kristap

You wouldn't need the shirt attached. When I did idle the car to give the system a head start on cooling, I didn't attach the shirt - was busy with the car and checklists.

Once the system is at or close to target temp, the draw is 15-18a. (note: I myself didn't put a ammeter on it)

LuigiVampa

When I saw this at the LRP race (where it wasn't needed at all) I really wanted it to work.

I have spoken with a PCA racer who had one installed in his cup car and he stated that there are still a bunch of bugs in it.

He had to run thicker gauge wire to account for the draw and it popped off a few times. Also did not cool effectively later in long races.

I love the idea but think they just need to get it working a little better.

Lastly, there is always water that leaks when you uncouple - how does that work with the anti-freeze stuff?

kristap

I'm simply a customer and pretty happy with it. Beats managing ice and water for 20m of chilling with a cool shirt. The owner is the developer/engineer & was both helpful and friendly when I called with a question. It's not perfect but they're trying to improve. Received an email from them, they're sending new units (V2) to everyone and taking back the original units. No cost to us.

The wire gauge was an interesting issue. Short version, my words: they'd spec'd heavier wire but the mfr supplied lighter gauge with thicker sheathing. Missed in QA because they didn't test long runs like if the system were mounted 12' away. My system is in cockpit and it hasn't popped the 30a fuse (temp solution).

The fluid is pretty light, diluted. I didn't see any residue on my nomex or suit. Small traces at the unit itself from uncoupling. No leaks to speak of.

CMS

Chillout Systems' V2 upgrade on all Quantum units (including those currently in customers' hands) addresses a few of the questions and observations in this thread, including:

• Self restarting inverter: When you have a voltage drop, as a safety function, the system automatically shuts down the compressor. On the previous version, one had to toggle the on/off switch to restart; in V2, the system self restarts.
• Bigger fans that spin 1500 rpm faster than the current ones to draw heat out faster.
• Sixth Gear: The sixth gear on the compressor used to engage at ambient temps above 120F. Now this gear engages at lower ambient temps so the system runs cooler and faster.
• Lower amp draw: draw at full speed at ambient 120F is 28A max, with 16-22A RMS at 95F ambient with an inline fan and naca ducting. V2 should see 15-19A under the same conditions.
• Flow sensor: If the hose is not properly connected to the shirt, there will be no flow. V2 adds an error code to alert you that your shirt is not connected properly.
• Wiring Harness: Upgrading the original 12-gauge harnesses to 8-gauge. This makes the biggest difference in the performance of the Chillout unit.

Chillout Systems are communicating with IMSA to get the system approved for use in their series, as it is not an open-air freon system. Also, Chillout Systems has found ways to pre-cool the system using loops and also keep the system cooler from heat soak. This info will be published on our website as soon as it's available.

Plavan

I have one in my NP01. I made my own harness with the appropriate gauge wire. The inside of the NP01 gets 130 degrees. I tried it with no ducting from the outside and it only got to the low 70 degrees. While it still felt great, there is much improvement once you duct cooler outside air to it. I'm awaiting V2 (for free). I have to say the coolshirt is by far the best I have ever used. So much more tubing. I got out of the car in 100+ ambient (while only cooling to 70 degrees) not sweaty after 25 min. Not dealing with ice is nice.

CMS

For those who don't need an SFI-rated shirt, Chillout has introduced a short-sleeve Club Series cooling shirt that is absolutely awesome. They place the tubing between two lightweight layers of soft stretch fabric that holds it closer to the body, making the shirt smoother and more comfortable as well as better at transferring heat. They work with either the Chillout system or a regular ice water based system like Coolshirt, just need to choose the right connectors. You can check out the new Chillout Club Series shirt HERE, and of course PM us for special RL pricing!


Chillout Club Series in Navy and Gray

alevine

Any updates or additional insight available for people that have installed the ChillOut system? I need a new CoolShirt system and would like to hear from people that have now used the ChillOut version whether it's worth the extra money.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Charles Kline

It is! You can run 100% water if necessary.

zoomzoom22

We have (2) systems. I am going to just type bullets of pro's. The sytems are installed in our (2) Audi TCR cars and have been fantastic. I have nothing but great things to say about them. As reference we are running them in longggg endurance races (8 hours, 14 hours, 16 hours) as well as shorter practice and qualifying sessions. We have had more than 20 drivers use the system while driving our car and every one of them loved it. Most of them have bought a system for their own cars after renting a seat with us. I will answer questions if I can or get answers. I think a lot has to do with whether you have the updated system AND whether you have installed it correctly and are using it correctly. If you are interested and send me a PM, I can probably give you a discount code to order direct from them. Comments long and space for easier reading.

• Very light system. We use the carbon fiber mounting plate and carbon fiber duct and I think the entire thing weighs tick over 11lbs.
• Lower end price point is $1500 or so, black friday they had a sale to buy one, get one free.
• It is well worth $1500 or $2200 depending model to NEVER have to deal with ice and water ever again. At least for us. We are endurance racing, so coolers of ice and scooping hot water out and refilling while we are trying to pit when stops have no time limit is a non starter.
• The remote control ($120 or so) is well worth it. Both our cars have it and it is mounted within the reach of the driver. It can be adjusted from 40 something degrees to 70 something degrees. Most of our guys ran it at 55 or so degrees and it would run that way all day. Other guys were turning it off because they were too cold. The remote control also will display error codes as well as the panel on the unit itself. After a driver change in particular, this is helpful "driver - cooling isn't working and says E2 on screen". Crew "that is connection issue, see if you can make sure your hoses are fully in". Driver: "Fixed, thanks."
• The ducting with air helps the box run much more effiicient (cooler) and work less hard. There is a 3" and 4" option. 1 of our cars is 3" and other is 4". The 4" runs a tick better. Also both use a fan to pull/push air into the carbon fiber side duct. You can go cheap with this (marine $30 white fan all the way to $300 fans that are hyper fans. Ours and not the cheapest but not most expensive and they work just fine.
• Shirts: Backward compatible with cool shirts. However as mentioned here, the ChillOut system clubshirt is better and they offer a SFI long sleeve collared shirt as well. It is nice as well but isn't cheap, but one of the only options if you need it/want it.
• AMPS: High draw on start up however has been a non issue for us. Ours runs in a 10-12 range most of the time which is just fine. It was higher before we made adjustements to it.
• It is very easy to buy extra mounting plates and electrical connections and move the unit itself between cars. We are doing this and several teams I know are as well.
• ChillOut has been terrific and responsive as we have been running ours since June of last year. The owner really cares about the product.
• Priming the system and shirts: This is really important. Use the pigtail on the box connectors and prime the box (lower the temp). You don't have to do this, but geez it helps a ton! The shirts, "prime" your empty shirt by hooking it up, letting all the tubes fill with the liquid and then top off the tank. Done. If you don't do this, it takes along time to prime your shirt and less fluid in the tank means everything takes longer to cool and to cool where you want it to. We are considering another box in our pit stall that drivers or crew could plug into and cool ahead of a driver change although not necessary cool idea.
• Per ChillOut the most efficient cool luqiid is to mix the ChillOut system cooling liquid 50/50 with bottled water. This made a BIG difference iistan the cooling potential in the system. We saw an immediate improvement, big difference.
• As mentioned here, hot air does come out of the outlet vent that is cycling thru the box. It is not severe heat. Initially we added a taped on piece of cardboard to help that air long to move away from the box and pointing toward the driver. This can be solved by changing the orientation of the unit OR as we did, we installed another duct that is pointing toward the back of the car/problem solved.
• Very easy to install the entire system.
• Somewhere along the way a Spec Miata guy did a test to determine what the draw was doing to power on his Spec Miata. They are 130HP wheels cars. The answer was like 0.28 HP and they all run very small batteries and alt's.

I cannot say enough positive things about the system. It has fit our bill perfectly and honestly solved what would have been a HUGE issue for us running cars with (4) drivers in each in 90-95 degree ambient temp and not dealing with ice and water. It is funny, wives thus far as falling in love with the system. "Honey, if you buy that I (wife) doesn't have to do that whole ice/water thing minutes before you are driving and freaking out about everything else"? Wives are in

Terrific system in my view. Good riddance to 6 cars of cool suit/fast systems we have.

Ritter v4.0

[QUOTE=zoomzoom22;16344650]

• AMPS: High draw on start up however has been a non issue for us. Ours runs in a 10-12 range most of the time which is just fine. It was higher before we made adjustements to it.

Can you amplify (no pun intended) on what adjustments you made?

Also, how often does a shirt need to be primed- its a closed system, so once primed wouldn't stay primed, or are you talking about with precooled coolant?

Thx.

zoomzoom22

[QUOTE=Ritter v4.0;16345086]In a nutshell, initially using it without a duct and fan caused it to work harder. I don't think you "have" to use the duct and fan, but it sure runs a lot better, cooler and you can tell it isn't working as hard. There was a little worry that we might if we stalled the car have to shut the box off to start the car and without doing so might kick the box into limp mode. We have no had an issue with that. A lot of the negative stuff on the net about it including that article the guy did with all the battery packs etc. was due to the wrong size wiring loom for power. That was fixed long before we got the boxes so that too we have not had any problems.

The shirt priming - you only have to prime the shirt once. Leave it filled. It does not mold like coolsuit shirt tubes using water/ice. The thing I was trying to paint was this:

1) If I am driving the car and I am chilly, it is because the tubes in the shirt are getting the cold liquid circulated thru the box. If I pit and you are the next driver, all dressed and ready to go, you are standing there in your suit with your shirt on under your driving suit and the liquid in your tubes is not cold yet. When I pit and you get in, although when you plug in your can immediately feel it getting cold, it takes couple minutes to fully drop your shirt to the low cold temp. Which makes perfect sense. Think water hose, when it is laying on the ground and you first turn it on, the water coming out is much hotter than coming out of the spigot. If that warmer water was in a loop it would take a few minutes for the overall water temp to drop to 50 something degrees.

This is why we are actually considering another box on 110 in our pit box, so as a waiting driver you could plug in while you are sitting there waiting for the car to come to the pits and it would chill all your tubes and keep you comfy while you are sitting there. That extra box the crew could plug into if they wanted to also. We are considering it. Real world problems I know

Also worth noting, for crew, they are coming out with some kind of pit box unit with like 10 or something sets of connector, looks like one of those standing AC units on wheels you can buy HomeDepot for your trailer, and crew could plug into that. I am not sure when it is coming out, but heard it was in prototype mode already.

I am just beyond happy with it when we are running (2) TCR cars with 8 drivers and not a single piece of ICE or emptying melted ice/water every stop and refilling. Simply plug in.

We have actually gone one step further to simplify and every driver that drives with us, I get all the drivers sizes ahead of time and I order a box of the ChillOut shirts and we just give a shirt to the driver to keep along with a female dual prong connector. Makes for quicker driver changes to just be using same stuff, same length hoses etc.

~T

alevine

I too purchased the ChillOut system and recently had it installed in a GT4 Clubsport. I used it for the first (and only) time (thus far) in early December while at Daytona. I too am very very happy and impressed. So much better than my Coolshirt system in my other car. It's really on another level and I love not having to get ice, etc.

My comments and experience is similar to what zoomzoom22 described above. The owner is EXCELLENT to deal with. A true gentleman and incredibly responsive to answer questions, etc. and the unit just works. It seems to be well engineered. The fittings, connectors, etc. are great too. I'll post more feedback in April/May once I am able to drive the car again.

Adam

Difool

Would it be horribly hard to run vent tubing from the exhaust fan to a duct in the rear window, or some similar place? I’d guess not with a bit of modification

Ritter v4.0

[QUOTE=zoomzoom22;16346817]Cheers for the detailed response.