Use a battery and Inverter to run block heater?
Fred11
your small truck's block heater into it? Would this work?
For maybe a 3.0L engine?
Would one of those power packs (batter boosters) with the inverter built on
work too??????
Blair Baucom
"Fred11" <fatba...@canada.com> wrote in message
news:8YCZ9.2076$nD1.5...@news20.bellglobal.com...
lugnut
Probably not long. A typical block heater will draw 1,000
watts or so. The lowest I've seen draws about 750 watts.
IIRC and not too terribly tired, a load of 750 watts at 115
volts would need at least 62.5 amps supply from a nominal 12
volt supply and that doesn't consider any losses in the
system.
walt woytowich
lugnut;
The idea isn't as crazy as it sounds; provided you have a warm fully
charged full-sized battery to supply the heat.
Forget using an inverter, forget using a frost plug block heater(for
a 3L engine it would be between 450 and 600watts nominal); they're
both a bit inefficient. During the development of my pumping (circulates
heated coolant at up to 4L/min) in-line heater I found that at -10F
the temperature of the engine (2.8L Chev)rose 20 degrees f in 1/2 hr.
with an input of 600 watts. This is only 300 watt/hours,well within
the capacity of a good battery.
To prove my point I'll build a 12 volt version of my in-line heater.
The main problem with the inverter-block heater approach is that a
cold battery is unlikely to start the car after warming the engine,of
course this also applies if one of my heaters is used.
Walt Chalk River ON
Fred11
charged and dedicate it to the block heater.... then the truck already has
its own battery that easily will start the vehicle as long as the block
heater warmed things up a bit...
You see last weekend up north we hit minus 35 Celsius at night and the daily
high was -17 Celsius... so my new truck battery turned the motor over easy
with 850 cca at -18 Celsius.... but the rest of the engine was so cold that
I just couldn't get it to go (until a break and an hour later)...
If I had a battery which I could charge up in the cottage then on the
morning I decide to go I simply take it out to the truck and hook it up...
My truck came with a built in block heater... not sure of the watts but it
is a 97 3.0 version... Obviously I can only use an inverter with that type
of plug.. so I don't want to mess around hooking up another one..
What do you think? This is ingenious...
btw, the reason I need this portability is because there are no electrical
outlets where I have to park in winter, and the cottage is a 10 min walk...
"walt woytowich" <walt.wo...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
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walt woytowich
> Yes that's what I'm thinking... I use a separate battery which is fully
> charged and dedicate it to the block heater.... then the truck already has
> its own battery that easily will start the vehicle as long as the block
>
> You see last weekend up north we hit minus 35 Celsius at night and the daily
> high was -17 Celsius... so my new truck battery turned the motor over easy
> with 850 cca at -18 Celsius.... but the rest of the engine was so cold that
> I just couldn't get it to go (until a break and an hour later)...
>
> If I had a battery which I could charge up in the cottage then on the
> morning I decide to go I simply take it out to the truck and hook it up...
>
> My truck came with a built in block heater... not sure of the watts but it
> is a 97 3.0 version... Obviously I can only use an inverter with that type
> of plug.. so I don't want to mess around hooking up another one..
>
> What do you think? This is ingenious...
Fred;
The OEM block heater in my 3.8L ford is rated at 600 watts , I imagine
yours would be similar. You'll need a 700 watt inverter,the next
size smaller at Can. Tire is 400 and wouldn't do the job.
After more thought about a 12 volt in-line engine heater; it would
work but wouldn't be practical because of the need for heavy wiring
and safety devices ie- fuse, thermostat and thermal fuse.
Bear in mind the fact that a block heater is less efficient than a
pumping in-line heater and heats the engine unevenly.
If you need to replace your block heater let me know, I usually have
some inline heaers on hand.
I wouldn't waste my money on a small battery pack, I don't think they
can supply the amperage you need- over 50 amps for more than 1 hour.If
this works let us all know!
'good luck. Walt Chalk River ON
Fred11
think it could run the block heater for?
"walt woytowich" <walt.wo...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
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Keith Stelter
With the engine cold the 600 to 700 watt block heater will take 4 or 5 hours
to actually warm up the motor enough to do any good. The battery would have
to be as big as the bed of the truck to have enough power to run an inverter
at that wattage for more than an hour.
How about a remote starter with a built in "auto warm " feature. I have
installed several of them and every one that I have seen has a setting to
start the vehicle automatically at pre-determined intervals when the
temperature is cold.
You can buy these remote starters for under $50.00 (US) if you want to
install it yourself, or about $100.00 (US) installed.
I put one on my 1999 Ford Diesel for the same reasons that you speak of. I
often have to leave the truck parked away from an electrical source
overnight. The truck starts and runs for 15 minutes every hour, but you
could adjust the settings as needed.
When the vehicle is running the doors are still locked with the steering
wheel locked in position, and if anyone gets in and touches any of the
controls (Brakes, lights, etc) the vehicle dies immediately and won't
restart without the key
Just a thought.
Keith
"walt woytowich" <walt.wo...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
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Fred11
leaving it in gear too.... hmmm... never heard of one of these devices...
do you have any links to them?
"Keith Stelter" <ste...@qtm.net> wrote in message
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Keith Stelter
http://www.bulldogsecurity.com/site.asp
Keith
"Fred11" <fatba...@canada.com> wrote in message
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Captain Dondo
> With the 700 watt inverter on a full 650cca battery, how long would you
> think it could run the block heater for?
>
If you use "house" batteries and not starting batteries (designed to
provide steady current over time rather than high draw over short time)
you are looking at:
700 watts is about 70 amps of draw at 12 VDC
Inverters are about 80% efficient, so you need about 90 amps
At that discharge rate, house batteries provide less than half their rated
capacity, so if you use the Trojan 105 (most common house battery around,
has a rating of something like 100 amp-hours), you will need 8 twelve volt
batteries, or 16 Trojan 105s, as they are 6 volt batteries.
That's 1600 # of batteries. You'd certainly get warm lugging them to the
truck in the morning. :-)
I like the remote starter idea.
walt woytowich
Allow me to supply some facts regarding engine preheating.
My new in-line engine heater uses an axial-flow pump to circulate the
warmed coolant. This results in rapid and even distribution of heat
with a very low rate of loss due to radiation.
Example.- Ford 4.6L engine with my 600W @120v heater. Voltage at
heater 111 v, actual current 4.8 A = 533watts. Ambient tenp.-10F.
Temperature(engine) was monitored by a thermistor stuck to the right
front
corner of the engine.
After 1/2 hour of heating the engine temperature had risen ~20 F and
after 1Hour ~30F . The higher the temp the greater the losses.
It's just possible that Fred11 might find that a 20 F temp rise
enough.
However, This temp rise wouldn't be equalled using a block heater
because it first has to bring the coolant close to the boiling point
to get it to move, and at that temp the losses are high.
The Stefan-Boltzman law says (approx) that losses increase as the 4th
power of the temperature difference in degrees K.
I forgot to mention that The coolant passes through the in-line heater
so quickly that the temperature rises only ~4 F per pass.
motormouth Chalk River ON
Captain Dondo
>
> Allow me to supply some facts regarding engine preheating.
> My new in-line engine heater uses an axial-flow pump to circulate the
> warmed coolant. This results in rapid and even distribution of heat with a
> very low rate of loss due to radiation. Example.- Ford 4.6L engine with my
> 600W @120v heater. Voltage at heater 111 v, actual current 4.8 A =
> 533watts. Ambient tenp.-10F. Temperature(engine) was monitored by a
> thermistor stuck to the right front
> corner of the engine.
> After 1/2 hour of heating the engine temperature had risen ~20 F and after
> 1Hour ~30F . The higher the temp the greater the losses. It's just
> possible that Fred11 might find that a 20 F temp rise enough.
> However, This temp rise wouldn't be equalled using a block heater because
> it first has to bring the coolant close to the boiling point to get it to
> move, and at that temp the losses are high. The Stefan-Boltzman law says
> (approx) that losses increase as the 4th power of the temperature
> difference in degrees K. I forgot to mention that The coolant passes
> through the in-line heater so quickly that the temperature rises only ~4 F
> per pass.
> motormouth Chalk River ON
>
So.... got a web site for this heater?
-Dondo
Fred11
"Captain Dondo" <cap...@thebigsandbox.com> wrote in message
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