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Mabru RV 12000 -12 Volt DC Air Conditioner (12,000 BTU)

$2,450.00

  • Extremely energy efficient 12 volt DC (battery powered) alternative to traditional, 120 volt AC rooftop air conditioner units.
  • Only uses 22-55 amps (at 12 volt DC) when running – enables using AC off-grid from your camper van batteries for longer periods of time.
  • 12,000 BTU cooling capacity with 6x fan speeds and 3 modes (low (eco), medium and full/high).
  • One-year warranty.
  • We have the best pricing and free freight shipping! Found a better price? Contact us with details and we can probably match or beat it! More importantly, we’ve installed dozens of these units in our own vans and customer vans so we can help you with any questions that come up.
  • In-stock and ready to ship from our distribution center in Florida. Orders typically ship out 2-3 business days after the order is placed to allow time for testing and packing. Ships via truck freight and you’ll be contacted by the freight company with a window of time that you’ll need to be available for delivery.
  • We can arrange shipping of this product to Canada but you cannot purchase through our shopping cart. Please contact us to purchase if you're a Canadian customer.

If this is being delivered to a commercial address and you have a forklift, or a loading dock, you probably don't need a lift gate so please select "no" below. If this is a residential delivery and you have a few people who are capable of removing the unit from the pallet and lifting it down out of the truck (about 120 pounds), you also do not need a lift gate and can select "no" below. Otherwise, please select "yes" to add lift gate service to your delivery.

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  • Base Price: $2,450.00
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SKU: Mabru RV 12000 Category:
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Description

Check out this energy efficient 12-volt air conditioner that is perfect for a camper van. It installs onto your van’s roof just like traditional RV air conditioners but is vastly more energy efficient. Most rooftop air conditioners require 120 volt AC power to operate. Normally this is provided by shore power or a generator. In some cases you can run a standard unit from an inverter but inverters often struggle “starting” the compressor. In contrast, this Mabru unit runs directly from your 12 volt DC battery bank.

Mabru RV air conditioners are extremely energy efficient – even when compared to other 12 volt rooftop units. If you take a look at our comparison spreadsheet, you’ll see that the Mabru uses about the same amount of power as the Dometic 2000 RTX while producing nearly twice the cooling capacity! The reason is that Alain Mabru has leveraged his decades of marine cooling experience to engineer an innovative “inverter” system for the compressor. This design provides substantial improvements in energy efficiency, quieter operation and longer longevity than traditional compressors.

So, while Mabru is relatively new to the RV/van market, they are well known and respected in the marine world and have been in business for 38 years providing products for high end private yachts and military vessels. ​

We highly recommend using lithium deep cycle batteries with this unit.

Not sure which unit is best for your rig? Check out our comparison spreadsheet to see many of the most important data points across the various units at a glance. We'll be continually adding to this reference over time and expanding it with as much "real world" testing as we can!

Cooling Capacity: 12,000 BTU

Quiet operation: rated at 33 dBa. Our tests with a phone sound meter show anywhere between 45 and 55 dBa with the phone at waist height in one hand and the other hand touching the unit. You can see a video of this test here.

Power consumption:

Power Consumption – Amps at 12 Volt DC
Mode Fan Low Fan Medium Fan High
Low (Eco) 22.5 25.2 34.2
Medium 40.8 43 46.2
High 48.2 51.2 54.4

Weight:  AC unit itself without brackets/packaging, etc. is 59 lbs. Net weight in box is approximately 76 lbs.

Dimensions:
Rooftop unit: 33.8 ” long x 38.2″ wide x 6.5″ tall
Interior unit with vents and controls: 18.1″ wide x 11.4″ long x 2.8″ tall
Optional outer trim panel (with integrated LED lights): 36.9″ wide x 21.5″ long.

Roof hole/cut out size: 14.62″ long x  20.125″ wide, plus 4x drilled holes for the mounting bolts. The unit ships with a roof cutting template (example).

You’ll also need a roof penetration for the wiring that is adjacent to the rooftop unit itself. We recommend using something like this solar entry gland for running the wires through the roof to the location where you’ll connect them to the unit’s 12 volt DC supply from your electrical system. If you use the solar entry gland that you’ll need to remove the grey connectors on the wiring harness that comes out of the unit itself and the extra length of harness that is included in the box because the entry gland is designed to have an opening (gland) for both the DC positive (red wire) and DC negative (black wire) to pass through rather than one, much larger connection. You can use these “splice kits” to connect the wires if you do remove the grey connectors. Regardless of how you route the wires through your roof, we recommend making trying to make this connection accessible for any future maintenance or repairs.

The unit can also be installed into a “standard” 14″ x 14″ roof opening. This requires some basic disassembly and reassembly. Please see the manual (link below) for details.

Note: since 2022, the temperature units are shown Farenheit

How Are These Units So Much More Efficient Than The Competition?

(Warning: Nerdy Technical Jargon Below! However, if you geek out on amps, BTUs and decibels please do proceed…

Inverter technology on the Mabru high efficiency systems works on a similar principal as the blowers on the units. When a lot of cooling is needed, you want the most cooling out of the system so the compressor is running at full speed. As you get closer to your set temp, the unit will automatically ramp itself back. We have had variable speed blowers for as long as I can remember and we now have the ability to do the same thing with compressors. It is obviously not as simple as just reducing the voltage to the compressor as is done to slow down fans typically but that is the simple way to explain it.

What are the benefits of inverter technology?
1.) These compressors do not use capacitors and are not on/off which allows us to start them slowly, eliminating the wasteful compressor start up amps.
2.) The compressors are generally not running at full power all of the time so compressor are not being worked as hard and last longer.
3.) As the compressor is slowing down based on demand, the compressor in many cases will not cycle off but rather draw a consistent low amperage. Since the compressor is always running, it does a much better job of keeping the desired temperature without variances in temperature. This also helps with reducing humidity because the evaporator is always cold and removing the moisture from the air. When a standard unit cycles, the evaporator will warm up and will stop drying the air that is passing through it.

PDF Manual

Installation Video

The photo above shows the Mabru unit installed into our customer van (@iondesignvan) with a beautiful custom interior panel to match their van ceiling!

The photo above shows the Mabru unit installed into another customer van with a beautiful ceiling trim/treatment.

What’s Included

  • Mabru 12,000 BTU rooftop AC with approximately 11′ wiring harness connected to the unit.
  • Additional 11′ wiring harness with integrated 80 amp fuse and ring terminals (6 AWG wire).
  • Optional, outer trim panel with LED lights. If you choose to make your own trim around the vents/controls it must also serve as the return air inlet and must provide adequate air flow. Here is an example photo with air flow between the ceiling boards.
  • Foam gasket (1-1/4″ wide) (green outline).
  • Mounting brackets (yellow outline).
  • Mounting bracket extensions (blue outline).
  • LED light wiring (light blue outline).
  • Wire ties, mounting hardware, etc. (purple outline).
  • Remote control (white outline).
  • Plastic angle brackets – not used (red outline).
  • Rubber spacers – not used (pink outline).
  • Optional 1/2″ condensation hose (yellow outline).
  • Roof cutting template (not shown). Example PDF.
  • Manual.

Remote Control Functions

Note that a newer version of the remote control was introduced in July 2022. The illustration above shows this new version.

Additional information

Weight 1920 oz
Dimensions 39 × 42 × 15 in