Page 1 of 1

Electrical Question

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:58 pm
by Oldfast
Ok. Once again, I find myself in an all too familiar predicament....
I know what I WANT to do, but have no idea HOW to do it safely.

Key word here is 'safely'. And I know some of you have electrical backgrounds.

I'd like to make THIS tiny portable heater truly portable by running it off a battery.
It's only 4X6 inches and runs at 200 watts. Most heaters like this run at 1000-1500 watts.

I dunno if it'll make any difference in your suggestions... but according to a utube vid I seen,
the watts actually spike to nearly 300 during initial startup, then level off to a consistent 208.

Also, this setup will never be left unattended, and run times will normally be an hour or less.

As always, thanks so much for any help guys.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 9:24 pm
by jacobbiljo
It would probably be way easier to look at car warming heaters that are already designed for 12 volts then trying to deal with a heater designed to run at 120V.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 10:05 pm
by spuds
Not sure what your doing there but this will do it.
https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Power-Inve ... 89%3AAukey

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 1:17 am
by Anarchy_won
:agree:

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 6:41 am
by jacobbiljo
You have to watch out though, I've seen a lot of unscrupulous vendors list the nameplate rating as its surge capacity and it can only do half of that load continuously. This might work out to 150 watts on a crappy 300 watt inverter, less then the 200 watts continuous your heater will draw.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 7:01 pm
by mastersmith
I also am a little unsure what "portable" means. I have a power pack (for jumping cars) that I run a key machine from. It also has a built-in inverter, and can power 120V devices. It is a bit bulky though they now make very compact versions. This may be worth looking into.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:15 pm
by Oldfast
Great! At least I have some direction now anyway. Thanks guys!
And for the heads up... I had no idea I would have to be a bit cautious when buying one.

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm not sure I fully understand how it works.
After fully charging this thing up, it then becomes a portable battery?
ie. I can now take it wherever & use it as THE power source for my heater?
Or, does it have to be plugged into my car, then the heater plugged into it?

Sorry, lol, I'm confused. I've never used anything like this.
All the reading and vids I found on this never showed or
mentioned someone taking it out to power something.
They all were using it WHILE it was plugged in.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 10:27 pm
by Doogs
The inverter would work but you'd need a decent one at a hefty price. You also would have to haul the heater the battery and the inverter so not exactly portable.

The simple solution would be to buy a dedicated 12 vdc heater. a heavy cycle 700+ cranking amp battery (marine battery like for trolling motors are best) would be recommended.

Cheapest but a bit of work and research would be to build your own (12 vdc to 120 vac) bridge rectifier. you'd need to spec out the components to ensure safe working capacity. it's not electronics so it can be pretty dirty (unfiltered) A good rule of thumb is 150% to 300% higher than your peak load so something in the range of 500 to 1000 watts depending on if you have a high startup load such as a fan motor in the heater. I'd dig up a schematic for you but I'm at the house and my bandwidth sucks. I'll be in town tomorrow so I could probably do it then. If you have the time search for schematics in the ranges I spec'ed for you. Going with higher wattage ratings won't hurt.

That said your run times will be limited depending on your battery and area to be heated.

If you could specify the purpose I could probably come up with a more cost effective method for heat.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 10:51 pm
by Jaakko Fagerlund
Just a side note, but any crappy inverter would work, it doesn't matter what the efficiency is - it all turns to heat anyway, so you would just have two heaters ;)

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 7:33 pm
by Oldfast
Jaakko Fagerlund wrote:Just a side note, but any crappy inverter would work, it doesn't matter what the efficiency is - it all turns to heat anyway, so you would just have two heaters ;)
:rofl: True

Doogs wrote:...You also would have to haul the heater the battery and the inverter so not exactly portable.

Got it. So I WAS confused. I was looking at this inverter as if it were a battery in and of itself.

You've all been really helpful. I now have a great deal to mull over. Before I hadn't a clue!

So here's what I'm gonna do - I'm gonna plug the fuckin' thing in with an extension cord. lol
Nah, really though this is the smart move. This little bugger arrived in the mail today. I might
as well give it awhile to see if I like it before I go any further. I could end up spending time &
money creating a portable power source designed specifically for the specs of this heater,
only to find out it's not gonna do the job and I need to look for something different.

Doogs... it's for working on safes in a shed or garage during the winter.
I'm finding I have a small window of around 20-30 mins before I can't feel my fingers.
So I need to do one of two things. A) get faster at openings safes, lol. Or B) get heat!

Thanks so much for everything so far guys!
And while I try this one out for a bit, feel free
to suggest other heaters I might want to try.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 8:30 pm
by spuds
get this it will send you out of shed its so hot lol http://www.target.com/p/dyna-glo-30k-lp ... lsrc=aw.ds

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 12:42 am
by WestCoastPicks
I would recommend for ease of use, price and safety; a "little buddy" or some other small catalytic heater.
They are under $100, they run on propane, are safe to use indoors (cause they catalyze, have tip shut off and low oxygen shut off), are small and easy to use, and will run 5 - 6 hours off of a 1lb propane bottle ($2 - $3). I have one and sometimes use it to heat my 21 foot RV while I'm working on it. It takes about 15 - 20 mins to heat up the entire RV. Might be worth looking at.

Oldfast wrote:Ok. Once again, I find myself in an all too familiar predicament....
I know what I WANT to do, but have no idea HOW to do it safely.

Key word here is 'safely'. And I know some of you have electrical backgrounds.

I'd like to make THIS tiny portable heater truly portable by running it off a battery.
It's only 4X6 inches and runs at 200 watts. Most heaters like this run at 1000-1500 watts.

I dunno if it'll make any difference in your suggestions... but according to a utube vid I seen,
the watts actually spike to nearly 300 during initial startup, then level off to a consistent 208.

Also, this setup will never be left unattended, and run times will normally be an hour or less.

As always, thanks so much for any help guys.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 6:54 pm
by Oldfast
WestCoastPicks... thank you.

Yeah, I took a real close look at those when I was shopping around last week.
(They're in nearly every store right now). I was looking at the smaller of the two
versions; THIS. Is this the one you have? Or the bigger square one?

It's on my 'possible' list. I have no doubt it would produce enough heat.
My concern is how hot the rim gets. And how long does it take to cool?
I can't just shut it down and immediately throw it in the trunk of the car.

Nevertheless, this may be the way to go.

Re: Electrical Question

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:10 pm
by metalworm
i use catalytic heater in my huntin shed, it works perfekt, you can aim the heat
and its nice to have your hands hot
they take a few minuts to cool down

but if you have power from the grid , you can use a Infrared heating bulb or any high powr bulb
in worst case you have to work whit sunglasses on ;-)