NEW AC installation

[KKroger]

I've read and observed several HVAC install threads on here and they all seem to never come to an end. they just trail off...
Planning to document with photos and some other information pertinent.

Well I just got my supplies all gathered up now I just need a day to do the installation. Working 10 hour days 7 days a week, kinda cuts into my free time...

So the "Kit" is from Coldmaster specific for HMMWV, 24VDC $1274 "Green"
Humvee A/C Air Conditioning Kit R 2400 0 25.000BTU 24V Green PK8

The kit can be ordered with V belt or Serpentine Belt Pulley.
the Condenser is generic and goes on the cooling stack. Two Electric Fans.
Reddot Evaporator
Hoses 17' #6 for High Pressure Liquid Lines from Condenser to Dryer, and Dryer to Evaporator, 10' # 8 from Compressor to Condenser, and 14' # 10 from Evap to Compressor
Kit includes a 15' Wiring harness all the crimp sleeves and fittings for the hoses, wiring from cab to compressor, and fans. Controls, and the Receiver/dryer,
Shortcomings in the kit as follows...
No hardware to mount the Condenser or fans,
No instructions specific to this installation... just generic kit instructions.
the REDDOT instructions seem to be a BIT better they pertain to the Roof or back mounted Condenser.

Refrigerant Circuit is easy, Number 8 from compressor high side (toward engine) to the condenser top, number 6 from condenser bottom to Dryer, number 6 from Dryer to Evap, then Number 10 from Evap back to Compressor

redddot 5 groove water pump pulley This was a purchase off E-Bay happened on by accident $40 NEW sealed in box has light surface rust just dust really going to bead blast and paint it today. This pulley is the same as what was used on the 997 ambulance as near as I can tell. Part Number for AMG is on the box...
Reddot Compressor Bracket from Blackdog Custom, I don't know if it is a Repro or a NOS part to be honest the kit is pretty complete All the bolts and guards for the Return lines for fuel... etc. $165 I think.

I have the Crimp kit (hydraulic)
Manifolds and can tap
Experience with HVAC on vehicles and homes...

Should be easy enough.

 

[KKroger]

So the Vehicle is an M1097-R1 6.5L NA. V Belt

Air Conditioning Compressor is SANDEN with 24V Clutch
I'll Measure the Condenser but it is a parallel flow which should be more efficient. And Front mounted on the cooling stack.
Evaporator is Reddot.

Official TM which is a far far better installation assistant than the sorry sheet that came with the kit.
I'll attach it here. Perhaps it can be added to the manuals section.
This Manual is oriented toward the vehicles with Armor Kits. but mostly OK.
it does specifically use the Rear mounted condenser not the fenderwell or front mount.
So if that is not what you have then you just need to modify your thought process a bit.

 

[KKroger]

Todays Festivities... the Wiring leaves a LOT to be desired on this kit. I'll have to extend portions. the Drier would not fit on the splash guard. so it is mounted on the Evap Brackets. Plenty of hose... wires are short... the control box has a bracket that seems quite useless. so I'll need to mod it a bit. I do agree with others on the squirrely relay provided. There was a plan for a bulkhead connector at the floor to provide a break at that point should anything need to be done and it also would afford a 90 Degree turn right under the floor to keep the hose higher more snug to the floor. it crosses the drive line and then the pass through is above the muffler.

 

[KKroger]

Pulled Vacuum on the system held 30" forever. Unfortunately my can tap was incompatible... new one arriving tomorrow at some point. the Belt Provided with the Bracket from Black Dog was too long "WAY" too long... really could have been half inch shorter and be fine but the one on there is 1" shorter. a 15440 comes with the bracket, this is a 15430 a 15435 would be fine but I started at 1" shorter and just left it.

 

[KKroger]

slight misalignment on compressor the thing sits at an angle not much but noticeable.

Slight Misalignment


Line Crimper

Line Crimping

 

[KKroger]

Have to say a Sunex 8mm impact hex driver on a butterfly Air Impact was handy to get through the fan to remove the clutch bolts and the pulley bolts and also to install same.

 

[Milcommoguy]

slight misalignment on compressor the thing sits at an angle not much but noticeable.

Slight Misalignment

Slight ? Angle ? Noticeable ?

Good enough for who it's for... get said from time to time.

If that was a kitchen cabinet... The boss would say FIT IT ! CAMO

 

[KKroger]

Slight ? Angle ? Noticeable ?

Good enough for who it's for... get said from time to time.

If that was a kitchen cabinet... The boss would say FIT IT ! CAMO

Yeah the old boss would say either "Its just a damned beer joint" or "We aint' buildin a church! Send it!"

 

[KKroger]

So... Figured out the wiring... it was a bit of a mess.. but not horrible after getting on it for real. was having some issues with the Blower Fan. Apparently UPS had their way with it... Blower Motor was sagging due to this crack from apparently where UPS must have dropped the box. at any rate it would rattle and be hilariously noisy Squalling and rattling BAD then blow the fuse... so I T-Shot and T-Shot... well I called Coldmaster inc the tech I spoke to was very helpful I took the thing apart and took pics and sent to him he now wants to see the wiring on the motor to tell which one it is... Presumably they will replace it. Anyway I have HIGH, and had plenum air at 34 degrees and Discharge Air at 58... Comfortable for a short drive. the Blower Duct being broken as it is allowed the motor to sag and the fans touched the plastic duct. Drilled a couple holes and put in some Nylon Zip Ties to hold it together. Quieted it down but the blower only has 1 of 3 speeds...

 

[juanprado]

Did you make the brackets for the evaporator/blower box inbetween the seats or is that the red dot set up?

Btw, Looking good!

 

[KKroger]

Did you make the brackets for the evaporator/blower box inbetween the seats or is that the red dot set up?

Btw, Looking good!

Made poorly from 3"*.125 alu angle

 

[KKroger]

Adding to this this morning on the way to work at 0 Dark Thirty the outside temp was 62... so...
this afternoon 1630 it was upper 80s.. and the AC was Quite Welcome and extracted volumes of humidity from the air. Air temps in the 40s at the plenum and comfortable I didn't even break a sweat on the way home.

In Other News Coldmaster is shipping me a new fan/blower assembly today. due to the damage to this one in shipping.

 

[KKroger]

Replacement blower has shipped ETA Friday Midday. Rolled with windows up and AC on yesterday on the way home and it was quite nice. Today on the way in had it on for a while and like to froze me to death. had to turn it off and roll the window down!

 

[juanprado]

The blower is in the top of the red dot evap housing between the seats or are you doing something different?

 

[KKroger]

The blower is in the top of the red dot evap housing between the seats or are you doing something different?

Well aware of where the blower is, and I am well aware as stated earlier that the plastic housing for the blower is broken and caused an issue as detailed above that caused it to be one speed "HIGH" and also was causing it to blow fuses. So due to it being broken as the photos above detail it is being replaced... and it will still be in the Evaporator unit between the seats...

 

[juanprado]

got it. I was not aware that individual parts were available for the red dot evap unit. Good to hear as I have accumulated some of the a/c parts but have not yet started on this project but on the list on my m998......

 

[KKroger]

got it. I was not aware that individual parts were available for the red dot evap unit. Good to hear as I have accumulated some of the a/c parts but have not yet started on this project but on the list on my m998......

Internally there is really nothing special. there is an evap coil and a blower assembly and a TXV, most assuredly COTS parts nothing custom. the enclosure and plenum are RED DOT specific... otherwise there is not much in there. Coldmaster is providing a replacement fan assembly. that is who I purchased the kit from.
This is the purchased kit
Humvee A/C Air Conditioning Kit R 2400 0 25.000BTU 24V Green PK8 | Coldmaster

Red Dot evap unit (Back Wall Type)
Sanden 508 compressor.
Coldmaster Condenser and fans,
Red Dot Dryer and LP/HP binary switch.

The Wiring harness is more universal I believe. Similar to their other offerings.
The Relay is not great but does work.
the Control unit is a "Temp" Hi-Low knob, and the Fan is an 0-1-2-3

There is a lead to the condenser fans, a lead to the Compressor, a power + and -, there is a two wire from the control head back to the Evap, and a single Green Lead between the two. a connector from the Relay harness to the Hi-Lo switch. there is also a lead from the Relay harness that connects to the positive battery terminal.

 

[KKroger]

A Couple Thermal Camera shots the first one shows the high side pipinand Dryer at the Evaporator, the second shows the wayback portion of the helmet top this is white hot the 110.5 Degrees F is the Dryer... At any rate the ambient temp seemed to get down to about 74 degrees pretty comfortable and low humidity...

 

[Gcelevator]

Internally there is really nothing special. there is an evap coil and a blower assembly and a TXV, most assuredly COTS parts nothing custom. the enclosure and plenum are RED DOT specific... otherwise there is not much in there. Coldmaster is providing a replacement fan assembly. that is who I purchased the kit from.
This is the purchased kit
Humvee A/C Air Conditioning Kit R 2400 0 25.000BTU 24V Green PK8 | Coldmaster

Red Dot evap unit (Back Wall Type)
Sanden 508 compressor.
Coldmaster Condenser and fans,
Red Dot Dryer and LP/HP binary switch.

The Wiring harness is more universal I believe. Similar to their other offerings.
The Relay is not great but does work.
the Control unit is a "Temp" Hi-Low knob, and the Fan is an 0-1-2-3

There is a lead to the condenser fans, a lead to the Compressor, a power + and -, there is a two wire from the control head back to the Evap, and a single Green Lead between the two. a connector from the Relay harness to the Hi-Lo switch. there is also a lead from the Relay harness that connects to the positive battery terminal.

I do have the Red Dot system that came with the 2 man, that works flawlessly. My only complaint is how noisy it is, but it blows really cold air.
I have always wondered if i can mount the inside unit horizontally instead of vertically towards the back, i don't see why not. That way i can create some type of console that covers the unit and dampens the noise while i gain space towards the back wall, just an idea that i might work on it down the road.

 

[KKroger]

I do have the Red Dot system that came with the 2 man, that works flawlessly. My only complaint is how noisy it is, but it blows really cold air.
I have always wondered if i can mount the inside unit horizontally instead of vertically towards the back, i don't see why not. That way i can create some type of console that covers the unit and dampens the noise while i gain space towards the back wall, just an idea that i might work on it down the road.

the orientation of the Evap is not that important, as long as the fan can draw air to blow across it. and Make SURE the condensate can drain you don't want a moldy mess in there from standing condensate and or a frozen iced over evap... the drains are in the "Bottom" of the unit.
like the "Universal" Evaporators with the 4 round holes can be mounted vertically with those round holes pointed up and you could marry them to a fabricated cross cab duct like the ones sold for a LOT of money or the "OE" type duct... or you could make one yourself if you are handy... I like mine vertically as the air blows forward more and will blow on aft seat pax... I'd rather have it vertical than taking up what little floor space I already have. Just make sure SURE the Drier is VERTICAL... and in the right flow direction. Most times on the units installed by the Military the Dryer is in the back