Chinese Diesel Heater Power Consumption. How Many Amps Do They Use And Is Your Battery Big Enough?
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- Is you battery big enough to power a diesel heater? How many Amps do they use? How much Amp Hours will it use from your leisure batteries?
Worried about running your leisure battery down while use a diesel heater in your motorhome or camper van..?
So was I.!
In this video I run a full test on the Chinese Diesel Air Heater that's fitted to my off grid motorhome.
I test out startup Amps, raising the temperature Amps. running Amps and shutdown Amps to see how many Amp Hours is required and if my batteries are man enough to cope with the load.
Although very specific to my motorhome, I hope this give some indication of the amount of Amps being used and the total Amp Hours of these Chinese Diesel Heaters.
Meter used in this test was the: DC Power Analyser 60V/100A Watt Meter.
Available here:
amzn.to/3Xfp3jE
Time Stamps;
00:00 - Intro to diesel heater power consumption
00:59 - Amp meter used to test diesel heater power consumption
01:20 - Wiring Amp meter to diesel heater
02:10 - Testing the Amps used during start up
03:10 - Amps used to raise air temperature by 10 deg C.
05:00 - Running Amps used to maintain temperature
05:32 - Total Ah used during test
#dieselheater #batterytest #heateramps
I had a few vids to choose from..mostly they were from young dudes then I saw an older gentleman with silver hair and a nice pullover and I said to myself, "Tony, this man looks like he knows what's up"
Your too kind Tony
Thank you 👍
And doesn't start every video with "Hi Guys"
Thank you for doing this test. I am putting in a diesel heater for this winter into my Van. I've watched many videos and no one seems to talk about the power usage. I want to make sure my battery bank can handle it, so thank you.
Hi,
Thanks for watching and glad it helped you out👍
ATB, Steve
Same here great job🎉
Thank you so much for the information. You answered all of my concerns regarding power usage.
having a real world test is really very useful, thanks! love the series!!
Thank you.
Glad they helped you..
Great informative delivery. Thanks AJ
And yet again, you made another excellent video.
Well done Sir.
Thank you for your kind comments.
They are much appreciated.
ATB, Steve
This guy is awesome. His installs, trials, and explanations are really helpful.
Hi Ed,
Thank you for the kind comments.
I appreciate that.
Take care,
Steve
But he doesnt tell us if he is using a 2k 5k or 8k diesel heater
Thanks for the informative video. This answered my exact question.
Can I just say your presentations and information is excellent. Easy for a numpty like me to understand and hopefully one day install and run a diesel heater. Many Thanks indeed...........
Thank you, I'm glad it has helped.
ATB, Steve
Love that little meter been using it for years for testing items. Its so simple to get data from.
Hi Gary,
Agree with you there... It's a very handy bit of kit eh...
Simple and effective 👍
Brilliant video. About to install one of these in my van and couldn’t decide whether I’d need another means of producing power. Now I know not to bother!
Very great analyze n process! 💥👌 Very interesting thank you as I have recently received a china diesel heater 2 kw and will install it in my campervan and I have 280Ah lithium batteries!
I think you'll have more than enough power there Anders..!!!
ATB, Steve
@@TheWrinklyNomads BIG THANKZ for that info reply!🙏 I was kind of worried of that aspect!
Thank you for a very informative video
Very comprehensive look at the electrical needs of the diesel heater. Appreciate the video as I'm shopping online for an AC/DC adapter. I'll be looking for 10 amps capable to be on the safe side. 👍
Hi,
Thank you, glad it helped..👍
Thanks for a very comprehensive and straight forward report on the facts people wanted to know. I bought one of these to use in my project car since it's powered by an air cooled motorbike engine that would be hard to harvest heat for the drivers compartment. Had a few doubts whether the 35amp alternator would be able to cope with the heater, but now all worries has been put to rest. Looks like I'll even be able to use it for pre-heating the engine compartment in the winter for easier starts. 😊👍
Thank you and thanks for watching, glad it helped.👍
Solid factual information which was well presented - what's not to like. 10/10 and thank you.
Hi Graham,
Thanks you for the kind comments
ATB, Steve
Thanks for that info on diesel heaters. That answered the main question of what takes the least amount of power to heat an rv.
Hi Paul,
Glad it help you.
Pretty straight forward, and chock full of good, clearly presented info
👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you Tomas,
Glad it was helpful for you.
ATB, Steve
Great test and very informative, thank you from Australia 🇦🇺
Excellent video, thank you!
Thank you 👍
Thanks ,doing my initial lay out and your vid was very informative'
This is a great explanation it's clears up for me that the start up of say 7 amps doesn't actually take 7 amps off your battery.
Thank you, glad it helped out 👍
Thanks a lot for a very clear explanation!
Hi Peter
Glad it was helpful.
Thank you,
Steve
Thank you for this video, its really helping
Hi Bobby,
Thanks for watching and glad it helped 👍
That's some great information really helpful Thanks
Thank for watching 👍
Thanks for that very informative film.
Hope you didn't overheat too much.
Happy New year
Hi Jimmy
Thank you and glad it was helpful.
I had to open a few windows and vents.....!
ATB, Steve
That is what I wanted to see, thanks for video
Thanks for watching, it's appreciated👍
Thanks for this information 👍
Really good thanks just about to set up a heater for my shed/Greenhouse hoping it will work
Glad it helped Stephen and thanks for watching 👍
Thanks for this gr8 video it so simplethe way you explained it mate
Glad it helped👍
Thank You, very useful and easy to read information.
Thank you for watching…
Glad it was helpful 👍🏼
Good clear video. Thanks 👍
Hi Gary.
Glad it was helpful 👍
Another great video, thx for sharing
Thank you Chris.
much appreciated 👍
ATB, Steve
Thank you sir !
This is awesome! Well explained video
Glad you liked it! 👍🏼
@@TheWrinklyNomads going to buy a diesel heater and 20ah lithium battery, now I can go camping for 2 days and not worry about killing my car battery. Should be enough for 2-3 nights depending on how heavy I use it.
Very helpful video, thank you 👍
Hi Shaun,
Thank you, glad it helped.
You have a great channel and a 1st class van setup, really practical, very unobtrusive and stealthy, with some good build ideas...👍
Like it a lot.
ATB, Steve
Great input, with the price of bottled gas about to go through the roof, this is surely the way to go for us MH owners who use our vehicles all year around.
Agree with Stan...
Bottled gas is just going stupid now.!!!
@@TheWrinklyNomads
Eugene, Oregon.
Some re-fillers are out of propane.
Some exchange-cages have only empty bottles.
.
I finally found exchange bottles in a closed garden-supply area of a Fred Meyer grocery store... dated mid-2015.
.
An aside:
Southern California railway yards, entire trains of boxcars, emptied, vandalized, waist-deep discarded cardboard boxes.
Is this is your neighborhood, too?
Great information. Thanks Don
Thank you Don.
Glad it was helpful.
Take care,
Steve
I have seen many of your videoes, very short and super informative. 👍👍
Much better as many other videos, that takes 15-20 minutes, often repeating them self several times, ( pretty annoying) maybe they just like to hear them self talking. 😃
Thank you.
Yes, I agree, some people do seem to like repeating the same thing...!!!
Great Information thanks for the effort Keep it up.
Thanks Simon 👍🏼
Thank you very much .
Don, another valuable video. I have a few of these heaters, and the core heater seems reasonable, but the accessoires are near junk. Case in point is the fuel filtor. To me it looks like it will fail soon, i just throw them out right away. Having one of those fail inside a RV or Boat, will be a stinky mess. You can get good automotive ones cheap.
Thanks again, Steve
Hi Steve,
Yes, agree with you there. That's where they save their production costs.
The burners themselves are pretty bulletproof....
Although I have been running this for a year now without any problems, but once I start tinkering again, no doubt I'll upgrade these accessory parts.
ATB, Steve
Thank you for the vid . My 2x110 ah barber's with solar charging should be great thanks
Very nice video! Perfect
Thank you very much 👍
Perfect. Thank you
Glad it helped 👍🏼
Great video. So the answer is: naff all really. That's reassuring. Especially if you plan to run one of these off a car battery (~60ah).
Thank you for watching.
Make sure the voltage doesn't go low and you have over 10A available and you should be ok.👍
Great video, gotme subed!!
Good vid so useful thanks
Thank you Kevin.
Great info! You get a sub.
Thank you Reginald 👍
Very useful info, i will use this on my sailboat. Uses a lot less power than i anticipated, you earned a subscriber :)
!
Glad it helped and yes, they are surprisingly economical.
Thank you for the sub 👍
ATB, Steve
Informative video.
Thank you.
I am shopping for a heater and your video caught my eye, i like the testing aspect. It makes it more enlightning to see the actual numbers as opposed to companies selling their products. My question is ( hopefully its not to dumb) i have noticed that many videos show the controller mounted away from the unit, is this standard on most heaters or is it something that you have to rewire?
Thx Again enjoyed your video very much
Cliff
Hi Cliff,
These heaters normally come with the controller on a long lead, about 2mtrs, so they can be positioned more conveniently away for the heater.
Hope that helps 👍
Best Video
I have just set one of these up for Roof top tent camping. Was hoping my 80Ah Agm would be happy to run this all night without using upto 50% .. I think i should be ok. Haha. Thank you for this video
Roof tent..!!!
Interesting 🤔
Yeah, your battery should just about do it for one night.
ATB, Steve
why one night? Hes got 80Ah where 50 percent is 40aH. According to the consumption that you have measured it should run 40 divided by 6 Ah which is 6 nights. Am I missing something here? Thanks @@TheWrinklyNomads
Hi,
No your not missing a thing! Your exactly right....
I have no idea why I have said it 'just about' run it? It'll probably run even longer....
Thank you for pointing that out 👍
ATB, Steve
I work in quarry’s driving excavators… minus 13 outside was my coldest temperature… my Eberspacher was a 4 kilo heater… i ran that at 50% heat output…. My Motorhome was at 18 inside… beautiful… off of my 500 jackery… 8 hours running…… take it to my machine and charge…. Back again the next day…. Lovely
Yep, that's the way to do it.👍
Great video you are always so practical and informative ,advise if you had a smaller motorhome would you fit a 2kw?
Thanks Steve,
I think I would still keep with the 5Kw.
Would warm up the smaller volume of air quicker, which would be better.
Better to have too much than too little eh..
ATB, Steve
Good stuff.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it 👍
Well made video, Dan. Which make and type of diesel heater are you referring to ? Thx for sharing this technical analysis 👌
Hi Bart,
Thank you.
Its the 5Kw Chinese diesel air heater, like this one shown here:
amzn.to/3mfFbk8
ATB, Steve
thanks for the info. I want to do a permanent mains powered setup with enogh battery for 24 hours in case of power cut. The power drop should set off the automatic shutdown sequence of the heater in case the power runs out completely. I want minimal effort, but I will make a nice neat setup. Can you recommend a suitable battery and charger combination? Or maybe an off the shelf UPS unit? I live in New Zealand.
interesting that is measure o.oamps before you started it as mine has flattened fhe battery before from the screen when left on. I learnt to pull the fuse if im not using it for a while
Hi Luke,
Yes, the LED controller will draw a very small amount of amps, but the meter I use is not highly sensitive and wont read that small amperage draw, hence the starting zero...
When I'm not using the van for any period of time I always pull the fuse on the unit as well.
ATB, Steve
Thanks for this mate, I've searched the web for this information and found nothing. Your video has all the answers I was looking for. Top man 👍
Ps, I.ve tried finding the meter you are using cuz I like the way it measures. Any idea where I can get one from please?
Hi,
Thanks for your comments, glad it helped.
I bought the meter from Amazon, here's the link:
amzn.to/3uzHq6v
ATB, Steve
@@TheWrinklyNomads Many thanks. I've subbed to the channel, excellent content!
The display / controller on these heaters do use some power even when the unit is switched off. It's worth isolating the heater from the battery when it's not being used.
Yes, but be careful that it's not accidentally turned off when running the heater.
@@TheWrinklyNomads Indeed so.
2003, we converted a 1996 Ford CF8000 to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle.
Our interior is 7w x 12l x 7h, about 700cf.
Our windows are stand-still house 3612, three feet wide by a foot tall, dual-pane sliders.
We mounted our windows at eye-level while standing inside... about eight feet above pavement.
.
Nearly two decades full-time live-aboard, we are considering a diesel forced-air furnace, retiring our ancient propane Wave 3 catalytic heater.
.
Our problem:
Our AGM bank is equally ancient, so running a 12vdc-dependant appliance requires significant modifications to our foundation...
I found the diesel heaters to be a good upgrade over propane and more efficient.
Once upto temperature they really don't use much power at, but if your AGM's are near the end of their life I would upgrade to Lithium.
Still got plenty of like in mine, but definitely the route to go.
safe travels,
Steve
Useful thanks.
Hi Ian,
Glad it helped and thank you for your kind comments.
ATB, Steve
Great stuff. Can you set it manually to minimum settings heat instead of setting desired temperature?
Brilliant
Thank you Robert..👍
Just discovered your channel and have found what I've viewed thus far.
When you mounted the LCD/control panel, did you solder in additional wiring length or were you able to find a premade extension or at least the same quick disconnects to make your own? --I want to relocate my LCD and capable of soldering in longer wiring but would prefer finding extension cable w/ the quick disconnects on both ends. Thanks!
Hi Evan
I didn't add any extra cable to the LCD controller to burner unit as it wasn't needed in my case.
I think it was already about 5 foot plus long.
I've got Truma Gas Heating using non refillable bottles. The price of bottled gas has gone through the roof. I have no concerns over battery capacity but would you say these diesel heaters are cheaper to run in fuel costs than bottled gas? (2 × 6kg in my van)
Hi - thanks for an informative video and so well explained. I am currently having an issue with my chinese diesel heater which is installed in a work van, Citroen Relay. Heater is powered by 115 Ah halfords leisure battery ( battery code hlb681) that is over 3.5 years old. I have run recently run the heater for almost 24 hrs without starting the van without when it stopped working. I have since driven / idling the van for about 10-15 minutes to give some boost to the battery. I managed to start up the heater and it was running for 2-3 hours when it stopped again. I then took voltage reading at the battery and it read 11.49 volts. I am assuming the battery has dropped below the required voltage level to keep powering the heater sufficiently. Can anyone advise please?
Hi Emil,
You would get error code:01 which indicates low voltage.
Although 11.49 is a bit low I would of thought you'd still be ok..?
That said, it certainly sounds a like a battery issue.
ATB, Steve
Great vid very informative 👍
Given these use a fair bit of amp when shutting off what would happen if say the heater was left on and the battery run out of power ??
Thus the heater not been able to pull enough amps from the battery to initiate a shut down mode .
Or does it have a cut off to save it from doing that ?
Does it shut it self off when the power gets really low ? Or does it just keep going until
Either the battery dies or someone initiates the shut down sequence ??
If it just lets the battery die without shutting down correctly then that is likely to cause issues both to the heater and persons using it
Hi,
There is a low battery error code that will show on the controller to indicate the power source is low.
If the battery gets below a certain point it will then initiate a safe shutdown.
However, if there is a complete power loss, that could cause overheat damage to the unit and melt the wiring etc.
Super helpful! I was wondering if a 2nd battery is needed for just an overnight use, looks like it would not use even 10% of a battery during all night sleep. The heater I'm installing is a smaller, 2kw unit, so I guess it would use even less power.
What battery are you using?
@@Chadlechon I went with not having a 2nd battery and my 72 Ah starter battery of unknown age had no issues with starting and running it for couple of hours at full power. Later the car has restarted with no issues (5.7 small block)
@@Chadlechon As a backup I want to assemble a step down converter that would allow me to boost the car battery from a 18V power tool battery, so that even if the car has trouble starting in the morning I'd still have a means to revive it.
Love the vid! 🙏
What size is your diesel heater?
2kw 5kw 8kw?
He said 5kW in another reply
For those who wan't to run it of a power pack Bleu Jetty / Jackery and so on . The chance of success depends on the amp draw , some glow plugs are set to 75 watt and some to 95watt . Even 75 watt plus motor and pump will be at the max of the 12 volt socket . So not advised .
Very true there Paul...
Also don't plug into the the cigarette outlet on a portable power pack. I was cause overheating.....
If you have a 8-10 amp 12volt socket you will be fine. It’s max firing up the glow plug is about 10amps then throttles down to around 2 amps.
hi just one question about glow plug starting ..whats the max Amps its taking because these days eco flow river max 2 provide 10 A 12.6V that is 126 W max dc output but I have seen many videos which shows we are getting E2 error when ever they connect diesel heater with eco flow dc output
Brilliant and good data !v Lower power consumption than I guessed. I'm curious to know what the overall efficiency is for the diesel heater with regards burning the diesel ?
Hi,
Yes. they are pretty efficient little units eh 👍
If you want to know exact fuel burn rate and see the efficiency, I have a full video on the here:
ua-cam.com/video/z8SkKAlOAxU/v-deo.html
ATB, Steve
Please can you add the pumping rates for these phases.
Presume the pump is the standard 0.022ml/stroke?
It would be useful, in particular, to know the minimum flow rate for your machine, hence an idea of the heating power output.
Apart from that a good, clear video.
Thanks.
Hi Richard,
Thank you.
I wasn't really concentrating on fuel pump rates for this video, however I do have the pulse settings to: 2.2Hz min and 5.5Hz max.
But running on the temperature control setting (which I used) rather than Hz, I think the pump will tend to run on max or min during a heat up phase or min when in maintenance phase...?
As for heat output, running at max. fan and pump did give me 93 degrees C at the vent outlet, so I suppose I could use it to gauge the maximum power output.?
ATB, Steve
thanks for a video. am I missing something here please correct me if I am wrong. So board computer, fan and glow plug on a start-up is using lets say 7 amps for 5 minutes. then it keeps heating space at lets say 2 to 3 amps for an hour. then it goes through a finish cycle to burn glow plug clean i assume etc for another 5 minutes. so why is it then that you say its avarage amps per hour is 0.5?
Hi Marius,
Not to certain where I say those figures? So probably better to refer back to my tests.
If you have a look a the video from this point ua-cam.com/video/puvd9Z8zJFY/v-deo.html you'll be ale to see all the figures and working out 👍
ATB, Steve
Thats not alot at all im impressed, mine gets delivered tomorrow its for my transit connect to defrost in the winter etc, also i was concerned about using the engine battery for a morning warm up, and wake up to a dead battery. But i think i will be ok 👍🏻
They are quite power efficient Mathew.
Most lorries use them too.
ATB, Steve
@@TheWrinklyNomads thanks the reply, arrived and fitted last week, works a dream, the jubilee clips are crap though 😂
CAn I ask a question my friend please. I want to set one of these units up with a 12v 7amp battery which will be permanently connected to a 12v 6amp smart charger. I know the glow plug cycle draws around 10 amp, but only for a very short period which the 7amp battery should be able to cope with. The 7amp battery is not ideal, but do you think with the combination of the permanent smart charger I will be ok?
Many thanks in advance.
Hi Robert,
I think this setup won't really work.
It will struggle on start-up phase, which uses more Amps, and then possibly just throw up an error 01 (power fail) error 03 (ignition fail) or error code 06 (motor fail)
But, having said that, its still worth a try ...!
ATB, Steve
Ok, so my idea of connecting a 12v diesel heater with a 12v fuse block thats also connected to lights, plugged to a 12v car plug into power station will work.
Needed to know how many amps of power a diesel heater used before I decided to go with my idea, not sure if anyone else tried what I'm gonna do but I doubt it hasn't been thought of lmao
Good video thanks.
Hi! I hope you'll oblige me a quick question - what number of amps does the 12 volt battery need to be to run this heater? Thanks, Sam :)
Hi Sam,
Depends on how long you want to run it for..
But if you run the video again, have a look right at the end, you will see the breakdown of power (Ah) used over a 24hr period.
In my test it used 13.5Ah of battery power.
Hope this helps,
Steve
Thanks for your video, but I'm easily confused. I've ordered an 8khw diesel heater for my garage and wondering what I should use to power it. Car battery/Leasure Battery or mains power adaptor? Thanks
So long as the power source can deliver a constant supply you will be ok.
The Amps need to be over 10 to cope with start up power.
Great video, so 6.5amp hours is what it would take out of the battery, in recharge words, 6 hrs back on the charger to bring the battery to 100%? Or am I calculating that wrong? How do you convert 6.5 amps from a battery to volts from a battery?
Hi Chris
Doesn’t quite work like that, but long as you can put back the 6.5amps used you should be fine.
This will all depend on you charge amount any charge time.
You will find it varies considerably on what battery and recharge system you have.
ATB, Steve
This seemed to be a very helpful video, but then it seemed that the information you give have few similarities with data that I get from my heater. Maybe because of misunderstandings on my part. What does not seem to correlate at all with my heater is the ”5.9 watt”. When running on the lowest setting and not being in start up mode, my heater uses 19 watts. When starting, for a short period of time it uses more than 100 watts.
Hi,
I think you have slightly got your electrical units mixed up.... easily done!
Your readings are in Watts, I have measured in Amps.
Your running usage of 19 Watts is the equivalent to 1.5 Amps and the other reading of 100 Watts is still only 8.3 Amps.
These are about the same as the readings in my tests.
So all ok 👍
Hello… Great video… I am planning on fitting one of these heater’s in my workshop using a transformer from 240 to 12v instead of. Battery do I need to place a inline fuse from the transformer to the unit. What size fuse would I use thanks Steve
Hi Steve
I would add an inline 10Amp fuse for extra protection. 👍
They come with a 15 amp fuse and your transformer has to be 15 amp or more
Hi, I want to remove the old gas heater in my motorhome. It doesn't work, so I'm having a diesel heater fitted. Do you have a tutorial for when you removed yours (if you did that is). I'd like to use all of that area for storage now. Love your videos, thanks 😁
Hi
Unfortunately I don’t have a video on that.
It was pretty straight forward though.
A diesel heater is a much better choice.
ATB, Steve
Great video! Would you say it would be fine to run off a normal starter battery (90-100ah) for say a day van scenario, short weekend trips ran for 4-6hrs max in one night but to start car in morning to charge it back up?
Yes definitely enough power there.
@@p8nty have a look at my video on how to calculate exact fuel consumption.
You can accurately see the amount you would use:
ua-cam.com/video/z8SkKAlOAxU/v-deo.html
Question about the thermostat - if you set to 21c, the heater goes to full power, reaches room temperature of 21c, then throttles down to its lowest setting. I assume when the room temperature drops, the heater will throttle back up to full power and go through the same process. Do you set the low temperature for the heater to ramp back to full power? Does the heater thermostat setting work independently from the heater level setting (1 to 5), if you set to level 3 does the heater continue to run at that level till you shut it down.
Can the heater be mounted vertically, with the hot air outlet on the top?
Hi
Yes, the thermostat setting works the same way a household one does. Set it to 21c and it'll throttle up and down to maintain that specific air temperature.
You can't set a low thermostat setting, it'll just ramp back up when it drops below the temp you have it set at.
If you set at level 3, it will stay there regardless of air temperature around it. It just ticks over at that level.
I believe there are some units that can be mounted vertically, but don't quote me as I'm not 100% sure.
Best to double heck with the manufacture's I suppose.
ATB, Steve
Hi what sort of solar panel do I need for keeping the leisure battery topped up...only using battery for the heater whilst camping...thanks for any advice
Any basic solar panel will work. I have the Renogy panel like these and they work ok;
amzn.to/3DXO9vm
Alternatively, I would go with a portable and foldable panel something like this on:
amzn.to/3UOTdJc
I use one to run a Jackery power pack and its very good.
Review here:
ua-cam.com/video/1lcQa7g4pmQ/v-deo.html
ATB, Steve
Just subscribed , great video very informative, one question though, can you use red diesel in these heaters?
Hi Alan,
Thank you and yes, red diesel is perfectly ok..
@@TheWrinklyNomads
How about kerosene and cooking oil?
I started my heater up connected to a computer power supply rated for 12V at 11 amps, it died in the first 30 seconds of run time. I'll be getting a motorcycle battery when I can get to the store.
Hi Dave
Yes, definitely a bit of an underpowered supply there…!!
@@TheWrinklyNomads I'm curious why in your video, the amps never even got above 8 amps, how come the 11 amp power supply he mentioned, wasn't sufficient enough?.. 🤔 Thanks 👍
Im curretly looking at one of these heaters for a shed and greenhouse. The shed has a small 30w solar panel if the total power used is 13.5 ah in 24hrs would a 30w panal be good enough to replenish the charge.
Theory : 30W @ 12V = 2.5A, assuming you have a MPPT solar controller and full perpendicular sunshine. You will need this condition during at least (13.5/2.5) = 5.4 hours.
Real life : Most low power solar panel are using low cost PWM solar controller. That means you will be able to get about 70% of the specified panel output (1.75A max). Then, your solar panel is not perpendicular with the sun most of the time. You can probably figure about 1A average out of your panel during the sunshine hours. Finally, Where there is cold, there is normally less sunshine hours. Realistically, your 30w panel will give you about 5Ah to 10Ah of charge on good days. Unfortunately, you will need to upgrade your system to supply one of these diesel heater. Good luck with your installation!
only when you leave it OFF.
This may be addressed elsewhere in the comments. Just bought my first diesel heater. Honestly should’ve maybe researched more. I noticed your control is way more advanced and has many more functions than mine.
What brand/model of heater is this?
Thsnks
It’s only a generic diesel heater from EBay.
Nothing too special really.
You can get those controllers separately on eBay as well.
May I please ask I have two 110a agm batteries in parallel so all up 110ah usable power , may I ask would this be ok to run the unit for a few hours each day in a camper
Yes, your battery setup will be fine.
It's startup and shutdown that use the most power for a relatively short time.
But during the heat cycle it uses minimal power.
So certainly for a few hours will be fine 👍
ATB, Steve
Hi it looks like you have changed your system a lot since I last saw it, I had watched you change twice but this looks much neater. Can I ask? It look like now you have the back of your heater for air to be outside your van is that right? Because it appears to be against the wall. I have not done any technical tests like you have but this is what I get. I have the same size van as yours I think ( Auto Trail Scout ) a new fully charged batter with nothing to keep it charging while running lasts me 7 days before there is a E 01 warning light meaning not enough power in the battery, for other who don’t know what that means, I know you do. I work away 5 nights a week, my heater is only for my on suite bed room. I have it on power 2 for 30 mins every morning from Weds to Sunday. And 3 hours a night from Weds to Saturday as I go home Sunday night after work. To see how long my battery would last doing those time without charge I found my battery would last 7 days and I would need to charge it. But that is no good for the battery because it is totally flat. I recharge my battery every Sunday when I get home at 8pm till the next day and it works great for another week. Just giving you an idea of what I found with mine. Great video as always I wish I was as handy as you your set up looks so neat compared to mine. Every time I get a week off I am away somewhere so never get the chance to do anything. Thanks for sharing Ray k uk YNWA.
Hi Ray,
I always work on the theory that: "if it works for you, then that's good enough..!"
And you certainly seem to have your system well thought out and running smoothly and I think 7 days is pretty good.
Yes, the burner is now re-positioned lower down with the air inlet drawing "fresh' air" in from the outside.
I have a video of that upgrade here:
ua-cam.com/video/HHJaPP2uLFA/v-deo.html
This seems to work well for me, although during the colder winter I have blanked off the outside and draw from the cabin.
Either way, like you, it works for me..
ATB, Steve
@@TheWrinklyNomads well thanks to my is working fine, but I still get E05 when it gets hot but I just take the fuse out leave it for 10 mins then lower the heat down, either way you can get to the temp you want slowly and no issue with E05, By the way I asked you about the Yamaha diesel plug on mine I had the ID 10T problem, i have tried to get the Yamaha tank installed but Thought the little pump was not strong enough to suck it through. Then I tried shortening the pipe thinking it was to long, nope not that then I remembered seeing your and you had the pump to bleed the fuel through so I changed the systemand put that on, nope so I thought I paid £11 for the pump mybe its the wrong one or no good. 3 nights ago ID 10T thought woke me up. maybe I have the pump pipe the wrong way round, so I looked to see if anything said what is the right direction and I saw a black arrow on a black pump I had not noticed before, so I redid it all and yes ID 10T error it works GREAT NOW so happy thanks to YOU. Ray K UK YNWA.
I'm terrible with electrical measurements. Most batteries are 12v output and measured in Wh. How do this data compare to that and how big of Wh battery would I need to run this for several nights?
Hi Kade,
The controller will probably show a low voltage error with just 12v, especially on start up as it it also discharges the most at that point.
By the way, battery output is measure in Amp Hours.
The start up and shut down procedure are where you get maximum draw, anything up to 10Amps.
At this part in the video I show Amps used for a 10hr period.
ua-cam.com/video/puvd9Z8zJFY/v-deo.html
But realistically, a minimum of a 12v 50Ah battery will do it 👍
ATB, Steve
Hello . Approximately, how many amperes does it consume in 10 hours, set to a power of 2 hz?
Hi Daniel,
I have only done the full test as shown in the video.
However, from my calculations it would use 6.5Ah in at 10 hour period.
But, in my case, this was to raise the temp up by 10 degs
Hope this helps,
ATB, Steve
What's the most amps (surge) at any one time? What size is you heater 2k, 5k, etc.?
I use a 10Amp fuse to protect the heater as my 5Kw heater peaks just below that.
I tried running a heater like this off a jackery 1000. But the high startup current draw overloads the 12v output from the thing. I might need 240v to 12v transformer capable of handling the startup current.
Yes, definitely, a powerpack will give a constant power for these type of heaters 👍
I got exactly the same problem on an Anker Solix C1000. The startup kicks in the overload protection. But there are plenty of UA-cam videos where people are running diesel heaters with the 12V Car outlet of power stations....
I've wondering can I use a standard 220V(AC)/12V(DC,
Can't see no reason why not to.
Just try it out. The controller will give you an error code if it can't do it anyway.👍
Just to second your other answers, yes, infact theres a youtube channel where a guy heats his shed with one using an 'LED lighting' transformer off ebay, think its a 250w one but i see no issues with 300 or 400w models. I use a 400w one as a fast charger for my old lead acids
What happens if you start the rv and the voltage goes up to 14.1v to 14.9v while charging from battery ? and can i run it off a battery 100ah 12v while its on a battery maintainer ? in case of power outage
Depends on change methods. ie: B2B, split charger etc. But Even then if not within perimeters it will show error codes.
Yes it’s fine to run off separate battery.