What is Digg?221 Comments
- Waskonator, on 10/10/2007, -0/+208Well, now the car has considerably more drag. The alternator has to go ***** every time he turns the A/C on. And if he ever gets into an accident, there will be a 50lb. flying projectile thrown into the mix.
- riah, on 10/10/2007, -3/+163Ghetto rig of the year nominee.
- Coyote566, on 10/10/2007, -5/+100Civil Engineering - Another reason why driving on bridges now makes me nervous.
- DeborahMarcotte, on 10/10/2007, -4/+85I wonder how far the extension cord allows him to travel?
- MrWhipplemen, on 10/10/2007, -3/+50Version 2.0 also needs to be painted black
- weeeezzll, on 10/10/2007, -5/+45I think this is simultaneously the single smartest and dumbest thing ever...
- thephotoman, on 10/10/2007, -2/+40It's Houston. A car without air conditioning is worthless here.
- kjartan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+37Why is this "amazing" when an engineering student does this, but then we poke fun when a redneck puts one on his truck for the same reason (he can't afford it)?
- brocklese, on 10/10/2007, -10/+40Wow I wonder how much extra gas that wastes
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -2/+31He lives in Houston. Opening the window won't do much good.
- o2o2o2o2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+28My air conditioner is the same size as his. I just plugged in my Kill A Watt device to read it.
118 Volts
427 Watts
3.7 Amps
Seems reasonable that a nice inverter plugged into the cigar lighter could handle that no problem. Yeah, I'm a total geek too. But at least my air conditioner works in my car. - Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+28Air resistance? He's basically *raping* the battery and alternator.
- GvnMcCld, on 10/10/2007, -1/+27How is that different from what they normally do?
- allaboutdatiki, on 10/10/2007, -4/+27Brilliant!
Version 2.0 needs to run the coldest air through the beverage cooler. - weeeezzll, on 10/10/2007, -2/+23Yea, i'd be surprised if that is even a street legal modification...
- weeeezzll, on 10/10/2007, -2/+22because it looks retarded?
- noahhoward, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18Good for you.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -4/+20What are you talking about? The warm air in the car would go out the vents he already has in the car. Man what is with all these moronic comments?
- thephotoman, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17Opening the windows doesn't work so well with 100 degree heat and 95% humidity. Trust me, I've tried it.
- knobidy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Not enough monitors.
- TrevorBelmont, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Must be nice up there in your penthouse, eh Mr. McDuck?
- dasvoldus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Houston is a parking lot. you'd have to actually be moving to be able to consider drag.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13It's more like 1000 to 1500 watts. Not sure where you're getting your figures. If it were 3500 watts, it would blow almost any house fuse.
- Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+121) It's not amazing
2) Civil engineers are who other engineers make fun of. - janus_god, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11That may be true but the compressor amperage spike when it first turns on would be the killer...
- johnn11238, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11If my neighbor takes a dump in the fully operational TOILET he's rigged in his CAR, then yes.
- djfreex, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13I have been living in Houston since 4 years. I understand him fully. Driving without AC is not sane in this city.
- trogdoor, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12I was expecting a crazy home built evaporative cooling rig, I was disappointed :(
- essjay, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11This does worry me. I was expecting a more elegant solution from an engineer. it's like someone putting a wood fire in their car as a heater.
- DeathBorn, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11My idea: mount the air conditioner in the backseat like a speaker system, and cut air vents in the trunk.
- Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Well, firstly, an internal AC runs off the car's drivetrain - there's far better efficiency there, as this homebrew system must run off the bettery and alternator. When there's a load on the alternator, it shows resistance to the drivetrain that is equal to the (heat transferred) / (efficiency of the AC's heat transfer engine) / (efficiency of the motor in the AC) / (efficiency of the alternator). That should round out to something like 16% overall efficiency, or 6x the power consumption off the drivetrain, for equivalent cooling ability.
Second, there's the question of drag; having a big metal box getting in the way of your car's slipstream will produce an enormous drag, causing your engine to work even harder than it normally would.
Overall, I'd be surprised if he didn't half his gas mileage by bolting on this monstrosity. I say, get a damn Chilton's manual and install your own; the unit doesn't cost nearly as much as a mechanic would charge to install it. Hell, pick one up from the junkyard if you can, and get the mechanic to put in the HFC charge. - reflection717, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Actually, look closer. I think he set the whole thing up on a metal plate put where a sunroof was. He can probably just take off the plate replace the sunroof and sell it like it never had a air conditioner strapped to the roof.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9You're so badass.
- senfo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Unless my interpretation is wrong, civil engineers DO design bridges.
"Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the construction and design of public and private sector works such as bridges, roads, dams and buildings."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_engineering - noahhoward, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Water doesn't do much when it is 104 and 95% humidity. Especially when the car has been sitting there.
- johnn11238, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Yep, 1800 watts MAX. That's a 5000 BTU unit. If he's got a good alternator and doesn't run it for more than 20 minutes at a time, he's golden.
- PixelVision, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9familiarize yourself with how Digg works.
- cfd339, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10He's a civil engineer? They should put warning signs on anything he designs so the rest of us don't have to drive over any of them.
Aside from the fact he'd need ten times the generating capacity the car comes with, that window mount unit wouldn't last long shaking and vibrating on a car top at all. And 1200 dollars to fix his A/C? If he's at all crafty he could get the parts at any scrap yard and fix it himself for half that, and not destroy the car in the process.
I hope I don't have to drive on this guy's bridges. - gta3mobster, on 10/10/2007, -22/+29What an idiot.
The whole (very simplified) purpose of the AC is to take warm air in through the lower vents and shoot cold air through the top vents.
He has the cold air vent rigged to blow cold air into the car. It doesn't take any of the hot air already inside of the car and cool it. What an idiot. If you're going to do something like this, try to at least do it right... Drop out engineer of the year award for him.
Just cutting a hole in the roof would be more effective (would've saved $). At least his car will now leak water all over him on those hot summer days.
[edit]Just noticed he was from Houston. Now it all makes sense. - jscamptx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8My grandfather did that back in the 1950s. He was always a handy guy (wasn't everyone back then?) and got the plans from Popular Mechanics. The only problem was that there were only two modes - off and on. My mother told me about a trip they took through Arizona and people would stare at them when they got out of the car wearing blankets in the 100+ degree heat.
- poopz, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10I love America
- Fordi, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Civil engineers are generally pretty weak.
- frieddonuts, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Somehow I think a full-sized AC unit like that would change the results. Just a hunch.
- phlebitis, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Oh great. We have a resident AC expert who is kind enough to dumb down the complicated concepts for us.
It still works. Perhaps it's not as efficient, but clearly this guy doesn't care about that. The car has vents. The interior is not pressurized. If you blow cold air in through the top, hot air has to leak out somewhere.
Learned everything he knew about cars from GTA3. - 0crabby0, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_tube
- mechmike0034, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8He gives Texans and Civil Engineers a bad name...
- kurtwinter, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7He expects to get hired as an engineer with a ***** like that? What a *****. I was expecting something along the lines of replacing the condenser with a peltier device or something along those lines. I hope someone steals his car and his a/c unit. Moron.
- gharding, on 10/10/2007, -5/+10I'm not sure if I'd cite Mythbusters as a reliable source for information.
- SystemJinx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6It must have been a slow news day.
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