A frequently asked question here at Nomadic Cooling is what is the difference between the X2 and the X3 air conditioners?  The specs of each unit definitely are different, but what should you think about before buying?

There is no one size fits all answer to this question.  How we do help is by asking the following questions:

• What size vehicle or RV are you installing it on?
• How many amp hours of batteries do you have?
• What are your overall goals for your air conditioner?

Vehicle size helps determine the amount of space that will need to be cooled down.  The cooling capacity of an air conditioner is typically measured in BTU’s per hour.  However, determining the exact square footage that a certain number of BTU’s can cool depends on various factors, including insulation, ceiling height, climate, sunlight exposure, and more.  As a general rule of thumb, a rough estimation is that 1 ton of cooling (which equals 12,000 BTUs per hour) can cool approximately 500 to 600 square feet of space.  Therefore, 8100 BTUs (like in the X2) might be sufficient to cool a smaller area, roughly around 350 to 400 square feet.

Amp hours in your battery bank is important.  Each of the two air conditioners has different size compressors, which means that in both its Max Mode and Eco Mode, it draws different amounts of amps.  The X2 and X3 also come in 3 different voltages, which again changes the amp draw from your batteries.  Before you purchase an A/C you will want to consider your existing electrical system and either what it currently has or if you will need to add to it to determine what size air conditioner to purchase.  If you are building your van from soup to nuts, then choose your air conditioner and the appropriate electrical system to run it efficiently, with your budget in mind.  When calculating the amount of run hours you will get out of each air conditioner take the amp hours of your battery and divide it by the amp draw of the compressor.  Example would be 200ah battery with X3 in max mode, 100A, would equal about 2 hours of run time.  If you run it in ECO mode then your amp draw goes down to 50A and you get 4 hours of run time.  Add another 200ah battery and you double those numbers again.

Lastly, your overall goal is referring to what you want to achieve from your  air conditioner.  If you are looking to only cool down at night while you sleep, then the X2 could help you achieve this.  If you are needing it to run it throughout the day while you keep your animals in the van, then you might choose the X3.  

If you would like help narrowing down your options feel free to give us a call.  Our technical support can help you to find the right unit for your build.