Sprinters with ac units on roof

rjrrob · Mar 4, 2012

I owne a 2010 sprinter and average 19 to 20 mpg on good days . Looking at putting a roof top ac unit and a sattelite dish on for more comfort . Looking at how important fuel millage is with the $ we pay at the pump everyday

. How many miles per gallon will I loose put that on my roof ?

ebsprintin · Mar 4, 2012

I used to have the idlebuster setup that included the ac and a generator unit. I permanently lost a minimum of 2 mpg. I have solar panels on the roof now, and they take almost one mpg.

eb

greg334 · Mar 4, 2012

So EB, just wondering, how are your panels setup, what I mean is are they mounted with a space and nothing around them to move the wind away from them?

ebsprintin · Mar 4, 2012

greg334 said:
So EB, just wondering, how are your panels setup, what I mean is are they mounted with a space and nothing around them to move the wind away from them?

http://www.expeditersonline.com/forum/members/ebsprintin-albums-vehicle.html

I have photos of the setup in my photo album. The panels are raised about five inches with no wind deflector. I had thought about putting some airtabs in front of the panels to break up the air before it hit the panels, but I never got around to it. I sort of figure the vent ahead of the panels serves that purpose as well.

eb

greg334 · Mar 4, 2012

Well the reason I ask is because even with the Air Tabs, that is a really good for higher air resistance. I've seen a couple on sleepers where they built around the panel an air dam to push the air away. I've also seen a sprinter used as an RV with the same setup, it brought the owner a half more mile out of a gallon of fuel.