weeks for groceries topped up the batteries. One day we ran the engine for an hour as it had rained for two days. But considering the costandspace issue with a genny, and the noice, we simply havent needed it. Plus for the few days we have had really hot weather a cara pk for $30 a night for two nights is still a lot cheaper than buying a genny. But thats us and everyone has different needs. Good luck. Cheers phil
banjo said
10:00 PM Nov 4, 2017
What is the top of the range air conditioning unit and what size to use
Simple answer, there currently isn't one ! We have had 5 vans, four caravans and the last an aussie 5th wheeler, the previous 4 vans we tried every roof top AC out there and all are noisy expensive, old technology rubbish.
The 5th wheeler we had a Fujitsu Inverter split professionally installed from new and never looked back in 6 years full time on the road, the split never missed a beat, kept the 30' fiver cool as, or warm in winter, super quiet (I could actually sleep with it on) would never touch a roof top ever again.
We are currently van-less but am looking at a van to motorhome conversion soon, with a new inverter split again as are heater/cooler. Simple fact they work, they are reliable, quiet, and a 1/3rd the price of the garbage they push for rv'ers in general.
Delta18 said
11:37 AM Nov 5, 2017
Definitely look at a domestic split system we fitted a Fujitsu 2.5kw to our Silverline from new last year. The rooftop clunker was deleted from the purchase order.
The benefit of the deletion is it freed up even more space on the roof allowing us to fit 1000w of solar which, via a 3000w inverter & 400ah lithium battery runs the a/c and ALL other 240v electric appliances we take with us.
No need for a generator to run anything in the van.
Cheers Neil
tempestv8 said
11:33 PM Aug 11, 2025
It is now 2025, so the rooftop airconditioners have made some progress.
I recently removed an AirCommand Sparrow (of 2012 vintage) from my caravan and installed a Dometic FreshJet 7 Pro.
My initial impressions are that inverter technology is definitely quieter but as the inverter varies its speed, you can definitely hear and feel the change. It's definitely an improvement over the hard start and stop of a fixed speed compressor.
I will update in December when I get to test the unit's cooling performance and noise levels in a full Aussie summer.
Not sure how to display a picture on a posting, so I have attached a pic of the airconditioner as a jpeg file
-- Edited by tempestv8 on Monday 11th of August 2025 11:43:01 PM
Hi, I am totally new to the RV scene. I am looking to spend the New Zealand winters up in the warmer weather in Australia For the next few years (Will probably be 50:50 camp site free camping)
Im about to order our first MH. Haven't totally decided on which one as yet. Considering the NZ Trail lite 758 X landmark.
Jaco conquest. Or the paradise inspiration supreme..
On my last post here you all helped me to sort out how much water to carry.
Now I need to decide on the best air conditioning unit to buy. I like to buy the best as technology changes so quickly. Some suggestions are that you should have two units ( in up to 30 feet RV ) could take a bit to power?
My current feeling is that one should be OK but may be a 15k unit. Some say you don't need AC as you spend much of your time outside. Any suggestions would be appreciated
two other things I need to get sorted is do I fit auto levelling? Looking at available units on utube, it looks like the jacks wouldn't hold a RV once the wheels are off the ground and on a slope? Any one had good or bad experience with them. Are they worth the money. Hey I love gadgets!
one other thing, or should I start another topic?
do many of you use a generator ? I hate it when I'm out in the boat, in a quiet bay, and some Jin palace comes in and has there generator running all night grrrr
so are they worth having, what is the quietest brand. Want to use diesel so I can hook up to the MH tank. Was thinking a minimum of 3000 watts
whew! Hope this isn't too long. But any comments suggestions would be very much appreciated. Coming over to Au next week to make a decision. Deposit, plan to get on the road 1st June next year
Dibs
IF you installing from new. in a M\Home or van.
I'd suggest installing a Household split unit. They've been using for yrs.
Much more efficient than the 30 yr old Caravan units. even the "Ibis" etc.
LG are one of the better recommended units. Reliability and efficiency wise.
You want air cond. it spells "INVERTER and GENERATOR"
and worth every cent and decibel.
Where did the bias come from??.
We used 'em 50 yrs ago in vans and M\H's. and will do 50 yrs in future.
Be practical mate.
Hot. Sticky. Sweaty. or nice and cool with genny over there on end of cable.
We used to get the genny vans together, in a virtual circle.
Genny's in middle. Kept the bulk of noise off the whingers
who sat there all sweaty and sticky. and quite welcome to it.
Priorities first in my eyes. Play some music in earplugs. ALL gone.
You could consider the are Denso roof mounted. Awarded the Australasian Engineering Excellence in design. They can also be retro fitted to replace other brands. I have one and am very happy with it. Cheers Allen.
is the day people will willingly buy them.
They ARE the noisiest items I've ever heard in any van. Apart from a blender or vacuum.
Bloody atrocious. How they think they can get away with such OUTDATED rubbish is beyond me.
A $650 split home unit does a 100 times better job. while being quiet.
THEY haven't improved more than a couple of %ages in last 35 yrs.
They NO different.
I've used them since they came out.
Rubbish then. Not much difference now.
What is so hard manufacturers?. PLEASE enlighten us if you can. DARE...
to the occupants of the van.
Cheers
David
Air Conditioner
We have used the Air command series of roof top air conditioners on our Caravans (past and present) and on a Mercedes Benz Campervan, earlier models than the unit below, consider they are noisy.
www.caravansplus.com.au/aircommand-ibis-3-air-conditioner-27kw-cool-24kw-heat-222mm-high-48kg-p-14507.html
Re (A small a/c unit can never be as quiet as a domestic split. ) Agree, but have never heard of a Caravan/MH manufacturer installing in the initial build.
Generator
We use the Honda 20I this is not a 3000w model but runs our air con and is liftable. Suggest your geni should have a remote start/stop and be permanently mounted in a bin (with air access)
Re Levelling of Mh's, have seen this topic on the CMCA Motorhome Forum
Rather than jacks I think most use the common Plastic ramps.
Have you considered:
Diesel Heater
To me in some parts of Oz, makes life more pleasant in the early mornings in September (re your 50/50) and of course will help with a future resale of your mh.
Roof top Sat Dish
Roof Top Broom Stick Aerial for Mobile Phone/Data, Like a number of RV'ers in Oz we have said aerial on top of our Winegard TV aerial for remote calls/data.
Peter
-- Edited by PeterInSa on Tuesday 31st of October 2017 05:40:19 PM
I've heard a lot of vanners (spoken to) on the rounds. with self. or Sparkie installed Split units over the Caravan ones.
A lot actually took the Dometic type out to do so.
Plus.
You can buy 2 or 3 splits for one van one.
Simple answer, there currently isn't one ! We have had 5 vans, four caravans and the last an aussie 5th wheeler, the previous 4 vans we tried every roof top AC out there and all are noisy expensive, old technology rubbish.
The 5th wheeler we had a Fujitsu Inverter split professionally installed from new and never looked back in 6 years full time on the road, the split never missed a beat, kept the 30' fiver cool as, or warm in winter, super quiet (I could actually sleep with it on) would never touch a roof top ever again.
We are currently van-less but am looking at a van to motorhome conversion soon, with a new inverter split again as are heater/cooler. Simple fact they work, they are reliable, quiet, and a 1/3rd the price of the garbage they push for rv'ers in general.
Definitely look at a domestic split system we fitted a Fujitsu 2.5kw to our Silverline from new last year. The rooftop clunker was deleted from the purchase order.
The benefit of the deletion is it freed up even more space on the roof allowing us to fit 1000w of solar which, via a 3000w inverter & 400ah lithium battery runs the a/c and ALL other 240v electric appliances we take with us.
No need for a generator to run anything in the van.
Cheers Neil
It is now 2025, so the rooftop airconditioners have made some progress.
I recently removed an AirCommand Sparrow (of 2012 vintage) from my caravan and installed a Dometic FreshJet 7 Pro.
My initial impressions are that inverter technology is definitely quieter but as the inverter varies its speed, you can definitely hear and feel the change. It's definitely an improvement over the hard start and stop of a fixed speed compressor.
I will update in December when I get to test the unit's cooling performance and noise levels in a full Aussie summer.
Not sure how to display a picture on a posting, so I have attached a pic of the airconditioner as a jpeg file
-- Edited by tempestv8 on Monday 11th of August 2025 11:43:01 PM
The Freshjet FJX7457IHP
Cooling 3400 watts
Rated cooling amps <7.8 (at 230v 1794 watts)
Heating 2903 watts
Rated heating amps <6.5 (at 230v 1495 watts)
Mitsubishi 3.5kW split.
Cooling 3500 watts
Rated cooling 860 watts
Heating 3700 watts
Rated heating 820 watts
My 3 air conditioners at home are Daikin. I have 2.5kW, 3.5kW & 5.0kW. 2.5kW air conditioners are more efficient that the 3.5kW size.