No need to freeze at free camps

Phil C · Guru

No need to freeze at free camps

aussie_paul · Guru

Sounds like a worthwhile item. Looks great as well. How much Phil?

I wonder how it compares to a 12 volt heater?

Aussie Paul. smile

Big Gorilla · Guru

Check it out. $139.95 with free delivery:

http://www.eheat.com/envi-high-efficiency-whole-room-plug-in-electric-panel-heater-hh1012t/

Cloak · Guru

A little ripper, doesn't flatten the batteries but how much charge was removed?

Big Gorilla · Guru

Did you purchase this item from Texas Phil ? No Australian Agent. What did you pay all up inc. freight from the U.S. ?

Phil C · Guru

The item was off the internet as an Australian voltage (240V AC). Cost me $179 free post. I looked at a number of other units (like from Bunnings) to discover they didnt cut the mustard. I believe this unit uses the semiconductor peltzier effect to heat.

Item was from the Australian website www.eheat.com.au sorry guys for misleading you.

Be careful what you buy, the cheaper units are crap.

Safe travels

Phil C · Guru

At about 7am the inverter started beeping with a low voltage. Start up charge was about 90%.

oldtrack123 · Guru

Hi

ONE thing I cannot see in the Specs is an AUstralian approval number

All 240V appliances, no matter how used ,require an Australian approval number for use in Australia.

The same applies to ALL gas appliances

That is the problem with Ebay buying, much of what is offered does not have AUs approval!!

If it is running full" on" on for a total of just 4hrs overnight , it will use around150Ahrs

38Ahrs for each hr it is actuataly on

If the battery voltage is being pulled down below about 50% SOC ,they will have a short life !!

that meansat least a 300Ahr battery pack fully recharged each day.

[Unless they are LI Fe Po4s]

PeterQ

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Saturday 21st of June 2014 09:00:46 PM

JayDee · Guru

We are still looking for a cost effective way of heating our van in winter.
But
We only have 1 x 100 amp hour battery, plus of course an inverter. Also 120 watt solar on roof and a back up gennie
Concern here re the amount of power the heater will us at night.
No need for day heating. but would like the warmth of a night.
Ticks many boxes, but concern re the amp / volt / watt usage. I am lost in this area.
jay&Dee

-- Edited by JayDee on Saturday 21st of June 2014 09:33:01 PM

Noggins · Member

I fitted a copy Dometic - Eberspacher diesel heater from Aliexpress.
I got mine on a ''special''
No worries fitting it, made a base plate for it, drilled / cut a BIG hole in he floor, had a fuel 4ltr tank from a Honda mower for the van.
I just had to buy some ducting and an air outlet.

All up it cost just under $550.oo

www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6048385445.html

ZZ

Big Gorilla · Guru

Phil C wrote:
The item was off the internet as an Australian voltage (240V AC). Cost me $179 free post. I looked at a number of other units (like from Bunnings) to discover they didnt cut the mustard. I believe this unit uses the semiconductor peltzier effect to heat.

Item was from the Australian website www.eheat.com.au sorry guys for misleading you.

Be careful what you buy, the cheaper units are crap.

Safe travels

Not a bad price Phil. I could also use it in the house when not travelling if it's as good as the specs. suggest.. I'm doing the sums on buying one. I have a 300 watt Inverter just for my laptop and phone charger, so I'd have to upgrade to a 1000 watt sine wave Inverter. That's another $200.00 to $300.00 to add onto the bill.

beiffe · Guru

If you just want heat at night get an extra blanket or jumper.
I can run a heater (split system aircon) or an electric blanket in my bus but don't worry about it.
An electric blanket will use little power but I would expect that for most people the 240v heater would not do their batteries much good.
To run your wet cell batteries down low each night they will not last very long.
Regards
Brian

Phil C · Guru

I measured the DC current going to the inverter, it was 10 amps (the inverter draws 800mA quiescent current) which means on two 110AH batteries I have about 10 hours of use, remember the heater is only 475 W ( I would imagine true power).

The bottom line is it worked well from 2200 to 0700 when the inverter low volt alarm went off.

We also have 150W electric blankets that dont even get the inverter fan going. We have never had a seriously cold sleep in our van at a free camp. The generator is sleeping in the back of our ute and only gets used for topping up the batteries during the day (not quite enough omph from the solar panel)

Lets get the facts straight; The heater, in fact, meets Australian standards and it was not bought from ebay. (See product description on the eheat Australia website.) As far as the inverter goes we have a "2500W" (marked VA) inverter but craps out around 2KW which is plenty for our electric blanket and inverter, that equates to about 1600W (real) if you consider its rating is in VA.

If you have only one house battery then I suggest you get an electric blanket and a 1000W inverter, the blanket draws about 2 Amps DC when cycling, I doubt it will be on full power all night so it will cycle between 800mA and 2A on the DC side, therefore the batteries should last all night (based on 2 110AH batteries).

I dont mean to put the cat amongst the pigeons BUT I would never use anything electrical that didn't meet AS3000 or the other domestic standards.

Safe travels

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 10:30:56 AM

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 10:32:21 AM

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 10:41:33 AM

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 11:05:13 AM

Big Gorilla · Guru

I could handle the heater ok. I have 240 watts of solar and 2 x 6 volt batteries connected in series, each 225 amp/hours... I rarely go into Caravan arks ad use 240 volt power.

Phil C · Guru

The inverter is the key here, if it is a good one it should warn you that the battery voltage is low (about 10 volts) eventually it will automatically shut down. With this safety mechanism, I guess it wont matter what battery packs you have, it will still shut down when it needs to smile

Safe travels

Bryan · Guru

Big Gorilla wrote:
I could handle the heater ok. I have 240 watts of solar and 2 x 6 volt batteries connected in series, each 225 amp/hours... I rarely go into Caravan arks ad use 240 volt power.

Ken, i had a quick look on the net for 6 volt 225 amp/hour deep cycle battery prices. At $115.00 per battery (first and only site I looked at), it makes sense to get two and connect them in series for $230.00. A similar 12 volt battery would cost approximately double that. Are there any disadvantages?

Big Gorilla · Guru

Bryan wrote:
Big Gorilla wrote:
I could handle the heater ok. I have 240 watts of solar and 2 x 6 volt batteries connected in series, each 225 amp/hours... I rarely go into Caravan arks ad use 240 volt power.
Ken, i had a quick look on the net for 6 volt 225 amp/hour deep cycle battery prices. At $115.00 per battery (first and only site I looked at), it makes sense to get two and connect them in series for $230.00. A similar 12 volt battery would cost approximately double that. Are there any disadvantages?

$115.00 is damn cheap for a battery Bryan. Is it a name brand ? I use Century C105 deep cycle batteries. I've had them 4 years without a problem. I just checked out the current price which is double what you are quoting. http://www.everybattery.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=EB-C105 I think that if you are relying on solar and batteries, only the best will do. A cheap brand might not be worth it if it let's you down. Every Batteries, where I purchased mine, told me the life is 5 years + if you look after the batteries. The only maintenance I do is top up the water every 2 weeks, using distilled water, not tap water.

oldtrack123 · Guru

Phil C wrote:
[1
]I measured the DC current going to the inverter, it was 10 amps (the inverter draws 800mA quiescent current) which means on two 110AH batteries I have about 10 hours of use, remember the heater is only 475 W ( I would imagine true power).

The bottom line is it worked well from 2200 to 0700 when the inverter low volt alarm went off.
We also have 150W electric blankets that dont even get the inverter fan going. We have never had a seriously cold sleep in our van at a free camp. The generator is sleeping in the back of our ute and only gets used for topping up the batteries during the day (not quite enough omph from the solar panel)
Lets get the facts straight;
[2] The heater, in fact, meets Australian standards and it was not bought from ebay. (See product description on the eheat Australia website.)
[3] As far as the inverter goes we have a "2500W" (marked VA) inverter but craps out around 2KW which is plenty for our electric blanket and inverter, that equates to about 1600W (real) if you consider its rating is in VA.
If you have only one house battery then I suggest you get an electric blanket and a 1000W inverter, the blanket draws about 2 Amps DC when cycling, I doubt it will be on full power all night so it will cycle between 800mA and 2A on the DC side, therefore the batteries should last all night (based on 2 110AH batteries).
I dont mean to put the cat amongst the pigeons BUT I would never use anything electrical that didn't meet AS3000 or the other domestic standards.

Safe travels

HI

[1]

If it was only drawing 10A, it obviously was not running at full power of 450 watts, in fact it was drawing only 12OW

If it was working at 450W, the current would be in excess of 38A!

[2] I assume you can quote the Aus approval number???

If it is Aus approved ,THAT has to be on it.

I could not see any reference to such on the site.

PeterQ

oldtrack123 · Guru

Phil C wrote:
The inverter is the key here, if it is a good one it should warn you that the battery voltage is low (about 10 volts) eventually it will automatically shut down. With this safety mechanism, I guess it wont matter what battery packs you have, it will still shut down when it needs to
Safe travels

HI

If the batterries are pulled down until the inverter turns off[ @around 10V],those batteries will have a short life ,unless there is a.large voltage drop due to small feed cables.

Tha tlow voltage setting of 10V has little to do with battery protection ..

Like the same low setting that Waecoe fridges have , it more to protect the unit itself

PeterQ

PeterD · Guru

Phil C wrote:
I measured the DC current going to the inverter, it was 10 amps (the inverter draws 800mA quiescent current) which means on two 110AH batteries I have about 10 hours of use, remember the heater is only 475 W ( I would imagine true power).

That does not compute. The rule of thumb is to use 10 V as your input voltage to work out the current required to drive 240 V loads from an inverter. I would reckon that it takes 47.5 A into an inverter to drive your 475 W heater (W = E x I = 10 x 47.5 = 475.) I will leave it to you to explain how you are creating the extra 375 W of energy.

I also think it needs a little more than 475 W to heat a van or even just to stop it cooling. We use an 1800 W heater on half power when on a powered site. Some nights I have to switch it to full power to maintain the temp to around 20 deg. Also carrying a second battery just for a heater sounds a little extravagant to me. The only way of keeping your van warm off power is to get a diesel or LPG heater. Our 2 kW Webasto is OK for our purposes.

Bryan · Guru

Big Gorilla wrote:
Bryan wrote:
Big Gorilla wrote:
I could handle the heater ok. I have 240 watts of solar and 2 x 6 volt batteries connected in series, each 225 amp/hours... I rarely go into Caravan arks ad use 240 volt power.
Ken, i had a quick look on the net for 6 volt 225 amp/hour deep cycle battery prices. At $115.00 per battery (first and only site I looked at), it makes sense to get two and connect them in series for $230.00. A similar 12 volt battery would cost approximately double that. Are there any disadvantages?
$115.00 is damn cheap for a battery Bryan. Is it a name brand ? I use Century C105 deep cycle batteries. I've had them 4 years without a problem. I just checked out the current price which is double what you are quoting. http://www.everybattery.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=EB-C105 I think that if you are relying on solar and batteries, only the best will do. A cheap brand might not be worth it if it let's you down. Every Batteries, where I purchased mine, told me the life is 5 years + if you look after the batteries. The only maintenance I do is top up the water every 2 weeks, using distilled water, not tap water.

I can't find the one I saw earlier when I googled it. Just tried again and found Trojan deep cycle at $148.00. 5+ years plus is good and this maybe the way I should go when I next need batteries which hopefully won't be for a few years yet.

Phil C · Guru

Peter Q. its not DC wattage the heater is rated at 475W AC. I assure you the inverter was pulling 10 amps switched on full. I measured with a fluke clamp meter. OK what the heck, it keeps me warm and I wont argue the point about pedantic crap. NOTE the inverter is DC to AC the heater is AC, the two sides must be separated. It wouldnt surprise me that its 120W on the DC side there are two 10mm square cables for pos and neg.

AGM batteries will last a long time as long as they dont go lower than about 50%

BTW Peter D, this unit DOES keep the van warm. I cant afford a diesel heater. Yipes guys, I live in the reality.. give me a break. furious

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 06:37:16 PM

Phil C · Guru

OK I now see where Peter Q is mixed. P equals I x V therefore I = P on V 475 dived 240 = 1.9A AC.

-- Edited by Phil C on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 07:27:48 PM

Phil C · Guru

Hi All

here is the approval plate. Please note the current is worked at 230V not 240V

Phil C · Guru

Two photos of inside and outside our van. This heater works and Im not on commissions.

Phil C · Guru

JayDee wrote:
We are still looking for a cost effective way of heating our van in winter.
But
We only have 1 x 100 amp hour battery, plus of course an inverter. Also 120 watt solar on roof and a back up gennie
Concern here re the amount of power the heater will us at night.
No need for day heating. but would like the warmth of a night.
Ticks many boxes, but concern re the amp / volt / watt usage. I am lost in this area.
jay&Dee

-- Edited by JayDee on Saturday 21st of June 2014 09:33:01 PM

we discovered our electric blanket worked brilliantly on our setup. Warm as toast all night even though the battery had been used during the day. At 150W the blanket didnt even make the fan on the inverter turn on.

Safe travels

JayDee · Guru

Thanks Phil, I have sent you a PM.

Cheers

Jay&Deee

SnowT · Guru

Nice heater there..

If I was in a situation where, I needed something Like That I think I would do 2 thing's..
- Make sure you had the Batteries and Solar to recharge the batteries during the day.. [TICK - for the people that know me..]
- 2 Make sure that I set the temperature for the heater at about 15 degree..

I spent the Queens Birthday weekend up in the Mountains near Thredbo were we had an over night temp of -5 in our location..
- I know for a fact that no heater was run at that stage.. inside temp got to about 6 degrees over night..

There's no indication of temperature control except for the Dial..

Price could be a Little steep for some people..

There is no way to Control how long it operates for..

Looks good But I don't think it's for everyone... especially if it running 8hr's Plus... and yes the usage that you are showing is not the full kit.. load for a full out usage should be in the range of
475 divided by the efficiency of the inverter about 90% then that figure divided by 12 for 12volts which gives you a draw of roughly 44A or 44Ah, your battery will die an extremely quick death...

Look in the End.. I doubt that most people could afford to run one of these in a free camp situation.. With what MOST people have as their power system.. UNLESS they supplement their battery charging system with a Noisy/Smelly Generator..

My system if you want to see where I'm coming from..

Juergen..

Psst - Better to Rug up and to have enough blanket's to cover up at night...

-- Edited by SnowT on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 09:11:56 PM

Phil C · Guru

SnowT wrote:
Nice heater there..

If I was in a situation where, I needed something Like That I think I would do 2 thing's..
- Make sure you had the Batteries and Solar to recharge the batteries during the day.. [TICK - for the people that know me..]
- 2 Make sure that I set the temperature for the heater at about 15 degree..

I spent the Queens Birthday weekend up in the Mountains near Thredbo were we had an over night temp of -5 in our location..
- I know for a fact that no heater was run at that stage.. inside temp got to about 6 degrees over night..

There's no indication of temperature control except for the Dial..

Price could be a Little steep for some people..

There is no way to Control how long it operates for..

Looks good But I don't think it's for everyone... especially if it running 8hr's Plus... and yes the usage that you are showing is not the full kit.. load for a full out usage should be in the range of
475 divided by the efficiency of the inverter about 90% then that figure divided by 12 for 12volts which gives you a draw of roughly 44A or 44Ah, your battery will die an extremely quick death...

Look in the End.. I doubt that most people could afford to run one of these in a free camp situation.. With what MOST people have as their power system.. UNLESS they supplement their battery charging system with a Noisy/Smelly Generator..

My system if you want to see where I'm coming from..

Juergen..

Psst - Better to Rug up and to have enough blanket's to cover up at night...

-- Edited by SnowT on Sunday 22nd of June 2014 09:11:56 PM

Thanks Juergen

Seems we are forgetting the .8 power factor on the AC side and into a resistive load (very little phase shift) not knowing the full guts of an inverter I still maintain that 1.9A in the output is a darn site less than 19A input. I am struggling to apply the efficiency ratio to that, in my mind its apples and oranges, AC and DC huge difference maybe Im missing something here.

I agree about rugging up, however this works so well with my electric blanket I sleep with very little. There is a thermostat on the top which controls the cycle, I would get a cheap timer for on and off ratio (hour on hour off).

Cheers and safe travels

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Would it be more efficient if temps were say 15* over night ?? With cosy sheets etc it would still be comfortable .. Like where we are at present it gets down to 10* I assume warmer in the house ?

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.