Best portable AC no Apu

Big bowl of ice and a 12v fan

 

All portable ACs are gimmicy crap not worth the money. They rarely work, never last and dont cool well. Any that WOULD work are as likely as not to drain your battery to death overnight.

However, you have options. For example a good 12 volt fan helps. Soak a shirt in water, wring it out and use a fan on low and you will be cool for a couple hours. There are cooling blankets that use a mix of materials to better pull heat. Some that will circulate water to help cool you. There are gel pads that help pull heat away. And there are of course classic large fans.

I have also seen people use standing AC units and a mini honda gas generator in older trucks that seem to work ok. I have also seen stuff like these Truck Air Conditioners start to become popular from some owner ops.

 

Won't work very well. A fridge generates cold by removing heat. The heat is pulled out and ejected thru the coils, and the coils are also in the cab. Plus more heat is generated by the machinery operating. So for every x amount of coldness in the cab, you're also creating x+y amount of heat in the cab. That's why window air conditioners work so much better. The coils are outside so the heat goes outside.

 

I run a window unit and a Honda generator. If you try to run an A/C off your inverter, your truck won't start in the morning. A cooler full of ice has about 600 btu total. A small A/C is about 6,000 btu per hour.

You can get a Predator generator and a small A/C for less than a grand.

 

Do a search on this forum. There were several detailed threads discussing this and showing many different options.
Without an APU it seems most use a portable generator with a window or stand up AC unit.

 

Do you carry a 5 gal container of gas for the generator? If so, does the scale house ever give you a hard time?

 

Harbor freight generator and stand up AC unit installation.

If you have space a bigger generator is better. And a side box for it.