Understanding Your Dometic Penguin II Air Conditioner

In this article, you will get to know the Dometic Penguin II Air Conditioner and how best to operate it.

Why do we use the Dometic Penguin II air conditioner?

The Dometic air conditioner we utilize is a bigger air conditioner than is needed for the space of the van. It is often used in bigger RVs with multiple cooling zones (AKA rooms). The reason we do this is so the air conditioner is not stressed and running at max wattage. This allows the air conditioner to run at approximately 1100 watts, give or take, depending on context. If you did some quick conversion math, this would translate to approximately 9.17 amps (DC power).

How to Get Optimal Usage of the Dometic Air Conditioner:

To power on your Dometic air conditioner, locate the Dometic controller and tap the power/mode button on the left side. This will turn the air conditioner on, but it will be on "fan only" mode. To switch to the air conditioner setting, tap the power/mode button a second time. Tap it again to switch to heat, and tap a fourth time to turn it off.

Something to note is that there are several vents located on the inside portion of the unit. In the middle of the unit, on the bottom, there is a slide that when opened, can allow the airflow to blow directly out. To redirect the airflow, close the bottom slide and open the side vents. There is one vent located on all four sides.

Keep the air conditioner thermostat set to the low 70s at the lowest and the fan on the "low" setting, as opposed to setting the thermostat to the lowest possible setting in hopes of getting the van's interior into the mid 60s. The Dometic air conditioner should be operating like a house air conditioner in that it kicks on and off as it runs. If it is running non-stop, without turning off, you are probably asking too much of it. In cases of extreme humidity and heat, even these rules of thumb may not get you there. To attempt to quickly cool your van, try turning on your van and let the van's factory air conditioner run initially. This will allow the Dometic air conditioner to only have to maintain the temperature. This can take a heavy load off the Vandoit electrical system. 

Other tips for cooling the van: Parking on dirt, gravel, or grass as opposed to pavement, parking in the shade, and/or parking next to a body of water where it is cooler.

Does the van have to be plugged into shore power to run the Dometic Air Conditioner? Does it have to be a 30amp outlet?

For owners with an AGM battery system, your van needs to be connected to shore power before using the Dometic air conditioner. While owners with a lithium battery system can technically get a couple hours of operation before completely draining your batteries, we highly recommend only running the Dometic air conditioner while connected to shore power.

A 30amp outlet is not required to power the air conditioner. In fact, Vandoit sets the inverter to only take in 13 amps maximum. So, even if you are plugged into a 30amp outlet, the van would only take 13 amps at a time. An additional reason for this is that most house outlets are on a 15amp breaker. So, if someone uses other outlets in the house connected to the same breaker, this setting prevents the breaker from accidentally flipping and the air conditioner shutting off while you are sleeping, resulting in drained Vandoit batteries. 

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