Air conditioner cut in

Ryan242

Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2025
Posts
12
Location
colorado
Anyone done the mod? Like… do you just use a sawzall and go to town? Will the battery support its running or does it need shore power? Is there a template you put in the hole while traveling or is it permanent?
 

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An air conditioner is a high electrical draw appliance. There ARE ones that run off DC power, but I suspect they drain the battery rather quickly. I've never used one, so I have no idea how practical they are.

- Jack
 
Good morning!

It appears from the instructions that the back wall has a 1" steel tube frame built into it to support a "window" air conditioner since a roof top unit likely was not made in the early 70's when these instructions were written. One concern I have is window units have changed in size over the years and it may be difficult to find a unit with an appropriate size to fit the boxed frame Hi-Lo built into the wall. Depending on how your rear wall is built, you may be able to remove the interior paneling and measure/modify the tube frame to get the right size/shape for a modern window A/C unit.

As an alternative, if you have a 14x14 square vent on the roof of the unit, it can be pulled and a traditional RV rooftop A/C could be installed. This will give you the best performance since they are usually 13,000-15,000 btu vs a 6-8,000 btu window unit that will likely fit the cutout in the back wall as well as being reversible should you choose to remove it in the future.

Let us know if you have any questions.
 
Additionally, I found a utube by "Tito" that discusses a DC A/C he put in that seems pretty efficient:
. Now, he has a VERY LARGE solar charging array on his roof and he has THREE - 100 Watt-Hour LiFePO4 batteries in his rig. So, he can handle the current drain from the A/C and his solar panels keep his batteries charged.

- Jack
 

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