Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

Hey,
I have an old 4x4(97 nissan terrano, 125 bhp) and the a/c was never amazing. It takes a lot from the engine on warm days even when it was new, at least in the scorching heat of the desert around me.
I want to install a second system which will be electric compressor.
Powering it will be the easy part for me as I have a upgraded alternator along with 30 amp of solar charging(will probably improve to 42a soon)
My first thought was to install the whole system in sort of a cube which will make it removable when needed(and also saves a lot of hussle on installation- I don't care much for the noise as it's mainly to help the cooling and the engine on extreme days that are more frequent then ever) but it seems I miss understood how it works.
Does putting the condenser along with the evaporator and compressor inside the vehicle hurt or kill the performance to the point that it turns irrelevant?
Under the hood of the car there isn't much room for the condenser so I'm trying to think out of the box(literally).
Any idea or thought would be appreciated!
Eliran

The condenser certainly cannot be inside the vehicle. You can mount it remotely though. A lot of van based buses as well as limos have a condenser for the rear system either underfloor or mounted in the skirt with electric fans. I have even seen 2 condensers run off the factory compressor on many of them. The factory front condenser services the factory dash unit and the added rear condenser tee'd into the discharge hose serves the add on rear unit. Those systems work a lot better than the factory dual air systems that run the stock condenser.

As for an electric compressor in my experience they are mostly junk. They do not move nearly as many BTUs as an engine driven compressor of suitable size. I would not expect much from it especially in severe temps.

Carguychris85 wrote: Sat Aug 09, 2025 3:27 pm The condenser certainly cannot be inside the vehicle. You can mount it remotely though. A lot of van based buses as well as limos have a condenser for the rear system either underfloor or mounted in the skirt with electric fans. I have even seen 2 condensers run off the factory compressor on many of them. The factory front condenser services the factory dash unit and the added rear condenser tee'd into the discharge hose serves the add on rear unit. Those systems work a lot better than the factory dual air systems that run the stock condenser.

As for an electric compressor in my experience they are mostly junk. They do not move nearly as many BTUs as an engine driven compressor of suitable size. I would not expect much from it especially in severe temps.

Thanks !
Just for educational purposes, why can't the condenser be inside the vehicle? Heat? Freon leak?

Since it's a 4x4 that travel a lot, I have to find a way to mount it above the seats(water crossing and such )

The two system will work together and the electric one will just have to keep the temps reasonable on the times that the engine coolant rises due to high engine load during travel.

One more thing, how much does the average BTU's that a car cooling a/c system produce?
The system I'm looking at claim to be a 22k btu and I'm thinking that if I get 3rd of that I'd be very happy. Am I too optimistic?