Hey friends welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'm your host Marc Guido,
and this week we're going to take a look at a power effective way to try to stay
cool while boondocking. And stay around till the end
because we're going to give you a chance to win one of these devices of your own, so stay tuned!
We often receive invitations for manufacturers to try out their products in the hope that we will do
a video to introduce you, our Grand Adventurers to their products. Now most of the time these
emails end up in the trash bin because they really have little relevance to our audience; however,
when Zero Breeze got a hold of us to try one of their portable air conditioners we were intrigued.
This is the Zero Breeze Mark 2 portable air conditioner. It can run off either 120V
AC household current, or optional batteries available with the unit.
The company markets this air conditioner for cooling outdoor spaces or small enclosed spaces,
such as an RV bedroom, a tent, or the back of a pickup while car camping. Many times
this summer we were forced to forego boondocking because it was simply going to be too hot, and we
didn't want to run the generator for extended periods to run the air conditioning in the RV.
The Zero Breeze Mark 2 may well be an effective solution. While February may not seem like the
right time to review an air conditioner, it makes sense to test it now to decide whether or not it's
coming along on our summer travels, and to give you some insight for your summer planning ahead.
This isn't a swamp cooler, no ice is required.
Instead it's a real compressor-driven 2300 BTU air conditioner.
Our unit came with two batteries,
each of which will provide a run time of up to approximately five hours,
depending on the settings used. They're 24-volt batteries with a 840 watt-hour capacity.
You can also power the unit directly from 120V AC household current, and you can concurrently
charge a battery as you do so. Charge time takes approximately 5 hours from zero to full.
Without the battery, the air conditioner weighs 16.5 lbs.
So let's plug this in and test the Zero Breeze. We're going to hook up a watt
meter to test it's power consumption, and see how effective its cooling capacity is.
As we do so, we've noticed immediately that the Zero Breeze Mark 2 is surprisingly quiet.
While we let the air conditioner cool down for about 10 minutes,
let's look at some other features. These large batteries can not only power the air conditioner,
but they can also charge your devices. Each battery has two 5V/2A USB-A connectors, as well
as a USB-C port rated for Power Delivery, with a 45-amp maximum output. Each battery weighs 12 lbs.
Pressing the power button momentarily allows you to see the battery's state of charge at a glance.
Let's head back over to the air conditioner and see how it's doing.
We're testing this inside our RV where the ambient temperature is presently 68 degrees Fahrenheit,
and the Zero Breeze Mark 2 is outputting air at 38 degrees. That's a 30-degree temperature delta!
There are four settings on the air conditioner: Rocket, Cool, Sleep and fan only.
Let's use this watt meter to test the power consumption at each setting.
We'll first set the Mark 2 at "Rocket".
While in Rocket, the highest output setting,
power consumption has settled in at approximately 168 watts.
Now let's try it in the medium "Cool" setting.
You'll see that we're now drawing approximately 142 watts.
Next up we'll try "Sleep," the lowest setting with the compressor running.
In Sleep, the Mark 2 is drawing just over 100 watts.
Finally, let's switch over to fan only.
In fan only mode, the Mark 2 is drawing around 11.5 watts. So with a properly sized battery bank
in your RV, it would still be practical to run the Mark 2 off your RV's house batteries. That's huge!
Just like any compressor-driven air conditioner, the Mark 2 outputs both hot air and water.
For the hot air, the Mark 2 comes with optional intake and output
ducts that you can place in a window with a piece of foam, that may be cut to fit.
The foam comes as part of the protective packaging for the battery,
so oddly enough you only receive this if you buy the Mark 2 with at least one battery.
The Mark 2 includes a tray to catch the water that's naturally produced
by cooling the surrounding air. However, that tray needs to be emptied every hour or two,
so thankfully Zero Breeze has included this drain hose to empty the tray automatically
into a sink, or even a bucket when a sink is not conveniently located nearby.
The batteries are normally charged on 120-volt AC household current
using this included power brick. However, because the batteries are 24-volt, to charge from your
vehicle or another 12-volt source you'll need this optional 12-volt to 24-volt adapter.
It comes ready to connect via a cigarette lighter adapter, perfect for recharging your batteries as
you're traveling to your next destination or out exploring your surroundings for the day.
It also comes with bare leads to connect the charger directly to a 12-volt DC power source.
You cannot run the Mark 2 directly from this power supply.
The Zero Breeze Mark 2 is available with 0, 1 or 2 batteries,
and prices range from $949 to $1799 depending on the number of batteries you choose.
We'll test the Zero Breeze in hotter real-world environments while on the road this summer.
If you'd like to get one of these Zero Breeze Mark 2 portable air conditioners for yourself,
we'll put a link down below in the video description. You earn a $50 off coupon and we earn
a small commission to support Grand Adventure. Each unit comes with a 30-day money back guarantee
and 1-year warranty. But we've also arranged with Zero Breeze to give you the chance to win
a Mark 2 air conditioner of your own! Simply visit the link that appears on your screen right now,
or may be found in the video description down below. You may enter any time until
midnight Pacific time on March 15th, after which we'll draw one winner at random. The
lucky winner will receive their own Zero Breeze Mark 2 shipped directly from the manufacturer.
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So until next week please remember, life is nothing but a Grand Adventure! We'll see you then.