Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 19:37:09 -0700
Reply-To: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Truma heater, like propex, for cheap but...
In-Reply-To: <D85612DE-AD18-4615-8CBD-10CA03B0B374@shaw.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
There are plenty mornings while camping that I wake up in my Westy and
see the thermometer in the teens (F), but I've always been able to warm
up with a combination of hot tea, a nice sweater, and my Mr. Heater Buddy.
I'm sure that having a nice furnace to blow hot air into the cabin would
be swell, and the price of this unit is attractive.
But the 24V thing is a dealbreaker for me. I have two 6-volt golf cart
batteries under the bench seat, giving me something like 100 amp-hours
at 12 volts. I am not going to put in another 12V battery (or two more
6V batteries) to bump me up to 24V.
Plus there's the charging. The alternator in the van is set for 12V
batteries. As is my solar rig, and my at-home charger.
Charging a 24-volt setup can be done, but it would require some
switching to put the supplemental (furnace) battery in parallel with the
other batteries so a 12V charging source could do it.
So -- put a couple 12V batteries in series (stacked) to operate the
furnace; then put them in parallel (side by side) for charging.
Unless the blower motor in the furnace can be swapped out for a 12V
motor, and the circuit board can be made to be happy with the lower
voltage, and control units can be found that work at 12V.
--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.
On 07/21/2014 07:08 PM, Alistair Bell wrote:
> Man that's a good deal. I'd jump on it of they shipped to Canada. I kick myself for not grabbing an older truma from a vanagon in the scrapyard some years ago.
>
> Alistair
>
>
>
>> On Jul 21, 2014, at 3:46 PM, Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> Hey I picked up one of
>> these:
>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Truma-HEIZG-E24-24V-30-OBT-Propane-Heater-Kit-Bus-Boat-RV-/251564290213?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item3a926670a5&vxp=mtr
>>
>> or: http://goo.gl/BXLVQ4
>>
>> I offered $50 and it was accepted immediately. There are 2 left as of now.
>>
>> It does appear to be brand new stock in it's original box with
>> multilingual original manual. The biggest but is that it is 24V. So
>> you will need to do some electrical contortions to power the device
>> if you want to put it in your Vanagon. It states electric draw of
>> .4A on low and .7A on high. Also, there is no control device. The
>> manual shows 2 different basic controls and mentions a bunch of
>> others that can operate it. The circuit board has empty connectors
>> that they plug into. I need to find or figure out the pin outs for
>> these before I can test it. It seems to be capable of low and high
>> heat output and fan only. There is no exhaust pipe included. So if
>> any of you are up to a challenge this might be a good opportunity.
>> Edward
