Cheap heat

D

Dene

New member
It worked. :)

The last month, I've had a 1500w inverter installed, juiced with two golf carts and one ordinary deep cycle battery, for the purpose of running a laptop, microwave, and 400/800w quartz infared heater. Took it on a nice run today and it worked beautifully. Cabin was 49 degrees when I started. 10 miles later, a balmy 60 degrees, using the 800 watt setting. All batteries were being charged by the alternator...roughly 12.6v according to the Walmart gizmo. After arriving at my desired temp., I put it on the 400 watt setting to maintain the temperature.

This is a nice alternative to red dot heat, which only works when the engine is on. Also, it's a dry heat in contrast to the propane heat we used prior.

This is not a good option if anchored or docked without shorepower. In those circumstances, we'll use the propane heater (with cracked windows) while awake or the 12v electric blanket while sleeping. In the morning, we can warm the cabin quickly by starting the engine, running the quartz heater, or run the propane heater, or both.

For the first time, we can use our 22 footer in all NW weather conditions and be comfortable. No more Honda genny to haul around and cover when raining.

-Greg
 
So did you replace the golf cart batteries? I just went and reviewed the other thread re: the inverter issues. Given your last post there, I suspect the problem is not with a voltage drop across the wires but rather a voltage drop internal to the batteries (e.g. high internal resistance of the batteries). Also, in that thread you indicated the wires were 22mm in diameter. I assume that this is a measurement of the outside diameter and not the conductor diameter (AWG gauges relate to the conductor diameter). Assuming the conductor is 1/2 the diameter of the outside, you would still have 00gauge wire which is plenty. My guess is that you actually have something between 0 and 4 AWG and that the insulation is pretty thick. Regardless, even with 4AWG, a 14' run (28' round trip), would only give about 0.007 ohm of resistance. With 54amps of current flowing through this, you would get about 0.4V drop (not the 1.4V that you saw previously). Adding in the group 27 battery in parallel and not seeing a big voltage drop also indicates that the likely problem was the golf cart batteries.

Unless the reconditioning methods mentioned by Bob reduced the internal resistance of the golf cart batteries, running them in parallel with the group 27 most like results in most of the current coming from the group 27 battery. BTW - you might find this table of wire gauge sizes and resistance/1000ft handy. It's what I used to make estimates of the voltage drop across your 14' run.
 
rogerbum":vxww1tw0 said:
So did you replace the golf cart batteries? I just went and reviewed the other thread re: the inverter issues. Given your last post there, I suspect the problem is not with a voltage drop across the wires but rather a voltage drop internal to the batteries (e.g. high internal resistance of the batteries). Also, in that thread you indicated the wires were 22mm in diameter. I assume that this is a measurement of the outside diameter and not the conductor diameter (AWG gauges relate to the conductor diameter). Assuming the conductor is 1/2 the diameter of the outside, you would still have 00gauge wire which is plenty. My guess is that you actually have something between 0 and 4 AWG and that the insulation is pretty thick. Regardless, even with 4AWG, a 14' run (28' round trip), would only give about 0.007 ohm of resistance. With 54amps of current flowing through this, you would get about 0.4V drop (not the 1.4V that you saw previously). Adding in the group 27 battery in parallel and not seeing a big voltage drop also indicates that the likely problem was the golf cart batteries.

Unless the reconditioning methods mentioned by Bob reduced the internal resistance of the golf cart batteries, running them in parallel with the group 27 most like results in most of the current coming from the group 27 battery. BTW - you might find this table of wire gauge sizes and resistance/1000ft handy. It's what I used to make estimates of the voltage drop across your 14' run.
Click to expand...

I found that I didn't need to replace them...yet. As they've been discharged and charged, the capacity has seemed increase. Also adding the group 27 battery to the bank has helped too. I did check all wires and nothing gets warm, even when running the heat at 800 watts or microwave.

-Greg
 
Roger: Great site....and Thanks I guess... My Christmas list of gizmos just got larger. One of those PST-PR11 clamp on mulitimeter "TOOLS" looks awesome... Going to cruise around a bit on the pricing.

Great table and plug-n-play data chart too.

Thanks!!

Byrdman
 
I've seen this done on chaparral boats, were they use 3 series 31 batteries with an inverter and run a A/C unit but offcourse they are using an I/O configuration with a bigger Balmer alternator .I've only seen this on one boat at a Dealer meeting .
 
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