Chill Out in the Heat: Otrifowd's AC Tent for Tesla Model Y Cooling Testing!

[@Lionheart732]

Awesome video. Will finally be taking my ACtent in a few weeks for camping.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Thanks, I hope you have a great time! Feel free to report back here how the tent works out for you.

[@spuddy4063]

Another awesome dissertation and review that entirely makes sense. Once again thank you for a really great video. A family outing that provides a warm fuzzy feeling to it. BRAVO on taking the challenge to put yourself out there once again. Of course I am a fan... Oh by the way I own a Chevy Volt but due to my age of 71 and the fact that when I needed a car here in Canada in 2018, a Volt was the only option available. Side note: I have camped in the car overnight and even with the battery being somewhat on the smallish side the car still manages to have a 100 miles of range to it and camping is accomplishable.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Thanks! That's interesting to hear of your results camping in your Volt. I haven't heard of Volt camping, but I'm glad to hear it works too! Being able to run the HVAC system of a vehicle without an engine running is a huge perk in my opinion. And it's not just a perk for those who perhaps want to camp in their car, but often it's a simple as our baby falls asleep while we're driving (happens often) and when we get to our destination we can let them finish their nap in a cooled/heated vehicle keeping them safe and comfortable without interrupting their nap.

[@spuddy4063]

@@ElectricTechAdventures Camping in a Volt is complicated as the car does not have camp mode. The car normally shuts down after two hours so I had to put the car in Neutral and have an elastic band hold the gear selector button depressed to keep the AC on. After 8 hours it consumed only 18 KM of range my starting battery range was 135 KM. The Volt can on'y charge on a Level 1 or 2 Outlet.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@spuddy4063 Oh, wow that's quite the work around to get it to keep the HVAC system on! I didn't even think about whether or not a Volt has a camp mode. That's cool that you figured out how to get it to do what you wanted!

[@jeremyrimmer9247]

At 20:13 in the video, you were wondering why the outside temperature was showing 79 degrees while your digital thermometer outside the tent was indicating 71 degrees. The temp sensor for the car, which is what the app uses, is located in the vicinity of the front spoiler. When the AC is working hard to supply cold air for the car and tent, the air being discharged from the large radiator at the front of the car will be quite hot which in turn will result in a temperature readout on the app that is much higher than the ambient temperature. In this mode of operation, the radiator is functioning as a condenser. The opposite occurs in cold ambient temperatures where the indicated temperature will read well below ambient temperatures. This is because the radiator is functioning as an evaporator with colder than ambient temperature being discharged as it works to pull heat from the surrounding air and move it into the car’s interior via the HVAC system.

[@RedDragon72q]

Very good video! We are thinking of camping from the car and are looking at a lot of different tents. We like this one due to the size but again it seems a bit big for what we need. Fun note those were May Flies. That many is said to mean a healthy lake. No problem with the tent getting hot during the day as we will be out and about. Also there is a rain fly to put on the tent that always helps with the direct sun light. I am betting that the rain fly would drop the temp at least 10 degrees with the ac on, if not more.

[@Bmeri3]

You could use flexible bar magnets to help seal up the gaps around the tent

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

True, except for the sides and below the rear bumper which is plastic which is where a large portion of air can get in. The main issue in my opinion is that a tent is just fabric and has zero insulation. Any temperature difference between inside and outside is going to be inefficient and difficult to maintain. Humidity reduction was surprisingly effective however.

[@PrincessNadora]

About how long would you say it takes to set up start to finish?

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Excluding the first time when you're still figuring it out for the first time and if you are doing it alone it probably takes 15 minutes? If you have a person helping you and you know what you're doing it could probably be in as little as 5 minutes if you are intentional about setting it up relatively quickly. The most difficult part is getting the main pole structure set up and then all of the tent clipped to it.

[@emilylim8273]

Do you leave your trunk opened during the night? Any bugs or insects coming in?

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Yes I leave the trunk open all night. Otherwise the climate control won't have any effect inside the tent. There only a few bugs that find their way inside the tent.

[@benkanobe7500]

What is the size of your battery in the Y? Thank you.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Tesla has not published that number, but others have reported 80 kWh. I think its 75 kWh usable though.

[@benkanobe7500]

I didn't catch if the "skylights" had covers you could zip or lay over them. I would imagine that if exposed to direct sun light/rays they would let in a tremendous amount of heat.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Yes it has a rain fly. I'm doubtful it would make enough of a difference.

[@TonyMiguel-ko7cz]

Otrifowd what a name

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@TonyMiguel-ko7cz hard to know how to pronounce for sure.

[@Bmeri3]

For extreme hot/cold temps a self contained battery heat pump unit would be better. Ecoflow has 5000 btu unit.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

True, there's a variety of options for varied amount of money. The main premise behind this tent is to tie into your Teslas already existing HVAC system, with somewhat limited results in my testing. One cheaper source I found for the Ecoflow Wave 2 portable AC was $679 (normally $899 us.ecoflow.com/products/wave-2-portable-air-conditioner?variant=40559182413897&g_campaign_id=20272587032&g_adgroup_id=150606957295&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmOm3BhC8ARIsAOSbapVmoTXMiyql4Raf0k70eM3vuenPH-LBuECgec9tNF8Fcg93e7g7wr0aApE6EALw_wcB ) which is double the price of the AC tent, and you'd still need to go buy a tent. Camping directly inside a Tesla works fantastically well and I love that, but if I can't do that because I have my whole family with me my preferred method in a tent would likely be something like the Ecoflow Wave 2 over the AC Tent ignoring cost differences. That being said I'm purely basing that off of the general idea of it, I have no personal experience with Ecoflow products. Perhaps in the future I'll have more experience, but not at this point.

[@Lionheart732]

Realized you have the 7 seater tesla. With a family of 4, hopefully the 5 seater will be easier for trips.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@Lionheart732 Yes the space the AC Tent takes will be less of an issue for you in a 5 seater I imagine.

[@RoaringRanger]

Are you concerned about the battery running out and being stuck

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@RoaringRanger I'm not concerned about that generally myself because before going camping I route the car and determine how many percent on the car battery I need to get to the next source of electricity. It's certainly possible to go into a remote location and not have enough energy to get back out...just like any other fuel type vehicle. Tesla has written the software to automatically turn off camp mode, sentry mode and cabin overheat protection at 20% state of charge to help ensure the user doesn't run the car to zero using those features. However obviously if you need more than 20% to get to a charger you'll be in trouble.

[@markodeen4105]

It is interesting that you can't seal the door bottoms of the #ACtentforTesla that would certainly affect things in the high winds or cold temps

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

I agree

[@markodeen4105]

@@ElectricTechAdventures I did look at their website and the price is pretty reasonable. I'd pay a bit more for a rain fly option that would cover the ceiling windows and create an air gap which I would think would help in both sunny and hot or cold temps

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@markodeen4105 It does have a rain fly that I mentioned briefly and then put it to the side because it wasn't going to rain and I wanted to be able to look out the clear ceiling. I should have put it on anyway to illustrate what it could look like with it on and then taking it back off. Frankly I kind of forgot about it myself.

[@markodeen4105]

@@ElectricTechAdventures Actually I do remember you pulled it out after the draft diverter!

[@benkanobe7500]

Remember the average human adult produces about 350 BTUs per hour. So combined in the tent, what, maybe 700BTUs/hour? That adds up. PS I purchased the Y, X, S mattress and sheets. Thank you for the discount code. I will be driving my '85 P85D south from Portland to San Diego (Fallbrook, 92028) after fitting with all non-conductive bearings in the rear drive unit and coolant delete manifold. I figure one sleep in the S without hotel room will pay for the mattress!

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

I hope you have a great trip! I've loved the ability to sleep in my cars with climate control on overnight.

[@benkanobe7500]

It seems if the tent was just reduced in volume by about 30% and could comfortably sleep four the car would have a much easier (not easy) time cooling it down. For me, its too big (than needed) in every way.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Good point, it could be smaller. I think the pole design needs to be changed too.

[@serraios1989]

Obviously the tent came without any instructions

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

Yep

[@Lionheart732]

@serraios1989 I pre setup mine before my trip. Once you have the clips in just fold up the frame for next use. Alot of tubers completely disassemble the tent and have to redot from the start.

[@ElectricTechAdventures]

@@Lionheart732 Thanks for the tip, I didn't think to do that.