cooling your tent or van

[theCryptofishist]

Can we just change the name to:
The Figjam Thread
?

[FIGJAM]

But it's not about me Fishy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(If it was, it would have died on page one.)

[Bursha]

Great design Figjam!

I'm a first time burner this year and i'd like to make one of your bucket coolers. Im on a budget though, is it possible to use a cheaper battery? Does it have to be the more expensive deep cycle battery?

I humbly await your further instruction.

[Bursha]

Went to hf and bought this........

http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-powered-fountain-pump-66093.html

it works great for this size cooler.

So this solar panel eliminates the need for a deep cycle battery right? How do you splice the fan into this? is there an on/off switch?

Sorry so many questions, but im a newb to this.

[FIGJAM]

The panel will only run the pump.

What size space are you going to try to cool?

You will need a battery for the fan, but if you get a less amp houred one you may need to recharge sometime during the week.

[VultureChow]

The panel will only run the pump.

What size space are you going to try to cool?

You will need a battery for the fan, but if you get a less amp houred one you may need to recharge sometime during the week.

Since you're answering questions, I think I'll get in on this. What if I want to chill a 50 sf (300 cubic foot) space. Just during morning sleep hours.

[FIGJAM]

For 300 cb, ft. the bucket will work well as the totel air exchange will take place every 1.110 minutes with the 190cfm fan.

I'm always ready to answer questions!

[Bursha]

I'm trying to cool a 6-8 person tent only. I saw some small, low cost 12v batteries at Frys (1.4AH, 4.5AH & 7AH), would these run the fan sufficiently for a few hours per day? Then i could use the solar pump to run itself.

[FIGJAM]

The fan for the bucket cooler uses 1.25amps, so 7ah would be about 3 hrs. before recharging.

A regular car battery is about like a 50ah battery.

Watch craigs list and maybe you can get something cheap that will get you through the week.

OR run the cooler from your cigarette lighter in the vehicle, then start the car every other day and let it idle for an hour to recharge.

5 gallons of gas should be enough to do this.

[B the B]

Dude thats alot of work. Just rent a RV!!!!!

[Bursha]

I stumbled across this link online. They use your link as a reference, but are instructing to use the smaller batteries like i found at frys. What do you make of their design and claims to run a 1.6A fan for 5 hours using a 1.2AH battery?? I just want the cheapest, yet functional version for my $.

http://robotfun.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/swampcooler/

[Canoe]

I stumbled across this link online. They use your link as a reference, but are instructing to use the smaller batteries like i found at frys. What do you make of their design and claims to run a 1.6A fan for 5 hours using a 1.2AH battery?? I just want the cheapest, yet functional version for my $.
http://robotfun.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/swampcooler/

For starters:

• their instructions grab any ol' 12VDC computer fan. That's been tried, and results are less than optimal. There's a reason The Figjam Thread recommends a particular fan: the air it will actually move through the filter for the power it takes.
• their pump uses 500mA, Figjam's recommended one uses 300mA.
• filter media - many will cool, but the blue one tolerates playa dust and doesn't break off anything than can become MOOP.

[FIGJAM]

I'm not sure how much she knows about lead acid batteries.

Shes running the pump and fan from battery power which is what I do.

Power consumption is right at 1.5amps per hour.

Lead acid batteries have the longest lifespan if their not discharged below 50%.

Divide 7 by 2 and that is your usable amp hours.

Divide that by 1.5 and that's how long you can run your cooler before the battery needs to be recharged.

She said she ran her cooler for 5hrs. on that battery, which means shortening the battery life by 50% to 80% because she's completly discharging her battery.

She does'nt say how she's recharging.


Then she states that they do use a deep cycle battery in camp for lights, music, and the cooler that lasts all week.


Give it some thought and PM me if you need help.

[Bursha]

Thanks Fig for the clarification! it sounded a little too good to be true. I think im gonna stick with your original design, with the addition of the HF solar pump, and just run my fan off the deep cycle battery. I'm trolling craigslist for some low cost deep cycle batteries. Man those suckers aren't cheap!

[FIGJAM]

Best bang for the buck I've seen so far is 115AH from costco for $80.

[Bursha]

Is that a current price? I don't have a costco membership but for that deal i think i can round someone with a membership up. Thanks for the tip!

[FIGJAM]

Power seemed to be the big question last year, so here's a few tips.

The 115AH battery from costco for $80 is a very good buy for what it is, but it is a lead acid battery.

I don't know the life expectancy on that.

The battery I use is a Deka 105AH AGM (absorbed glass mat) that I only use for BM.

The acid is in the mat, so even if a corner gets broken off, they don't leak.

They can be stood on end, on their side, or even upside down, it does'nt matter.

Mine stays on a control charger when not in use. (BatteryMinder)

I don't discharge below 50% and with the mantainance charger should last 10 years.

They cost about $240, BUT if you keep an eye out you can find factory seconds for half that price.

Mine were factory seconds just because they did'nt have labels.

I have 2.

One for my camp lights and cooler, the other for my swiss army ashtray. (trike with bells and whistles and a 30 mile range with one of those batteries.)

If I run the trike alot, I may have to hook my jumper cables to the trike battery and idle the truck for an hour to recharge.

That's how I manage Burning Man without a generator.

[Bursha]

Thanks Fig! Yeah, i was doing some research online and found that AGM is generally listed as the best type. Where could one find factory seconds for sale??

[FIGJAM]

Call all the battery stores you can find, like battery plus, battery depot, things like that.

Check with solar power companies.

My local battery store owner happened to "know a guy" that could get factory seconds by the pallet load.

If the search is not worth your time, the battery is still cheaper than a generator.

Bigger camps that use alot of power need generators.

[geoffgn]

Does this unit need to be covered so it doesn't get dust in it during the huge dust storms on the playa?(dust+water=mud)

[FIGJAM]

No.

The dust is continualy washed out of the pad by the pump and precipitates into a layer of silt in the bottom of the cooler.

[geoffgn]

Thanks! I'll build one for BM this year. Come by and have a COOL martini at Mohammeds Mini Martini and Erotica camp

[garyt]

Thanks FIGJAM and to everyone else who has given so much feedback on this. The battery pack in a toolbox is definitely very cool and I'm stealing the idea!

My one question would be water. I try to fit everything into my 4 door sedan. If its running about 2 gallons/day, that is about 14 gallons a week. I'm planning on being there for about 3 weeks this year and that's a lot of water to carry(space and weight) just for cooling. I guess I can refill at gerlach but was just wondering what would make it most efficient? I was thinking of connecting the fans and pump to my arduino with a temp sensor to only have it turn on if it gets warmer than I can tolerate. Not sure how much water will I save with that.

[FIGJAM]

Keep your ice melt water clean and use it in your cooler.

[HandJamMasterC]

I use my ice chest water. Had more than enough last year !! Especially since we run a wine and champagne bar - too many coolers worth of water to use !

[sjs]

Hey all, I'm about 6mo behind on posting an update about how my Figjam-inspired cooler worked last year. My design consisted of two of the Scythe fans mounted in parallel on top of the 5-gallon bucket lid. They fed into PVC tubing:



Which in turn could be directed into a tent:



or into my customized Tyvek suits for cooling while you sit outside:



I was getting a 20-30 degree drop (ie: upper 90's outside, and just below 70 coming out of tube). This made it comfortable (even cold) in my tent, and quite lovely for sitting in the suits.

Other ingredients:

12v Silicon Solar pump
Dura-Cool Cooler Pads
Costco Deep Cycle Marine Battery
window screen (to line between cooler pad and bucket, in lieu of "shade cloth", worked great!)

Improvements for this year:
The biggest problem I had was that the holes in the bucket compromised its structural integrity, which combined with the weight of the PVC pipes on top caused it to bend in that area, thus causing water to more easily flow out of the bucket and make playa mud. This year, I'm going to try something more rigid like a sports drink cooler or just a regular old rectangular cooler (maybe one with wheels so I can wheel it around).

Looking forward to seeing what others are experimenting with!

[Edit: forgot to mention that I went with the PVC tubing after trying several other options, including different flexible dryer duct approaches. I found that the airflow was much reduced with the dryer ducting or anything that introduced significant bends or other air resistance. A smooth and straight path for the air was best, and even the 90-degree bend in the smooth PVC seemed to slow down air flow.

On a related note, I had sealed up my tent from the outside by sewing the rain tarp into the tent itself. When I first directed my cooler air into the tent, it "inflated" like a bouncy castle but as a result the air flow wasn't as good. I ended up partially unzipping my tent door (as you can see in the photo above) to allow for air flow... so somewhat counter-intutively, having a not-entirely-sealed tent was cooler. Likewise, the Tyvek suits have elastic in the wrist and ankles, but I found more cool airflow once I cut the elastic out of the wrists (left them in the ankles).]

[tantoo]

One more question...does the solar panel from the pump put out enough power to run both the pump and the fan? I've gotten it to work that way, but once I add water it fails...!?

[FIGJAM]

If you're talking about the solar pump from HF, no.

The panel is just for the pump, so you will need a seperate power sorce for the fan, whether it's another solar panel or a battery.

[FIGJAM]

Was just checking the availability of the fountain pump for the coolers and they don't seem to make it anymore!

I will post as soon as I find a replacement.

[FIGJAM]

OK, here it is, but there is a delay in shipping.

http://www.siliconsolar.com/replacement-12v-solar-pump.html