DIY Tent Air Conditioning

[jwwilsonmd]

I just got back from Symbiosis Gathering, a music festival in the middle of hot California. We danced until late in the night and slept in until well after sunrise. If you've ever done this, you know how hot your tent can get once the sun comes up, even in shade. Well, problem solved with the Model X (and I suppose Model S, too). Behold a $30 Do It Yourself tent AC using the Model X climate control. Here is how:

Buy an $18 flexible/collapsible dryer vent hose and an L-shaped connector (and some gorilla tape). Check out pictures below and you can see how to do it:

Mold the opening of the L connector to match the right driver's side air vent (use clamps and pliers)
Tape over the edges of the L connector opening
Connect the dryer vent hose to other end of L connector
Expand the hose out the partially open driver's window
Mark, then cut an opening in the vent hose over the left driver's vent and shape some cardboard around vent, extending to the cut hose opening.
Tape the cardboard to the vent hose
Wedge apparatus with steering column to its highest and closest setting. Make tighter with a towel.
Use painter's tape for better seal at the vents if you want
Seal the driver's window with come cardboard
Close all the other vents in the car and turn off rear climate control
Set fan manually to high setting on front climate control
Snake the dryer vent into your tent
When you need it, use your smart phone to turn on AC in climate control tab of your Tesla App.

There you have a super quiet and strong air conditioning with no loud stinky generator. Over 4 days, I used it for about 5 hours worth and used 15 miles of range. 3 miles of range per hour use is very efficient. AC turns off after about an hour. Just restart it if needed.


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[chargeshare]

Don't have permission to view your images.

 

[jwwilsonmd]

Don't have permission to view your images.

I think it is fixed now. Set privacy to "public"

 

[scottf200]

Re: A/C turns off after about an hour.

If you have an iPhone (I don't) then you can get this app to turn your A/C automatically every 1/2 hour.
Remote S for Tesla on the App Store

 

[vandacca]

I just got back from Symbiosis Gathering, a music festival in the middle of hot California. We danced until late in the night and slept in until well after sunrise. If you've ever done this, you know how hot your tent can get once the sun comes up, even in shade. Well, problem solved with the Model X (and I suppose Model S, too). Behold a $30 Do It Yourself tent AC using the Model X climate control. Here is how:
...

Wow, quite impressive and creative. That is definitely worthy of a Model-X Life-Hack. You should post it in that thread as well.

 

[beths11]

Re: A/C turns off after about an hour.

If you have an iPhone (I don't) then you can get this app to turn your A/C automatically every 1/2 hour.
Remote S for Tesla on the App Store

I think V8.0 provides a "pet/child AC on" option which will greatly simplify keeping the AC on as long as desired.

 

[scottf200]

I think V8.0 provides a "pet/child AC on" option which will greatly simplify keeping the AC on as long as desired.

It is set at something like 105F tho and you can't change the temp. That is not comfortable tenting. Supposedly in 8.1 you will be able to change that temperature so that would be more like 'camper mode'.

 

[Solarman004]

I just got back from Symbiosis Gathering, a music festival in the middle of hot California. We danced until late in the night and slept in until well after sunrise. If you've ever done this, you know how hot your tent can get once the sun comes up, even in shade. Well, problem solved with the Model X (and I suppose Model S, too). Behold a $30 Do It Yourself tent AC using the Model X climate control.

You need to change your TMC callsign to "McGyver"! Well done! I take it that your HVAC fan was fairly quiet from the outside at the fan speed you chose.

 

[jwwilsonmd]

You need to change your TMC callsign to "McGyver"! Well done! I take it that your HVAC fan was fairly quiet from the outside at the fan speed you chose.

Yes, super quiet. I never need a generator again. I need to find out if anyone has taken the S or X to Burning Man and how it recovers from the super dusty environment. This hack would be so awesome there. Next hack: Bring a couple of the solar panels off my roof when I go to an extended festival and trickle charge the battery during the day. Anyone seen this done?

 

[Bet TSLA]

Yes, super quiet. I never need a generator again. I need to find out if anyone has taken the S or X to Burning Man and how it recovers from the super dusty environment. This hack would be so awesome there. Next hack: Bring a couple of the solar panels off my roof when I go to an extended festival and trickle charge the battery during the day. Anyone seen this done?

Great hack! I was planning to take my S to Burning Man this year, but my wife nixed the idea. The playa dust gets into everything, but it didn't kill my Highlander Hybrid nor lots of other vehicles there so I'd guess it wouldn't be any worse for a Tesla. Get it detailed when you go home and you should be fine.

Lots of people have solar panels, but given the amount of power stored by the Tesla battery I think solar panels would use up more cargo space than they are worth. You would have to play around with it some. Run the A/C, charge a few things using the USB ports, use the headlights some -- don't think it will run it down all that much over the course of a week or so.

 

[TacC]

What cardboard box did you use for the window? HPWC?

 

[jwwilsonmd]

What cardboard box did you use for the window? HPWC?

That was a couple of accessory boxes: CHADeMo and Home charging unit boxes.

 

[supratachophobia]

I just got back from Symbiosis Gathering, a music festival in the middle of hot California. We danced until late in the night and slept in until well after sunrise. If you've ever done this, you know how hot your tent can get once the sun comes up, even in shade. Well, problem solved with the Model X (and I suppose Model S, too). Behold a $30 Do It Yourself tent AC using the Model X climate control. Here is how:

Buy an $18 flexible/collapsible dryer vent hose and an L-shaped connector (and some gorilla tape). Check out pictures below and you can see how to do it:

Mold the opening of the L connector to match the right driver's side air vent (use clamps and pliers)
Tape over the edges of the L connector opening
Connect the dryer vent hose to other end of L connector
Expand the hose out the partially open driver's window
Mark, then cut an opening in the vent hose over the left driver's vent and shape some cardboard around vent, extending to the cut hose opening.
Tape the cardboard to the vent hose
Wedge apparatus with steering column to its highest and closest setting. Make tighter with a towel.
Use painter's tape for better seal at the vents if you want
Seal the driver's window with come cardboard
Close all the other vents in the car and turn off rear climate control
Set fan manually to high setting on front climate control
Snake the dryer vent into your tent
When you need it, use your smart phone to turn on AC in climate control tab of your Tesla App.

There you have a super quiet and strong air conditioning with no loud stinky generator. Over 4 days, I used it for about 5 hours worth and used 15 miles of range. 3 miles of range per hour use is very efficient. AC turns off after about an hour. Just restart it if needed.


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Why did you not do this.....

 

[TacC]

Why did you not do this.....

Can't risk having some hippies and their patchouli fragrance contaminate the car.

 

[supratachophobia]

Can't risk having some hippies and their patchouli fragrance contaminate the car.

Fair point, no sense getting buzzed on the way home.

 

[jwwilsonmd]

I need a way to turn on the AC without a signal. Next festival has zero cell or data signal. I presume the RemoteS app scheduler requires signal to activate at correct date and time. I'll probably have to put weight on the driver's seat and turn on the AC manually and crawl back in the tent. Any other ideas?

 

[outie]

I read that you could put the car in neutral and turn on the emergency/parking brake to keep the car/AC running. That works for 6 hours if I remembered correctly.

 

[supratachophobia]

I need a way to turn on the AC without a signal. Next festival has zero cell or data signal. I presume the RemoteS app scheduler requires signal to activate at correct date and time. I'll probably have to put weight on the driver's seat and turn on the AC manually and crawl back in the tent. Any other ideas?

Don't forget the hot dog method. Tie a string to the rear view mirror with a hot dog dangling on the end at screen height. Then fold a 3x5 card in half to make a 'V' and tape it to the middle of the string, with the two middle vents pointing at it. As the air blows, it will push the hot dog away from the screen, only to swing back and "press" the screen. Since it's capacitative, it could be a hot dog or your finger, the screen doesn't know. It happens frequently so the touchscreen never has a chance to hit it's 20min cutoff.

 

[TacC]

What about a LAN connection? I believe that there is a CAT 5 cable behind the touchscreen. I'm not sure if that gets you anywhere.

Another thought that crossed my mind was setting up a wifi network (with no internet connection, of course) for your car and phone. I assume the app and/or car needs to communicate with Tesla servers. However, if they communicate directly with each other then you may have an option there.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Don't forget the hot dog method. Tie a string to the rear view mirror with a hot dog dangling on the end at screen height. Then fold a 3x5 card in half to make a 'V' and tape it to the middle of the string, with the two middle vents pointing at it. As the air blows, it will push the hot dog away from the screen, only to swing back and "press" the screen. Since it's capacitative, it could be a hot dog or your finger, the screen doesn't know. It happens frequently so the touchscreen never has a chance to hit it's 20min cutoff.

That's hilarious, but you'd really have to like the smell of hotdogs when you get back to your car. Fortunately I do.