Electrical Load for Arctic Air: Help!

[WorldWiseTrade]

I'm interested in this Arctic Air unit http://www.arcticaircooler.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=RAC-400-2-24D for my 94 TLS Bravo, w/dual alternators @ 70 amps, however I believe only redundant. Also dual batteries. Just too darn hot here in FL!

Just flew a Tecnam P2006 with Rotax engines with the Arctic Air unit installed, works great.

My local A&P said that the load is too high for the Mooney. Doesn't seem to add up if the 2 30 amp alternators on the Tecnam can handle it, shouldn't 70 amp alternator also handle it.

Any expertise here? Alternators now are redundant, perhaps another way to wire?

Thanks in advance for comments and suggestions.

[LANCECASPER]

It looks like all you need is 22 amps - that shouldn't be a problem. I would check with the manufacturer to see if there have been some Mooney installs.

However this one should be big enough for the cabin of the Mooney and it only draws 19 amps and saves cargo space and 8 pounds.

http://www.arcticaircooler.com/product-p/rac-200-1-24d.htm

[jetdriven]

There's a thread on Beechtalk  about this unit. It runs 37-42 amps in flight. Add the 30ish amps of airplane load and it will overheat and kill a 70A alternator. That's what happened to my hangar mate's Cardinal. He installed it, had to run large wires to it, then it wouldn't cool enough on low. On high it fried the alternator. Overhauled it again and it killed it again. Now he is 2k into installation and alternators.  Then he had to upgrade to an STC 100 something amp alternator and it still pulls a large load on it. 

[LANCECASPER]

It sounds like the manufacturer can set the max amp draw to 22 amps on that unit, or 19 amps on the smaller unit mentioned in my previous post.

[jetdriven]

Yes,and it won't cool a plane down at 22A.  Even the high setting the BT pilots were complaining it wasn't good enough. You get 20 degrees difference at the vent. Also, you have to get rid of the hot exhaust air and the condensation. 

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, jetdriven said:

There's a thread on Beechtalk  about this unit. It runs 37-42 amps in flight. Add the 30ish amps of airplane load and it will overheat and kill a 70A alternator. That's what happened to my hangar mate's Cardinal. He installed it, had to run large wires to it, then it wouldn't cool enough on low. On high it fried the alternator. Overhauled it again and it killed it again. Now he is 2k into installation and alternators.  Then he had to upgrade to an STC 100 something amp alternator and it still pulls a large load on it. 

Unless your hangarmate had a 1978 Cardinal (28v) then he had a 14 volt electrical system in his airplane.

The 14v ArcticAir only has a 200 cfm fan instead of the 400 cfm fan on the above unit. On the 28v system with the low setting of 22 amps, 5000 BTU of cooling with a 400 cfm fan should easily cool down a Mooney cabin. The exhaust air can be vented just like the Mooney factory air, through the rear and the condensation can go through a drain hole just like the one that is drilled for the battery gases.

 

Here's a post from a few years ago where it worked well in a Cherokee:

[WorldWiseTrade]

Thanks for all the comments!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[larryb]

The base factory AC is 14,000 BTU. The high capacity option is 25,000. This unit is only 10,000 on high. Based on the specs I would expect marginal cooling. I have no personal experience with any of the units.

Larry

[thinwing]

Weighs 42 lbs...the ice units are looking pretty good to me ,especially with the refrig in the hanger and only required below 5000 ft