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.

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:

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

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.

Note that a newer version of the remote control was introduced in July 2022.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