Campstream One for Rivian | Setup, Review and Battery Drain details!

In this video I test out a prototype of the Campstream One heating/cooling system for the Rivian! This product uses the Rivians HVAC system to send air to your ground tent or rooftop tent.
I’ll cover all the details you need to know including how to set it up, how much battery it uses and some more interesting details.
00:00 Intro
01:12 Whats included?
02:36 Setup
04:35 Overnight 9HR Test
07:32 1 HR Test
08:37 Fanspeed/Airflow
10:04 App Controls
10:32 Direct Sun Test
17:14 Packup
17:36 Final Thoughts
Kickstarter Link:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
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Disclaimer: Campstream provided me with this unit free of charge for testing and use. All opinions are my own and I received no payment for this review.
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[@campstreamgear]

We are so stoked to see you pushing the campstream to the limits man 😃👏 this is a GREAT video!! 🎉

[@ChargeOverland]

Thanks!🤘🏻 Such a cool product to be testing and using out in the desert!

[@jameslala382]

So did it not work out? I can't seem to find this anywhere for sale and links on your site don't link.

[@curtiskirk584]

As always, great video! The scenery, format, editing, info, thoughtful commentary, collected/shared data … all of it 👏👏. Thanks for taking one for the team and enduring the heat just for this. Hope you had time to have some fun out there too. The effort and end result are very much appreciated. Put in my order this weekend and hope Campstream takes your review to heart and is able to improve on this great idea. Also, iKamper has an optional insulated layer for the tent. I don’t have it because I live in a hot place, but after seeing the 140° temps the campstream was battling from the sun on the tent, I might just get one to help keep it cool in this instance.

[@ChargeOverland]

Thanks as always! I think the Campstream guys are looking to keep improving and hoping they end up delivering an awesome product! I like the idea of using that insulated layer actually never thought of that for keeping it cool inside👍🏻

[@BlueAlphaBelts]

I'm guessing if you were in the shade it would have made a big difference, good news for us forest campers. Thanks for torture testing it!

[@ChargeOverland]

Definitely wanted to test under worst case conditions but for sure much more efficient to be in shade!

[@gaeldebeaumont6256]

Super informative and thoughtfully done!

[@500445]

I'm in the process of researching a teardrop camper for my 2023 R1T. This is a great alternative to adding an AC to a small camper. As we know, when it comes to EV towing, weight, and aerodynamic MATTER. Battery drain wouldn't be an issue at a camp site with shore power. Great video. Keep us informed.

[@ChargeOverland]

Teardrop camper would be cool but yes agree on the battery/efficiency - running this would probably be less of a range impact than towing a small trailer👍🏻

[@jazminforbes209]

Same ! I’m looking into the airstream Basecamp

[@kirkl6915]

Great video and very useful data. Also, really enjoyed running into you and Justin at the Truckee RAN chargers last week, it was a great addition to our Sierra camping/road trip adventure this summer with our iCamp mini. We had a blast! Hope you get to publish a video on the Tahoe area at some point.

[@ChargeOverland]

Great to meet you as well! Working on the video from that trip now :)

[@davidfontneau7096]

Very cool. Would be interested to see the same test in a winter environment running heat instead of AC!

[@ChargeOverland]

Definitely on my list of things to test out!

[@artofkhaos2336]

Dont own a rivian but loving the tests your doing

[@ChargeOverland]

Thanks!

[@SuperSqueakyboy]

The heat is coming in faster than the ac can cool the tent down. Basically now you have a personal cooler than a space cooler. You can sleep near the ac vent.

[@iamdaviddoliver]

This seems like a great product and concept. As you mentioned, the sole portion of this I’m disliking is how the tube enters the tent. I get that they wouldn’t be able to do something for all types of tents out there but the zipper doesn’t really seal around that big round tube.

[@curtiskirk584]

Amen. I’m already thinking of making my own seal or maybe some low-residue tape to keep those bugs out.

[@ChargeOverland]

Yup I think a good bug solution is key for this setup👍🏻👍🏻

[@jherylwilliams]

Great job in the video!

[@ChargeOverland]

Thanks!

[@sworks7124]

Thanks for this video very informative.

[@ChargeOverland]

Happy to help!

[@beforebefore]

In the tent, the small gaps around the air tubing is pressurized outward, because of the air being forced into the tent. Therefore it would be very hard for mosquitoes to get in, as long as the air is flowing. Also, it's google that there's some air leakage around the truck vent adapter. With every other vent in the truck closed, the cab temperature set point would be incredibly hard to reach... so it will be trying hard to cool off the cab, if all the air was going to the tent. So adding sun shields to the cab windows would help cooling as well... especially if you allow recirculation mode... this could be a significant help. It's too bad the tent mfr decided to use Black plastic... which will degrade much faster than something with some reflectivity. Maybe they could include an aluminized sheet of fabric to snap onto the top hard cover during hot weather.

[@ChargeOverland]

Great insight and some good ideas here! Thanks🙌🏻

[@mintberry6014]

Couple of questions/suggestions. Most HVAC in houses have a 80/20 ratio of recirculated air/outdoor air. Unfortunately outdoor air is very inefficient to cool due to moisture and typically much higher temperatures. But fresh air is needed for obvious reasons. Does the cars “recirculate” button follow this same ratio? Either way, I would suggest “recirculate air” be “on”. Also, I would suggest keeping the other vents open slightly (or maybe one at the front and one at the rear). The cross section of the ducting is probably much smaller than the sum of all the vents cross section in the car. As you already discovered, it’s less efficient to blast the A/c through a much smaller hole than what was intended. So closing all the vents not attached to the ducting is sort of knee capping your cars A/c unit. You probably won’t get much better efficiency than what you saw in the desert at 73 degrees F. But for those who live in Texas (like myself) with temps around 85 degrees at night with high humidity, these suggestions may help. Another thing that may help keep the tent cool/hot (depending on what you need). Insulation in home walls essentially uses tiny pockets of air to slow energy transfer (I.e. fiberglass). Thin camping air mattresses (like the self inflating type) would theoretically be great at insulating if you could find a way to line the tent walls/ceiling. The ceiling alone would dramatically aid in your attempt at cooling. I know this was a test of the system “as is” so 140 degrees F was a good performance benchmark. But there is always room for improvement, and I’m sure this device can work even better once all the data has been analyzed. Once my family and I get a rivian we will definitely be interested in this device. Just find a better mounting solution for the tent side….. I hate bugs 😂 One last suggestion, if you use this. open a slit in one of the other tent windows. If the tent is completely sealed then the cars AC system will struggle to get air to the tent. In a house, there a push/pull of air between the return and supply vents. By routing ac outside of the “System” (the car) you are removing the “pull” of the return portion of an AC system. Allowing some of the air to escape (preferably at the top of the tent) reduces the static pressure in the tent.

[@ChargeOverland]

This is some really great information thanks for sharing🙌🏻 Lots of things I wouldn’t have known to try out!

[@briansidella9734]

Nice setup but some changes... The zipper insert as you said will allow for bugs.. Why not have a circular cutout in the tent with two end caps so all you need do is remove the caps and insert the hose... Next I'd put in a boost fan halfway in between the input and outputs of the hose. That could be dc powered in the Rivian and would boost the output in the tent.

[@ChargeOverland]

I like the idea of a small fan to boost airflow - and yes definitely need a good solution to make it bug proof👍🏻

[@cybermondays]

You should get a reflective blanket for the tent and test it as well..

[@ShaneHilde]

Trona! My mom works there. I don’t think I’ve camped at the Pinnacles, but I’ve been there a number of times. One is the newer planet of the apes films was filmed there when I was 18.

[@ChargeOverland]

Very cool! I really enjoyed camping there it felt like being on a different plant haha

[@Sweetchild911]

I think if you use the app to control the temp, it opens up all the vents so you’ll lose out on efficiency unless you go back in and close the side vents

[@ChargeOverland]

Interesting! I’ll have to test this out👍🏻👍🏻

[@RainbowTy]

Nice. I’m not familiar with Rivian’s so does the back window open? Might be more efficient to run the pipe inside the truck then to the tent to minimize heat/sun exposure and keeping the pipe straight.

[@ChargeOverland]

I wish it did! The back glass is fixed though

[@ChrisLee-sycly]

Maybe a dumb question but how does the climate control know how much cool air to blow out when the vent is covered by the external pipe? Isn’t the climate control controlled by detecting the temperature of the cabin? So if you say you want 70 degrees and the cabin is 90 degrees isn’t it going to blow out a lot of cold air trying to reduce the cabin temperature but of course the cabin temp won’t go down but inside the tent it would be freezing?

[@ChargeOverland]

This is a very interesting question! I can’t say I have a good answer on this one haha It’s definitely not a perfectly efficient system. I dont think the tent is insulated enough though to hold temp to where it would get too hot or cold inside.

[@jonnyslick81]

Hard to beat desert heat with a setup like that… I’d say for cold weather an electric blanket would be a better bet to keep warm and not drain your battery to zero, especially since the Rivian doesn’t have a heat pump.

[@ChargeOverland]

Yeah definitely true about the heat! It did pretty well all things considered. I think an electric blanket for cold is definitely the more efficient solution 👍🏻

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

I wonder if not having a black tent would help reflect some heat in the summer? It’s probably not possible to have any type of insulation in the tent walls because they have to fold up compactly?

[@ChargeOverland]

I’m sure the exterior being black doesn’t help - iKamper actually sells an insulation kit which is meant for cold weather but not sure if it would have a similar benefit in heat 🤔

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

@@ChargeOverland I bet that it would help, they just didn’t think about an electric vehicle on camp mode all night long to air condition their tent!

[@peten6445]

I think it would be great when you are sleeping.

[@MalcolmLeitch1]

Great idea for an R1T, but if you have an R1S (like me) you can just sleep in the back.

[@ChargeOverland]

Yup! My buddy does exactly that👍🏻