ZERO BREEZE - Mark 2 AC

I really like my zero breeze 2. I’m in Texas as well, I get it man. It sucks to wake up in sweat

It's true that there are such units, but the smaller the AC, the less cooling capacity it tends to have (the lower the BTUs). Generally speaking, you'll need more than 12,000 BTUs to effectively cool the interior space of a vehicle that isn't well insulated during the midday hours of a hot summer day. If you have well insulated your vehicle, the value of this need will drop a bit, but it's usually hard to get below 6,000 BTUs. There are many home portable ACs with wheels that have more than 10,000 BTUs of cooling capacity, but they are not designed for use inside a vehicle. This is mainly because of the size and weight which does not make them easy to move around, and they are not well protected for the lumps and bumps that a vehicle may experience while driving, which may cause damage to the AC compressor. Also, power consumption is an issue; portable ACs for home use are designed to be used by plugging in shore power, and you need to consider the output capacity of the generator, as well as the additional fuel consumption from the loss of using the inverter. Portable air conditioners that are small enough to be designed for outdoor use are battery-powered, such as the ZERO BREEZE. These units, as mentioned before, can't beat the heat from the sunlight during the day, but this unit can cool effectively at night. If you only run the AC during sleeping hours, then this is a good option, but you cannot expect it to cool down the entire vehicle during the daytime. If you ask me, trying to find a balance between size and cooling power when choosing an AC, especially an outdoor one, is difficult. Smaller ACs tend to be less powerful, and powerful ACs tend to be too big and heavy. Your best bet may not be an AC, but a hybrid or electric car, after all, they are designed to be able to use vehicle AC for long periods of time.

THIS. Compared to the ZERO BREEZE Mark 2, the EcoFlow Wave 2 is a bit too heavy and uneasy to carry, moving it up and down the RTT wouldn't be a easy job. Edit: Nighttime is the absolutely best time for this type of unit to work. Using a battery powered portable AC in a poorly insulated RTT during the hot day under direct sunlight is not making sense.

Don't expect a portable A/C with only 5000 BTU's to cool your trailer during the day at 105 F unless your trailer is REALLY well insulated. I've used another brand of battery-powered portable A/C (ZERO BREEZE) in my tent, it will never beat the heat of the sun during the day, best used only as spot coolers. It's at night that they work best, as there is no sun as the biggest source of heat.

Texas here. I understand your pain with heat and humidity. I have an zerobreeze v2 and it works well. I’ve used it on my autohome RTT and it’s wonderful. Allows me to still go camping even tho it’s hot and humid. I usually only run it at night. Allows me to sleep at night comfortably and not lay in my own sweat. The ZB consumes roughly 240W and my 3584WH custom power station is able to run it easily for 14hrs without issue. As other have mentioned, your choice is power supply will greatly determine the success. I run it full power (240w ish) all night and it gets the temp down to low 70s inside my RTT while being 90-95F outside (at night). If you had something like an ecoflow wave that’s more powerful at 550w, you’ll need to be even more conscious about your battery. We can’t all have a 75F blue-sky-California/PNW summers.

If you will be in a hotel I would not bother with a portable ac. These units need to exhaust hot air, so using them in an enclosed room would not be helpful for cooling. Lugging them around in the field as you are working would probably also not be practical. I’ve looked into both units you’ve mentioned for my camper, and for me the price was not worth it (based off reviews for Florida climate). In Florida, ac is not a luxury but a necessity. Any hotel in Florida will have ac (though some are not great or have temperature controls locked). Use a tower fan or box fan if the ac where you are staying isn’t up to par. If you are off grid, good luck because there is not much helping that heat without a real ac unit. The batteries on units you’ve mentioned are expensive and don’t even last the night if running full blast. If off grid, I’d just get one or two of the bigger 20v fans. You’ll be miserable either way.

ZeroBreeze MkII for a 2-3 person tent and the MkIII for 4+ person tent. I’ve got the MkII and it’s just enough for a 4 person tent when below 95F

There’s the ecoflow wave and the zero breeze. Both take up considerable space (about the size of a passenger and then space for the air ducts) and require a LOT of power to keep them running and make it viable. You can view YT reviews of both—basically you need 400w of Solar to keep it running longterm, and that doesn’t include anything else you need to power. They’re both over $1k and spare batteries are extra. I tested both in my Subaru Crosstrek and used solar blankets + blackout curtains to create an enclosed space so the units wouldn’t be cooling the entire vehicle (and it’s a very small vehicle). The zero breeze felt good blowing right up on me. The ecoflow cooled the space decently but used up so much power, I would need more battery wh or more Solar to keep my fridge running. I wouldn’t recommend either due to how much space they take up in a small vehicle. Now that I have a small cargo trailer, I may revisit them again, but as an extravagance, not a necessity.

I have a zero breeze and a roam vagabond rtt. One thing i dont think has been mentioned yet is the importance of insulation. My wife spent the extra $$ to get the insulating liner in the rtt. Obviously, it helps in cold weather, but without it, there would be no chance of achieving a comfortable cool temperature in there on really hot days. *With* it we have had to turn it down because we were getting cold in +95⁰ and very humid weather. Regarding power supply; i have the aux ZB battery bank and a jackery explorer 1000, and I *never* plan to have more than 6 hours of maximum ZB power. 2 adult bodies create a shit load of ambient heat, and the kWh math folks are referencing is at perfect charge and capacity; not what you're really going to have. When my family camps with me, I strongly consider biting the bullet and finding shore power. When it's just me: little to no issues staying cool. TL:DR Get insulation lol.

It’s the same BTU as my zero breeze, and the zero breeze is useless unless you have it directly pointed at you a couple feet away or less. I don’t imagine this would cool even a Prius? I could be way off but from my experience with my zero breeze it does not cool the vehicle or even a small area of it.

No. It isn't. These Zero Breeze units are an absolute joke. I have had three of them since the company was founded a few years ago (boats were on Hilton Head Island and Alameda, CA), and none have been able to keep a space larger than a head cool. They're expensive and impractical.