Ideas on 12v block heater when 120 plugs are not available.

jvencius

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BBBxcursion said:
So how much are they new? I can't seem to find that info......



I've been poking around as well and haven't turned up much other than a whole lot of "Contact us for pricing". The few prices I have found are in the $600-$1K range for new units.
 

jvencius

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ahp691 said:
I searched that web site and a company in VT offers them starting at $350



Really? That's not a bad price at all. Hell, I think I read on their site that the second-to-smallest unit is just fine for pickup-sized vehicles so that model can't be too much more expensive than that starting price...
 

wilpenusa

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If you decide to go with a 12v heater for your engine or oil here is a suggestion for powering it.
I use two 12v batteries that I put in the bed of my truck as backup for the propane heater in my 5ver. The fan draws a lot of power when running and runs my internal batteries down.
I bought an extra 7 prong tow plug and hooked the positive and negative wires up to the extra male plug. I plug it into either the bumper plug or the plug in the side of the bed which was installed for the 5ver. When the engine is running it charges the batteries, when it is off it is isolated from my system batteries. If I drive I always have full bateries for night camping. I use jumper wires to connect to my 5ver batteries. you could run a couple of wires to a relay or a thermostat to control your engine heater heater.
I bought my batteries from kmart. they had been on the shelf too long cost me 25.00 ea. They work for me and still have a full warranty.
As far as 12v not having enough power, I used one battery to cook my dinner in a 12v crock pot. took 6hrs.
12v works for me!
 

Hoss 350

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wilpenusa said:
If you decide to go with a 12v heater for your engine or oil here is a suggestion for powering it.
I use two 12v batteries that I put in the bed of my truck as backup for the propane heater in my 5ver. The fan draws a lot of power when running and runs my internal batteries down.
I bought an extra 7 prong tow plug and hooked the positive and negative wires up to the extra male plug. I plug it into either the bumper plug or the plug in the side of the bed which was installed for the 5ver. When the engine is running it charges the batteries, when it is off it is isolated from my system batteries. If I drive I always have full bateries for night camping. I use jumper wires to connect to my 5ver batteries. you could run a couple of wires to a relay or a thermostat to control your engine heater heater.
I bought my batteries from kmart. they had been on the shelf too long cost me 25.00 ea. They work for me and still have a full warranty.
As far as 12v not having enough power, I used one battery to cook my dinner in a 12v crock pot. took 6hrs.
12v works for me!

Good post, but the problem is that a 12v crock pot is trying to heat your 2 pound roast over 6 hours. Now, hook that crock pot up to 1200 pounds of cold iron and see how well it heats. It is just not there. Even with two batteries, my guess is that a 1500 W block heater would drain them dead in minutes, not hours. That is not enought to get cold iron warm...
 

dpantazis

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