Making A Warmer Truck Camper Bed
Today's Project, Making A Warmer Truck Camper Bed. Cedar Lattice For Ventilation. SIKA 1" Insulation Board To Keep Mattress Warmer. Flannel Sheets To Be Warm And Cozy In Bed. I've seen others on the...
Forum Discussion
I’ve had heated mattress pads both at home (120v AC) and in our TC (12v DC) for at least 15 years, and wouldn’t want to be without them. In the TC, if you can provide the power, they just can’t be beat in the winter. With my DC-DC charger, I have the ability to provide more than enough power from the truck to run the mattress pad, and run the fridge in AC mode from an inverter while we’re driving, and still arrive at our destination with a fully charged camper battery.
The mattress heater in the TC is Electrowarmth brand, and as far as I know they are the only ones that make one. When I bought mine, they were even making a queen size pad. I think a heated pad that size was pushing the limits of what the standard 12v cigarette lighter plug could tolerate amperage-wise though, because that was the only issue I ever had with it: the plug was getting too hot. Today, they only make a twin size 12v pad, but there’s no reason you couldn’t use two of them on a queen mattress as long as you didn’t overlap them. I have mine hardwired though a panel mounted, switch-duty CB now, so I’m not having any more plug issues with it.
With only a single group 31 AGM battery in the camper, I’ve never tried to use the heated mattress pad when we’re without shore-power. If I remember to turn it on while we’re driving it will pre-warm the bed so it’s not so cold when we climb in. I’ve got a couple of small Li batteries I’m going to install one of these days that will be just for powering the mattress pad in the winter when we don’t have outside power. If the pad flattens them overnight no problem, the main battery will still be charged. I can recharge the Li’s the next day while driving, plus the few hours of generator use we typically will have.
If the 12v pad were to fail today, I’m not sure which way I would go on it’s replacement. There are pluses and minuses I’d have to consider for both.
The mattress heater in the TC is Electrowarmth brand, and as far as I know they are the only ones that make one. When I bought mine, they were even making a queen size pad. I think a heated pad that size was pushing the limits of what the standard 12v cigarette lighter plug could tolerate amperage-wise though, because that was the only issue I ever had with it: the plug was getting too hot. Today, they only make a twin size 12v pad, but there’s no reason you couldn’t use two of them on a queen mattress as long as you didn’t overlap them. I have mine hardwired though a panel mounted, switch-duty CB now, so I’m not having any more plug issues with it.
With only a single group 31 AGM battery in the camper, I’ve never tried to use the heated mattress pad when we’re without shore-power. If I remember to turn it on while we’re driving it will pre-warm the bed so it’s not so cold when we climb in. I’ve got a couple of small Li batteries I’m going to install one of these days that will be just for powering the mattress pad in the winter when we don’t have outside power. If the pad flattens them overnight no problem, the main battery will still be charged. I can recharge the Li’s the next day while driving, plus the few hours of generator use we typically will have.
If the 12v pad were to fail today, I’m not sure which way I would go on it’s replacement. There are pluses and minuses I’d have to consider for both.
