Poor Man's AC
 

I just bought one of these.

https://coolorheat.com/

It draws only 30W and can cool to 40F below ambient. It should make summer more bearable in the VX.:D

I will will have a report as soon as it arrives in the mail.:cool:

Hummmm makes me wonder about the junctions that I have . . . maybe they are really dead and a new one will work a whole lot better. I heard some highschool kids made an AC unit out of several of them and it worked great.

ouch 120 US, more expensive than my th410 unit. Let us know how it goes.

Give me a link to your th410 unit.

That looks very cool *rimshot*

Seriously, tell me how it goes... could be a nice gift for my wife.

I'm also thinking of ordering one of these for her:

https://www.autocooltv.com/ppc/index...=&refcode=ppcG

Yup, I am considering one also.

https://www.businesschairs.com/mefosecut.html

i think the ice breaker is that you get cool and hot! mine only warm and massage ;( but the seat is so comfy i can sit on it for hours and not feel any strain of "butt pain."

But these days its too hot, so the cushion goes away for now until it gets cooler.

Looks nice but my seats are very comfy already. Yup, the coolness is what sold me. Hopefully it will work as advertized.

I bought one of these. Have not had a chance to use it yet. One thing I did notice is that you have to be in direct sunlite for it to work. If the sun is on the west side and the cooler is on the east side it does not work. I'll let you know how it does after I had it for a while. But for now I would save your money.

When I'm not using mine, I keep it on the shelf right next to my Flowbee. :p

Is that where you keep your Ronco Pocket Fisherman?:D That seat cushion thing thing looks like it may work though.

But wait, where are the ginsu knives? j/k ;)

It arrived while I was at Hybridfest. I installed it last night. The seat pad attaches two the seat with two straps. The fit is good.

The business end of the unit is a 3x3x8" box which contains a pump and whatever other technology is used to cool the fluid. The fluid is pumped thru an insulated flexible conduit about 3/4" dia including the insulation. Inside the conduit are the tubes that the fluid flows thru. The tubes run thru two pads, one on the seat and one in the lumbar region. Along with the two cooling pads, other pads are arranged to allow air flow behind your back and under your seat. The pump unit plugs into a 12v socket and also comes with a 120V AC to 12DC rectifier.

My first impression was fairly good. The pump unit is quiet with a slight gurgling sound. During the drive to work, I could feel the "coolness". The drive home will provide a better opportunity to judge the value of this Poor Man's AC system.

Oh that explains how the cool the seat - does the box get hot or what??

The box has a fan that disperses the heat thru vents in ths side.

OK so it was about 85F on the drive home. It didn't take long to feel the cooless on my back and butt. It was a strange feeling but one that I could get used to. When I got home my back was only slightly wet. Normally I am drencehd.
Did it help? Yes. But I had hoped for a little more cooling. I will try to find a better place to put the box so that the heat can be dissapated better.
Is i worth it? Well that depends. I will have to sleep on it. Ask me in a few weeks.

so pretty much its taking the heat from your back and dumping it into the air making the car even hotter.
Wouldnt it make more sence to have the box outside the car?

Yes, it just transfers the heat. The car doesn't get any hotter though because the vent fan is on and the hot air gets vented thru the rear of the car. Putting the box outside would make little difference and expose it to the elements which would prolly kill the box innards.

The net effect is that you feel cooler.

ah i get it.
a nifty little toy. I wouldnt mind one if they actually do work..but its pricey and theres a boat load of things more important.

Do you know how it works? ( I'm suspecting it's a Pelletier (sp?) device. )

I put my "air conditioning" in the car this week too: my wooden bead seat cover. Don't laugh. You'd be surprised how much cooler they keep you!

Yes, I believe it is a Pelletier cooler. The same technology that was used to cool overclocked PC chips.

The seat cusion is very comfortable, the lumbar support is nice. Still struggling with the effectiveness. The jury is still out. Part of the problem is that the spring loaded cigarette lighter plug has a tendancy to push itself out of the socket, losing contact and cutting the power. If I can get the thing to stay in it might cool better.

So what are your thoughts after a while? I wonder if your could "turn it on" 5 minutes before you actually used the seat if it would cool better? Or does it coll down pretty fast? What about heating in winter?