Killer Amps

https://cozywinters.com/shop/ew-rvhmp.html

^^that ought to use the 10 cents or so of the energy storage of a G24 in one night.

valhalla360 wrote:
Truckers aren't using resistance heat from lead-acid batteries.

What kind of batteries do they have? I am not in the business of referring to people as fools for trying something different. Are people fools when they switch their 12/120 volt refrigerators over to battery for a short time when parked? Inefficient? Yes. Foolish?

TomG2 wrote:

time2roll wrote:
Resistance heat from a lead-acid battery is a fools errand.
You need propane.

Are you calling America's truck drivers fools? Many use resistance heating in one form or another to heat everything from coffee to truck seats. I have a propane heater for cold weather. This test was to see if I could get a little heat for a short amount of time from my battery. Too much load and too little battery was what I discovered.

Truckers aren't using resistance heat from lead-acid batteries.

They are using resistance heat from the alternator output of a running engine.

Usually, they have diesel heaters if they will be parked for long periods.

pianotuna wrote:
I did not say the battery should be inside the "cap". In fact, I would never recommend that unless the jar were in a sealed box vented to the great outdoors.

I wondered about that. Not interested in carrying a flooded cell battery on the rear bumper or anywhere else outside the "cap" when camper shell camping. Part of the appeal of this type of camping is simplicity. I have the 35 ah agm inside but to the rear of the truck bed where it get the most ventilation.

time2roll wrote:
Resistance heat from a lead-acid battery is a fools errand.
You need propane.

Are you calling America's truck drivers fools? Many use resistance heating in one form or another to heat everything from coffee to truck seats. I have a propane heater for cold weather. This test was to see if I could get a little heat for a short amount of time from my battery. Too much load and too little battery was what I discovered.

Resistance heat from a lead-acid battery is a fools errand.
You need propane.

I did not say the battery should be inside the "cap". In fact, I would never recommend that unless the jar were in a sealed box vented to the great outdoors.

TomG2 wrote:
Not sure that I want to charge and discharge a flooded cell battery in the small confines of a camper shell. Good idea?

Jumping The Rails...

Neighbor and friend was an LPG tech for a large distributor. Got onto a discussion about keeping the cab warm on sub zero nights at 7,000 ft.

Turn out he had an older underhood LPG heater. Heater hose passed through it. But it needed more circulation and it needed a way to blow heat off the pickup's heater core.

I found a tiny but expensive pump at WW Grainger and I had one of the old BW Magntatek 775-2 75 amp chargers.

I installed a **** valve bypass, and set the heater as low as I could. The pump was 12 volt.

I set a 125lb horizontal tank in the bed then ran pipe and motor fuel hose to the heater. I replaced the old original heater blower fan. The heater operated by a pilot light.

NIGHT ONE, Set the heat at 1 the lowest on the dial. Connected the charger and flipped a new bypass toggle switch that fed the under dash resistor on it lowest setting.

The temp dropped into sub zero that night.

Next morning I found the cab to be around 40F.

The heater was circulating through the engine!

Turned the dial up to 2

Next morning found the cab around 55F

Set on 3 and it snowed that night. Next morning the windshield was dry and when I switched the cockvalve setting I had almost instant cab heat.

Really made a difference in comfort.

Reality reared up. Let's avoid the subject of propane usage.

The night it dropped to -39F in Bridgeport I used the heater.

I believe it was around that time I abandoned ship. One day I decided to drive to the LA area to search for alternator cores to rebuild. It was 5F when I departed. When I got to Ontario the new-to-me Santa Ana winds were howling. 83F I don't do cold too good...

pianotuna wrote:
...snip.....
To run the heater for one our a 100 amp-hour flooded battery would be a good fit.

Not sure that I want to charge and discharge a flooded cell battery in the small confines of a camper shell. Good idea?

2112 wrote:
How did it fail? The battery fell flat or lacked enough heat output?

Bingo. The battery voltage immediately dropped below 10 volts and the inverter disconnected the load. Too much load or too little battery. Take your pick.