Electrical AirCon Compressor?

Hi all,

I was thinking about the possibility of installing an Electrical Air Compressor for my AC on my XJ instead of the Belt Driven one. the reason I want to do it is to have the AC working in mid summer here in UAE (+50 Celsius) and still go and hit the desert without real Power loss.

Has any one tried it?
Pros and Cons?
Things to consider?
Budget?

Thank you all :cheers:

I may be wrong but the extra draw on the alternator and electrical system seems like it would negate the benifits.
Interesting idea though and if you do it keep us posted.

Green XJ Jeep said:

I may be wrong but the extra draw on the alternator and electrical system seems like it would negate the benifits.
Interesting idea though and if you do it keep us posted.

Click to expand...

Assuming you upgrade to a higher amperage alternator it would take care of that issue I'd think.

Nothing is free. It takes about 10-15 hp to run the compressor. If you run it off of electricity, that power still has to come from somewhere. That place is the drag you put on the engine with the alternator. The more power you pull electrically from the alternator, the more resistance it applies to the motor.

In reality, due to converting to electricity and back to motive power, you have more losses. Using the alternator approach probably would add a few more horse power of losses than a straight belt.

The best thing you could do is to tint the glass, paint the vehicle white, and insulate the interior.

If you have overheating problems, deal with the root cause first. After that, you can remove the tranny cooler from the radiator and put it external. That will help the engine to cool much better. You can run an external oil cooler as well. Add an additional radiator fan and make sure the shroud is good.

I installed a custom built alternator that put out 225 amps for my stereo system and when I pushed my system the Jeep was gutless, even worse than driving with the ac on. You may get different results.

Hybrid cars use electric compressors, but that would be a pretty ambitious swap. You would need an expensive DC/DC converter to get to the voltage the compressor would run at.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sae/10EVSD1104/index.php?lre=1%3A3131394433443637344442344144344633373441453033413937384646463337#/40

This mentions the strategy used on the Chevy Volt - heating and cooling the seats to reduce the need for heating a cooling the cabin. I wonder what options exist for cooled seat covers.



In dry climates, a swamp cooler would be a power saving option.

Yeah, what he said. Hybrid compressors run on hundreds of volts.....not a reality in a cherokee.

xCWolf said:

Assuming you upgrade to a higher amperage alternator it would take care of that issue I'd think.

Click to expand...

Takes power to make power.
The extra power that it would take to run an electric ac compressor isn't going to be much different than running a mechanical compressor.