Quick question on using portable ac for dehumidifier

I have a old everstar 9,000 btu portable ac that I bought back in 2007. It’s been around, used by me, my family, and friends. After my friends last attempt to grow, he gave it back to me. It’s Been in storage for the last year.
It’s getting real humid around here by Captain Hook, and even though my room is cool, humid levels r sky rocketing. So as I’m looking to see where I can find the best price on a dehumidifier, it hit me that the old everstar had the dehumidifier, with continuous drain.
Pulled the everstar out the storage and gave it a good cleaning. Ran it according to instructions without the vent hose hooked up, and now my temps went from 74, to 82. Take it for granted I don’t have a humidity controller, so I’m running it continues.
So my question is will the portable ac still dehumidify if I hook up the exhaust vent?
Just seeing if anybody has any experience in this before I start running test.

if you are talking about the exhaust for the a/c then I would assume it should still dehumidify. the exhaust is where all that hot humid air comes out of the a/c. if you are talking about the exhaust for your room/tent, then I am of little help, although I would assume the a/c would still pull the humidity down with circulating air. 9,000 btu is a decent size portable unit, unless you have it in a very large area it should keep up

All A/C is based on humidity removal

I know all ac removes humidity. But most ac’s turn on and off from temp and not humidity. I live in a tropical region, 90% humidity levels r common my during summers. My mini split ac will get me temps down to 72 with no problem. But it does not remove humidity as fast as I need it.
Most portable ac units have a dehumidifier option. In order to run the dehumidifier options, the manual tells u to remove the “hot air” exhaust. When u do this it is no longer a ac, but a hot box! U have to hook up the continuous drain line, so the water does not blow out the “hot air” exhaust.
Dehumidifiers blow air over cool coils, then again over hot coils. The air dispelled from a dehumidifier is hot air. Reason for the dry, hot air is it absorbs the humidity like a sponge.
I believe I just answered my own question. If I hook up the “hot air” exhaust it will still dehumidify, but not as well without the hot air.
So imma just mess with the on off timers and perfect it. Maybe 1 hr on, and 2 hr off will help me keep temps down.

I'm gonna guess you're right. Basically it's just a humidifier like I got at this point. Keeps recirculating the already dehumidified air. I tried like 6 hours on per night and it wasn't too helpful. Suggest you try it hard like 12 hours, maybe 1 on 1 off like you say. I don't even have a timer that will do that, but it would do 2 hours on and 2 off. I hadn't even tried that because the humidity backed off a bit and it seemed too hot day and night for me. I'd like some temp difference between night and day. Still no mold knock on wood.

Does the exhaust push out humid air?

I was always under the impression that air conditioners rely on 2 heat exchangers. On the hot side, a compressor compresses Freon gas, which makes it hot, and is pushed into coils. Then a fan blows across the hot coils, removing most of the heat... making the compressed Freon closer to the ambient temp (of where the hot coils reside-- usually outside). That now close-to-room-temp Freon comes back into the area to cool, where is it decompressed. When gas decompresses it gets cold. This cold Freon gas goes into the cool coils and a fan blows on them to cool off the room. Which then heats up that Freon and the process repeats. When warmer air hits those cold coils, it loses humidity. This humidity, now in the form of water, is captured in portable units and must be drained periodically, or this water flows to the hot side of the A/C (outside) and either drips out or evaporates.

If your minisplit ac system cools well but doesn't dehumidify effectively, it is oversized for the cooling load. This could be corrected by modifying the minisplit to more effectively remove humidity, which will make the space more comfortable for you and reduce power consumption.

When I get sum time I’ll run some test, to see how much air a 9000 btu stand up portable ac can dehumidify in what time. And what is the best way to hook up the ac for dehumidify mode. I’ll post my results as I research.
Reason y I want us 2 know this is because we have more used portable ac units out on the street, than used dehumidifiers. Why spend the money on equipment, when we can spend it on the genetics!