A useful video, clearly explained! I recently fitted a 5 Kw heater in my garage and initially ran it from an old, small capacity car battery, which isn’t in the best of health. I kept the battery topped up with a permanently connected car type “smart” charger. I then decided to buy a 30 Amp mains power supply and run it directly from that. I found one with a display which shows volts and amps. The output can be adjusted from 9 to 15V or switched to a steady 13.8V. I tend to use it at the 12.8V which is the maximum recommended in the heater manual and unlike running from a battery, irrespective of load this voltage is maintained. The current draw varies in exactly the same way as yours does. As you found, the highest load is as expected on start up but similarly high on shutdown. As I understand it, the heater must be allowed to run its pre-programmed shut down sequence so the fan blows at maximum to cool the heat exchanger right down. If this doesn’t happen, heat runs “backwards” towards the inlet end and can overheat the circuit board components.
I hadn't considered how the heat could cause thermal runaway and damage electronics that way. Hopefully an unlikely scenario, but certainly best to always allow proper shutdown. I often run the heater with the engine running and the alternator voltage sitting at 14.4V and it hasn't cause anything to go bang yet (on my particular model). Would expect a little headroom on max voltage. Recently build a diy LIFEpo4 battery at 80Ah to run it and that sits at about 13.4V.
@@DanSohan I’m just going along with the recommendations in the manual that came with my heater with regard to the correct shutdown procedure. I agree that the voltage tolerance should allow for the fact that most vehicle alternators are designed to charge the battery at about 14.5V.
I did the same for my workshop but you have to be careful because in the event of a power cut the heater won't go through the shutdown cycle which could damage the CPU. I would keep the battery connected for that reason.
@@joedunne6737 Actually, I’ve owned this house since 1988 and I can’t remember the last time there was a power cut here, fortunately they are very rare in this part of the world. Unfortunately, the instructions for the power supply I have specifically state that it’s unsuitable for connection to a battery because it provides a constant voltage (it would boil away the electrolyte). In any case, in the unlikely event of a power cut happening, a new ECU for these heaters only costs about £16 and probably take me about ten minutes to change. So, not really the end of the world.
Really appreciate the effort to produce this video. It's given clear details on the 5Kw diesel heater power consumption during test with the data being used to give best and worst case of battery use over 24hrs. It clearly indicates why some owners complain their battery bank is not lasting, especially if it's a few years old and it's cold.
what battery do you think is best for the 5k diesel heater? i currently have a 12v 200Ah battery but it’s bad and i have to replace it. it’s pretty expensive but if that’s what i will need for the heater then i guess i will get it 😭
@@jcardosa02 Do you have a means of charging the battery all the time or are you operating without a regular charging facility ? Also what sort of time period are you intending or having to run the heater between charging periods ?
From video I seen, the pump should be upright or 45 degree angle to keep air bubble stuck in the pump. Helps the pump. Thanks for the video, this is a huge help
Best angle for pump is about 35 degrees with the output end up (usually where the power connector is) as it needs to lubricate the pump and get rid of air bubbles.
Very useful, this makes me think when I install one I'll leave it on lowest Hz setting rather than temperature, to make sure on really cold days it doesn't ramp up trying to reach even a low target, but just stays on its lowest fuel/energy usage which should always be enough to keep a small van comfortable enough I imagine
If you're not running it full heat before shutting down you'll likely have excess carbon build up and premature problems. Run it full blast for 10 minutes before shutting down and clean it out
Thank you for this video, the internet is full of useless or incomplete info, means I can now make a reasonable informed choice of battery amperage. Very clear information!
Ok so you got a big battery good for you.... ;-p yeah i would imagine that you don't even run it all when you are sleeping. I have a T5 well insulated. With two in bed it around 0°c nice and warm. Only cold when you get from under the sheets.
Under password settings, you can set PF6 to 4 to slightly reduce the glow plug power during start and stop process. PF1 to 3 is for 40w glow plug that I've never seen as spare parts
Will reducing the power not increase likelihood of carbon build up. Although sounds very useful if your running on a smaller capacity battery or running low.
Good work! I installed a battery monitor in our RV because I had the same questions and concerns about how long we could dry camp on the existing batteries during an upcoming 16 day trip into the Rocky Mts (USA.) a bit of testing and math made me reasonably confident that what we had would work. And it did. Just to be clear - our (2 lead acid) batteries are good for up to three nights in a row. We were able to charge the batteries at least that often with either shore power or the Victron DC/DC charger I’ve installed on our tow vehicle. That’s another story though (spoiler - works Great.) The point is this - you need a good battery monitor - otherwise it’s like a car without a fuel gauge - else you never know how much you’re using or how much you have left. I used a Victron Smart shunt, but there are others that will work depending on the application. The Victron is great though.
hi may i ask what kind of battery do you have? i am trying to buy a battery to connect to my solar panels(2 100 watt) and get a diesel heater but not sure which battery i will need to buy 😭
The one I was using was a Halfords branded leisure battery. They are not the best I've had. The upgraded one is a LiPO4 type, but I had it imported from China and made it myself. I don't think you'll find them in stores for reasonable prices yet.
Interesting, thanks for that. It's also crucial to let the heater go through the shutdown mode for another reason. The CPU unit is close to the heater fins and will cook the components if you don't let the heater go through its shutdown cycle.
Absolutely right ! Many folks run the supply from a battery that is constantly connected to a mains fed 'intelligent' trickle charger to contend with power cuts.... no stranger to many who live 'out in the sticks' The fully charged battery will give a certain amount of continuity for the heating if the power goes off and I have been told that, as the battery gets emptied, the CPU will sense that the battery voltage is dropping and will initiate a proper shutdown procedure while there is still power available to do so. Can anyone confirm if this is the case please ??
Amazing breakdown on battery consumption. I can't wait to see the real world test. I would love to see what kind of fuel usage you get as well (I kinda know what my 5kw uses, but it's straight estimations).
Excellent information. That answers my question about the battery usage. I'm wondering about buying a power unit and possibly an inverter! Thank you for a great video.
Superb. Thanks for this. I've equated that my self contained unit in a peli case, with a 12ah lifepo4 running a 2kw heater will give me three 1hr heating sessions (one session at night before bed, for three nights - three initial starts, 45mins normal usage, and then three shutdown cycles. Should bring the van up to temp before we hunker down for the night - being well insulated the van should maintain a good heat over night with body heat of two people replenishing any that gets lost over night. If we want heat in the morning aswell we'll only get two nights and two mornings, and well have to reduce heating session to 35mins per session. I'm good with that!
Thanks man real world actual data thank you so much. This is really helpful as all the other video are like… yes the jackery can power the heater for some time 🙈
Best angle for pump is about 35 degrees with the output end up (usually where the power connector is) as it needs to lubricate the pump and get rid of air bubbles.
Fantastic video, thanks for doing this! I would estimate a mid point between 17°C and 35°C (26°C) would probably end up using roughly ~3 Ah using these numbers. Maybe even a bit less if the heater could reach maintenance mode, and good insulation
I've been working from the van over the last week. Finding running it in Hz mode is better, just ticking by at 1.6hz uses a constant current and battery is lasting better. May do a follow up if I have time...
Big thing with lead-acid is called the Pieukert Effect. Basically the more amps you draw, the less efficient the discharge gets. Run it hard and you might get as little as 30% of the available power. A tiny load on the other hand may get nearly all of it.
Thank you I've been trying to get a time frame for my battery I will have solar panels to help keep battery charged in day light so a 100 ah battery should work for my RV. We're did you get the amp meter?
It's all over Amazon/ebay, search for watt meter or power meter. I use them all the time in the van, charging ebikes, drones etc. I have 2 so that I can check on input/output simultaneously on buck/boost systems. Also works on solar panels (until it gets dark!) Creates a lot of certainty/confidence that you are not doing something ridiculous.
Hi. i was thinking of doing the same thing. occasionally i will run my fridge but since it’s cold i don’t think it will need to be on much. do u think this will work? i will have 200 watts of solar panel. will 100ah battery be ok?
Mine has been working fine. I don't have it on all the time but now that the temperature is dropping in low 30s I turn it on for about 3 hrs. and it never drops below 12.4
In both scenarios the square footage of the cabin space to be heated will be a factor. With everything being equal such as insulation, the number of windows, and so on, a smaller van will heat up faster than a large one so the heater would theoretically run for shorter periods. I'd like to see an experiment to see what the battery usage would be for different sized heaters to heat up the same amount of space. My guess would be that going up a size would save battery usage but result in more fuel consumption.
Man this is a good video. I love real world test better than oh it uses this much power figure it out yourself. I was surprised it used so little battery power. Looking to switch from propane heating and electric blanket. This uses less power than electric blanket at 3 ah.
I have seen these heaters recently...and seem of interest... Great video with nice clear explanation.. Maybe you could advise more on the heaters available..ie good ones and stay clear ones.. Only if can.. Thanks Simon in Spain
Yeah - I got a Ford Freda and it had a KA battery - it got down to -3 and at 12.4V the heater ran out at 3am. I replaced with Lifep04 and a DC_DC charger and now it runs all weekend at 17oc like it did before and I can get a full weekend out of the battery without charging it.
Thank you, very good video. Mine is giving off a funny smell, I can't tell if it's a mild diesel fume smell or if it's from new ducting I fitted last week. I think I'll invest in a carbon monoxide alarm like yours to know for sure
U can extract more heat if u put a heat exchanger on the exhaust,,because the exhaust runs about 300-450 degrees Fahrenheit , It will double the efficiency of the heater
When I install mine, I will be boxing in the exhaust and putting a heater core in there to heat my coolant in my van to use for block heat. Will use a vw coolant recirculation pump with an arduino pwm speed controller.
Thanks that is very useful, I on occasions run my Propex heater it's like the diesel heaters but runs on gas, that tends to pull my batteries down a bit too and I was wondering about swapping it for a diesel heater but it would probably be no better now I have seen your video.
if using it in the temp setpoint setting, the power usage will be highly dependent on ambient outside temp. startup burns a bit, about an AH, a bit on shutdown as well. max fan seems to draw about 4 amps, min settings seem to pull only 400-500ma
Does your controller have a glow plug icon? At ~7:00 when amps spike and glow plug engages during shutdown sequence, I didn't notice any indication on controller. The glow plug reëngages at shutdown to burn off residual fuel.
I'm about to install a Chinese diesel heater and the power side of it needs 12v , I purchased a desktop Power Supply that puts out 13.8 v . Would this power supply damage the heater ? Thanks
No. 13.8v should be fine. My 12v battery sits at 14.4v when fully charged. You might have issues with the PSU shutting it's self down tho. Desk top power supplies don't like sudden changes in load, and might think it's a short when the glow plug turns on.. might be fine. Let us know how it goes.
Hello Dan, thanks fot this great information. Maybee a noob question but you are not mentioning the Amount of Diesel it uses. is this 100% Heating on the Battery without any diesel consumption?
Very useful, thanks. I am playing with the thought of getting one for my boat, and consumption is obviously a factor. Did anyone tell you that you sound like Moss from the IT-Crowd? :D
Very interesting and complete video! I have a question: I'd like plug my 5kw diesel heater to my LIFEPO4 battery which has a car cigarette port at 12v 10A (max 120W). I see the heater at the startup goes higher than 10A only for 10-12 seconds (it reaches 10.72A in this video), so would it be possible to plug it into my battery? Regards.
Don't recommend that. If the fuse blows, you could cook your circuit board and/or damage the unit if it didn't shut down properly. Although it *might* work
Fantastic tutorial. I have a 5kw Chinese heater which I would like to operate from low (8-10°C) to high (25-30°C) so iam thinking that a 120ah Golf cart battery would be sufficient for operation?. Thanks for sharing your video with us.👍✌️
Rule of thumb with lead acid only drain 50%. Or you’ll kill the life span of the batteries. They aren’t meant to be drained to nothing. It will damage the walls in the battery and won’t hold full capacity. But a 12v 120ah battery will run that for 2 days at the least
It's all over Amazon/ebay, search for watt meter or power meter. I use them all the time in the van, charging ebikes, drones etc. I have 2 so that I can check on input/output simultaneously on buck/boost systems. Also works on solar panels (until it gets dark!) Creates a lot of certainty/confidence that you are not doing something ridiculous.
Hello mate, thank you for this video. How long does a small sized leisure battery last for? I'm not sure if it's the battery that's gone but the fuel has stopped pumping
My old 110Ah lead acid used to last about 24hours with outside temp below 5C.. less with TV and lights on. Since upgrading to 300Ah Lifepo4 battery it'll run best part of a week
@@DanSohan ok thank you, my battery has just rant out I think... It just started slowing down and stopped. Thank you, didn't realise it would go after 48 approx hours
How long is a bit of string? How long do you want it to work for. I have a 280Ah LiFePo4 pack now. Runs it for about 4 or so days without any charging. I also have far better insulation now which helps
Do you subject that Status alarm to cold temperatures? I paid 100 USD for a brand that purports to survive to -13C, which I need in the Rockies. Did I waste my money?
Yes ish, but you would need to be converting down to 12v DC using a suitable power supply and considering the efficacy losses of the power supply used.
I have the heater 10w in a toyota sienna minivan. I use 2 agm 750 car batteries from walmart with a 5 year warranty about $150 each. Longest I have run one battery is 2 nites 2 start ups 2 shutdowns 13hrs 1st nite 9 hrs 2nd nite. I run it low on 1.6 hz. . I stayed very warm only used 1/3 of a gallon. Mountain Biking and skiing. Thinking I can get 4 nites in Telluride out of these 2 agm walmart car batteries.
I got a feeling my battery is no good…I got a 130mah battery. When resting it’s at 12.6v when I put the heater on it goes to 11.3v. If my lights are on they start to flicker very slightly. Assuming my battery doesn’t have enough power to power them both? Thinking of adding an addition battery but dunno if my battery is okay, or should I just buy 2 new ones
That is a bit of a dip, suggesting the battery is a little weak.. however I have some high power 300Ah lithium battery and I still notice a slight pulsing in the light as the fuel pump pulses.
So seems like I'd be safe to say I could run the 2kw model in my 8 ft truck bed for an 6-10 HR overnight sleep on a 35ah battery with no problems right?
Bit late to the party here.... I've got a 100ah 20hr leasuire battery. I'm planning on running it for around 10 hours on a low setting. Will I get 2 days use out of the battery or will it need charging daily?
Shame you didn't measure everything while in Hz mode as temperature mode varies the motor and pump speed and thus the current used where as fixed Hz mode uses a universal fixed amount on all 5kw and 8kw heaters (and those 2kw heater that are actually 5kw ones!) dependent on the Hz rate set. Still, a good rough guide for startup and shutdown usage though...
You can find them on eBay, AliExpress, etc. Here is one on AliExpress: FT08 RC 150A High Precision Watt Meter and Power Analyzer w/ Backlight LCD electric analyzer www.aliexpress.com/item/32746253460.html But that is just one seller -- there are more.
My heater only have it on for 10 minutes then off for half hour. So battery should last long time. At night set timer to come on couple of times to take chill off.
can u pls tell me what battery u use for this heater? is it a 200 ah battery? and is this a 5k watt heater? idk much about this stuff just trying to hurry and get what i need before it’s like 9 degrees out (that’s the coldest it gets here )
At the time I was only running a 100Ah lead acid leisure battery, but it wasn't enough. I have since changed van, and now run a 280Ah battery, with 150W solar. This keeps it running for about 3 days for needing a top up from the engine. Problem with a much larger battery is it takes so much longer to charge back up. The solar is great in the summer, but it's started to struggle now the days draw in. I actually find a really good sleeping bag and a well insulated hot water bottle work really well.
@@DanSohan aww that’s nice. u currently have a 200ah battery but i think it’s bad now. it dies very fast with just my max fan so i think i have to buy a new one. i have 200watts of solar.
@@DanSohan i also just got a sleeping bag. i currently use a blow dryer to warm it up inside😂 there’s electric out lets here at my local walmart parking lot
@@jcardosa02 It generally not much below 5 to 10C in the winter here. But 1 night it got down to -10C and the battery gave up at 4 am in morning. Luckily the backup blankets did the job. Turned the engine on when it got to about 6:30am. The heaters do use more power to fight the freezing cold. If you have access to them, a power meter would help decide how much power your getting through. Something that does Amp hours or Watt hours. Then you could figure out if your battery is failing, or you just need more storage.
Trying to decide between one of these heaters or a 1000 running watt generator/850w space heater as a survival device in case my work truck breaks down in -30°c. It is diesel and has three batteries so as long as it's not a charging system related break down I could run it for a while. If I have no batteries it sounds like my little 24ah lifepo4 battery won't run it for long. Thinking the generator/space heater might be the more reliable option. (If it starts lol) 20L of gasoline would last a long time. Could easily be 12 hours before they notice I'm missing and find me. Lots of desolate roads with no comms here
Near us, everywhere is very populated, so I wouldn't run a generator as it would upset others. If I were many miles from civilization, I might run one. But to be honest, for survival, some of the modern sleeping bags have very good thermal properties and a hot water bottle would keep you alive if the stove would work. At -30C you might run into trouble with diesel and batteries!
@@DanSohan sometimes I go to places where I can drive 100km an not see another vehicle. I drive a tow truck (or recovery truck as I believe you guys call it) in a sparsely populated part of Canada. If I get sent out in the middle of the night nobody will notice I am missing till morning as my dispatcher immediately goes back to bed after waking me up to do a call. If I'm 3 hours away it could be a long time before anyone finds me. It's never happened yet but it worries me that it might. I actually have a 2.2kw little inverter generator but it is too big to keep in the cab and I doubt it would start well below -30 unless I heated the engine block with a propane torch. I'm trying to decide my best option for 12+ hours of emergency heat
I would love yo have a diesel heater instead of gas heater but the power and fuel consumption over 24 hours is just too much and its just because it never turns off. Plus no automatic control over temperature. It would just keep heating up even on a low setting.
So given these have like so little PPM, you'd actually be OK theoretically to put exhaust through the main cabin as long as you're not circulating the exhaust...
You know you need the car to start it recommended but once that thing's running in the fan goes low you should be able to run that for a day and a half off the battery 750 cranking amp hours
first thing on the manual when I unboxed my 5kw heater says it is unsuitable for constant use! I'm pretty sure these things aren't designed to be used for 23 hours consecutively, in a real life situation would one would be switching the heater on a couple of times in the day for 3 or 4 hours at a time, similar to what you'd have your central heating set to in a house. The other info was useful though thanks
Many people have said that it is actually more economical and better for your AC unit to run constantly especially for gas units because like these parking heaters, once the system gets past its startup the only thing that is running is the fuel pump which can handle a few million "ticks" before wear and tear and a fan that usually has over a 10k hour life depending on model.
No problem if it can provide enough amps for the glow plug and startup. I heard some like to use a small 12v and bench supply together. I think if the bench supply can do 10amps that should work.
Great test , u never mentioned volts though . Them heators cut off at 10.5v Without inishiateing the cooling shutdown process. This situation cookes the motherboard and the unit is scrap. A visual voltage display will avoid this situation. Simply start the van up then shut the.heator down untill u have sufficient power. ( when parked up ) cheers.
I have a question that has me stuck on my install?, if anyone could help it's so appreciated do I connect my diesel heater to the battery straight or do I hook it to my solar charge controller I noticed it has a fuse on it already I'm so confused and the instructions are useless
It's recommended to connect straight to the battery. The heater will automatically shut down if the battery gets too low. If we're not using the van I pull the fuse from its holder to prevent the display draining the battery.
@@DanSohan thank you soo soo much its got cold im in a rv. Lol. If I cud ask one more question can I leave the solar connected to the battery at the same time that the heater is attached to,? I hope I ask that in a way that makes sense. Lol thank you so much for the info u gave me, already
You don't want to have that pump running on a horizontal plane mate, the fuel naturally releases a tiny amount of air as it goes from high pressure to low and that air needs to escape from pump or you will damage it through lack of lubrication. It should be ideally vertical with outlet on top and definitely no less than 45 degrees .
In the real world usage of my heater some time b4 morning it shutdown and got real cold the battery was to low. Two batteries will work and a solar panel to charge one while you use the other but I'm interested in your real world use results plus I had a brand new 100ah lead acid battery now I'm concidering a 12v power converter to assist the power use
people measuring power in amp hours is like ordering a specific volume of drink but only specifying the height of the glass. ya most glasses are the same diameter but its annoying to have the think through unless you live in 12v lead acid world. guess that was where a lot more people were 4 years ago when this video was uploaded.
The heater unit works on 12V, so therefore relates to a 12v scenario. The meter also measures Wh, but this video was describing usage of Ah from a 12V source, for those that wanted to know. Really, if the battery is 100Ah, and 12v, that's 1200Wh, when the battery is at 50Ah remaining, the heater has consumed ~600Wh, not difficult to work out / estimate?
@@DanSohan I assumed most people would be using a lifepo4 battery which usually operates on 13.6v when full, and almost 15v when charging. doesnt got to 12v until its under 10% capacity depending on load and health. i usually charge lifepo4 batteries at around 14.8v which is nominally around 25% more wattage for the same amount of amp hours. 12v world is very confusing.
after my heater Starts up since im running it in Hz it settles down to the last setting i ran it on. so if my last setting in Hz was P3.1 the heater after it Starts up will Default back to that setting 3.1
That it will, but nearly all batteries will sag in voltage level with a 10amp load on it.. only time you'll see a level over 12.2v is if the engine is running or you have a few batteries in series.
I wired the live directly to the leisure battery with inline 20A fuse with the supplied cable and the ground using a ring connector terminal to the stud that the chair was bolted to.
I’ve wired the positive and negative straight to the leisure battery and the leisure battery is connect to the relay that’s connects to the starter battery and it kills both battery and the vehicle won’t start
@@bobbyholman9944 sounds like something is up. It should run for at least 15 to 20 hours if the battery is good. And if the split charge relay is not protecting the starter battery something is very wrong
Yes, but it would be a bad idea. If you flatten your starter battery you won’t be able to start your van! In principle, use your starter battery for starting only.
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It's amazing how when you publish any type of technical information ....guys with lab coats and degrees pop out of the woodwork. Simply amazing. 😀
A useful video, clearly explained! I recently fitted a 5 Kw heater in my garage and initially ran it from an old, small capacity car battery, which isn’t in the best of health. I kept the battery topped up with a permanently connected car type “smart” charger. I then decided to buy a 30 Amp mains power supply and run it directly from that. I found one with a display which shows volts and amps. The output can be adjusted from 9 to 15V or switched to a steady 13.8V. I tend to use it at the 12.8V which is the maximum recommended in the heater manual and unlike running from a battery, irrespective of load this voltage is maintained. The current draw varies in exactly the same way as yours does. As you found, the highest load is as expected on start up but similarly high on shutdown. As I understand it, the heater must be allowed to run its pre-programmed shut down sequence so the fan blows at maximum to cool the heat exchanger right down. If this doesn’t happen, heat runs “backwards” towards the inlet end and can overheat the circuit board components.
I hadn't considered how the heat could cause thermal runaway and damage electronics that way. Hopefully an unlikely scenario, but certainly best to always allow proper shutdown. I often run the heater with the engine running and the alternator voltage sitting at 14.4V and it hasn't cause anything to go bang yet (on my particular model). Would expect a little headroom on max voltage. Recently build a diy LIFEpo4 battery at 80Ah to run it and that sits at about 13.4V.
@@DanSohan I’m just going along with the recommendations in the manual that came with my heater with regard to the correct shutdown procedure. I agree that the voltage tolerance should allow for the fact that most vehicle alternators are designed to charge the battery at about 14.5V.
I did the same for my workshop but you have to be careful because in the event of a power cut the heater won't go through the shutdown cycle which could damage the CPU. I would keep the battery connected for that reason.
@@joedunne6737 Actually, I’ve owned this house since 1988 and I can’t remember the last time there was a power cut here, fortunately they are very rare in this part of the world. Unfortunately, the instructions for the power supply I have specifically state that it’s unsuitable for connection to a battery because it provides a constant voltage (it would boil away the electrolyte). In any case, in the unlikely event of a power cut happening, a new ECU for these heaters only costs about £16 and probably take me about ten minutes to change. So, not really the end of the world.
It's a bit boring and geek style video, but for those who know, like me, it's extremely useful. Thank you for your patience doing this.
Really appreciate the effort to produce this video. It's given clear details on the 5Kw diesel heater power consumption during test with the data being used to give best and worst case of battery use over 24hrs.
It clearly indicates why some owners complain their battery bank is not lasting, especially if it's a few years old and it's cold.
what battery do you think is best for the 5k diesel heater? i currently have a 12v 200Ah battery but it’s bad and i have to replace it. it’s pretty expensive but if that’s what i will need for the heater then i guess i will get it 😭
@@jcardosa02 Do you have a means of charging the battery all the time or are you operating without a regular charging facility ?
Also what sort of time period are you intending or having to run the heater between charging periods ?
@@stevew9957 i have 200 watts of solar panel so i’d use that and an isolater so that i can charge it with my van while i am driving !
@@stevew9957 i believe i will only need to run it for a little bit at night
AH this is perfect. Always wondered what the start and shut down times where. This has answered a lot of questions, thanks.
From video I seen, the pump should be upright or 45 degree angle to keep air bubble stuck in the pump. Helps the pump. Thanks for the video, this is a huge help
For air to escape from pump !!
Best angle for pump is about 35 degrees with the output end up (usually where the power connector is) as it needs to lubricate the pump and get rid of air bubbles.
Very useful, this makes me think when I install one I'll leave it on lowest Hz setting rather than temperature, to make sure on really cold days it doesn't ramp up trying to reach even a low target, but just stays on its lowest fuel/energy usage which should always be enough to keep a small van comfortable enough I imagine
Yea, it doesn't take much to feel comfortable. Luke warm water feels great when it's frosty outside!
If you're not running it full heat before shutting down you'll likely have excess carbon build up and premature problems. Run it full blast for 10 minutes before shutting down and clean it out
Thank you for this video, the internet is full of useless or incomplete info, means I can now make a reasonable informed choice of battery amperage. Very clear information!
Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
I have a 300Ah battery bank so I should be good for a few days :-D
Ok so you got a big battery good for you.... ;-p yeah i would imagine that you don't even run it all when you are sleeping. I have a T5 well insulated. With two in bed it around 0°c nice and warm. Only cold when you get from under the sheets.
Under password settings, you can set PF6 to 4 to slightly reduce the glow plug power during start and stop process.
PF1 to 3 is for 40w glow plug that I've never seen as spare parts
Will reducing the power not increase likelihood of carbon build up. Although sounds very useful if your running on a smaller capacity battery or running low.
Never seen pf6 or pf1 on the controller have you a photo of this ?.
Thank you!
Great overview ! ! and that there at the end was scary going down that hill! 21:10
Good work! I installed a battery monitor in our RV because I had the same questions and concerns about how long we could dry camp on the existing batteries during an upcoming 16 day trip into the Rocky Mts (USA.) a bit of testing and math made me reasonably confident that what we had would work. And it did.
Just to be clear - our (2 lead acid) batteries are good for up to three nights in a row. We were able to charge the batteries at least that often with either shore power or the Victron DC/DC charger I’ve installed on our tow vehicle. That’s another story though (spoiler - works Great.)
The point is this - you need a good battery monitor - otherwise it’s like a car without a fuel gauge - else you never know how much you’re using or how much you have left.
I used a Victron Smart shunt, but there are others that will work depending on the application. The Victron is great though.
hi may i ask what kind of battery do you have? i am trying to buy a battery to connect to my solar panels(2 100 watt) and get a diesel heater but not sure which battery i will need to buy 😭
The one I was using was a Halfords branded leisure battery. They are not the best I've had. The upgraded one is a LiPO4 type, but I had it imported from China and made it myself. I don't think you'll find them in stores for reasonable prices yet.
Excellent data collection! This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you so much!
17:00 it does - the display shows it again also - thanks for this video interesting to know what they use :)
Interesting, thanks for that. It's also crucial to let the heater go through the shutdown mode for another reason. The CPU unit is close to the heater fins and will cook the components if you don't let the heater go through its shutdown cycle.
Absolutely right ! Many folks run the supply from a battery that is constantly connected to a mains fed 'intelligent' trickle charger to contend with power cuts.... no stranger to many who live 'out in the sticks'
The fully charged battery will give a certain amount of continuity for the heating if the power goes off and I have been told that, as the battery gets emptied, the CPU will sense that the battery voltage is dropping and will initiate a proper shutdown procedure while there is still power available to do so. Can anyone confirm if this is the case please ??
Amazing breakdown on battery consumption. I can't wait to see the real world test. I would love to see what kind of fuel usage you get as well (I kinda know what my 5kw uses, but it's straight estimations).
It drinks about 5 litres in about 30 to 40 hours of constant run at the lowest settings.
this IS the real world test!
Excellent information. That answers my question about the battery usage. I'm wondering about buying a power unit and possibly an inverter! Thank you for a great video.
Superb. Thanks for this. I've equated that my self contained unit in a peli case, with a 12ah lifepo4 running a 2kw heater will give me three 1hr heating sessions (one session at night before bed, for three nights - three initial starts, 45mins normal usage, and then three shutdown cycles. Should bring the van up to temp before we hunker down for the night - being well insulated the van should maintain a good heat over night with body heat of two people replenishing any that gets lost over night. If we want heat in the morning aswell we'll only get two nights and two mornings, and well have to reduce heating session to 35mins per session. I'm good with that!
If you add a 100W panel to the system you might be able to keep that topped up
This was very informational, good job!
Thanks man real world actual data thank you so much.
This is really helpful as all the other video are like… yes the jackery can power the heater for some time 🙈
Best angle for pump is about 35 degrees with the output end up (usually where the power connector is) as it needs to lubricate the pump and get rid of air bubbles.
Fantastic video, thanks for doing this! I would estimate a mid point between 17°C and 35°C (26°C) would probably end up using roughly ~3 Ah using these numbers. Maybe even a bit less if the heater could reach maintenance mode, and good insulation
I've been working from the van over the last week. Finding running it in Hz mode is better, just ticking by at 1.6hz uses a constant current and battery is lasting better. May do a follow up if I have time...
Big thing with lead-acid is called the Pieukert Effect. Basically the more amps you draw, the less efficient the discharge gets. Run it hard and you might get as little as 30% of the available power. A tiny load on the other hand may get nearly all of it.
The label is calculated on a fixed load over 20h.
good video, it answered some questions i had after installing my new diesel heater, thanks.
Thank you I've been trying to get a time frame for my battery I will have solar panels to help keep battery charged in day light so a 100 ah battery should work for my RV. We're did you get the amp meter?
It's all over Amazon/ebay, search for watt meter or power meter. I use them all the time in the van, charging ebikes, drones etc. I have 2 so that I can check on input/output simultaneously on buck/boost systems. Also works on solar panels (until it gets dark!) Creates a lot of certainty/confidence that you are not doing something ridiculous.
Hi. i was thinking of doing the same thing. occasionally i will run my fridge but since it’s cold i don’t think it will need to be on much. do u think this will work? i will have 200 watts of solar panel. will 100ah battery be ok?
Mine has been working fine. I don't have it on all the time but now that the temperature is dropping in low 30s I turn it on for about 3 hrs. and it never drops below 12.4
Excellent video. Thanks for making this
In both scenarios the square footage of the cabin space to be heated will be a factor. With everything being equal such as insulation, the number of windows, and so on, a smaller van will heat up faster than a large one so the heater would theoretically run for shorter periods. I'd like to see an experiment to see what the battery usage would be for different sized heaters to heat up the same amount of space. My guess would be that going up a size would save battery usage but result in more fuel consumption.
Good well done test, cheers
Fantastic video 👍 im going to buy a battery tomorrow so now I know what i need. Cheers
Neat to measure voltage consumption, now read the total ah with a shunt, and get back with us.
AWESOME! Thank you! Helped a lot!
Man this is a good video. I love real world test better than oh it uses this much power figure it out yourself. I was surprised it used so little battery power. Looking to switch from propane heating and electric blanket. This uses less power than electric blanket at 3 ah.
I have seen these heaters recently...and seem of interest...
Great video with nice clear explanation..
Maybe you could advise more on the heaters available..ie good ones and stay clear ones..
Only if can..
Thanks
Simon in Spain
Yeah - I got a Ford Freda and it had a KA battery - it got down to -3 and at 12.4V the heater ran out at 3am. I replaced with Lifep04 and a DC_DC charger and now it runs all weekend at 17oc like it did before and I can get a full weekend out of the battery without charging it.
We really like our Lifepo4. Just spent 2 days away with heater running for over 48 hours, bearly noticed it on the battery capacity
This was really useful, thanks.
Thank you, very good video.
Mine is giving off a funny smell, I can't tell if it's a mild diesel fume smell or if it's from new ducting I fitted last week. I think I'll invest in a carbon monoxide alarm like yours to know for sure
U can extract more heat if u put a heat exchanger on the exhaust,,because the exhaust runs about 300-450 degrees Fahrenheit , It will double the efficiency of the heater
When I install mine, I will be boxing in the exhaust and putting a heater core in there to heat my coolant in my van to use for block heat. Will use a vw coolant recirculation pump with an arduino pwm speed controller.
What battery was this please
As I have a 135ah lead acid leisure battery will I be struggling or be ok
Thanks that is very useful, I on occasions run my Propex heater it's like the diesel heaters but runs on gas, that tends to pull my batteries down a bit too and I was wondering about swapping it for a diesel heater but it would probably be no better now I have seen your video.
Many thanks for this informative video 👍
Thank you. That info helps me with mine.
if using it in the temp setpoint setting, the power usage will be highly dependent on ambient outside temp. startup burns a bit, about an AH, a bit on shutdown as well.
max fan seems to draw about 4 amps, min settings seem to pull only 400-500ma
can you explain how the voltage of your battery went back up?
Very useful. Thank you.
Does your controller have a glow plug icon? At ~7:00 when amps spike and glow plug engages during shutdown sequence, I didn't notice any indication on controller. The glow plug reëngages at shutdown to burn off residual fuel.
Amazing video!
Brilliant. Thank you 👋
If you are going to the mountains are you aware of the alpine setting which slows the pump for higher altitudes
I'm about to install a Chinese diesel heater and the power side of it needs 12v , I purchased a desktop Power Supply that puts out 13.8 v . Would this power supply damage the heater ? Thanks
No. 13.8v should be fine. My 12v battery sits at 14.4v when fully charged. You might have issues with the PSU shutting it's self down tho. Desk top power supplies don't like sudden changes in load, and might think it's a short when the glow plug turns on.. might be fine. Let us know how it goes.
@Dan Sohan thanks for your reply , yes I will let you know how I get on when I install it 😀
Hello Dan, thanks fot this great information. Maybee a noob question but you are not mentioning the Amount of Diesel it uses. is this 100% Heating on the Battery without any diesel consumption?
Great video, very useful 👍
Very useful, thanks. I am playing with the thought of getting one for my boat, and consumption is obviously a factor.
Did anyone tell you that you sound like Moss from the IT-Crowd? :D
"It's just too real, Roy."
Very interesting and complete video!
I have a question: I'd like plug my 5kw diesel heater to my LIFEPO4 battery which has a car cigarette port at 12v 10A (max 120W). I see the heater at the startup goes higher than 10A only for 10-12 seconds (it reaches 10.72A in this video), so would it be possible to plug it into my battery?
Regards.
Don't recommend that. If the fuse blows, you could cook your circuit board and/or damage the unit if it didn't shut down properly. Although it *might* work
You need to wire the heater direct to the battery. Knock that cig plug out by accident when its running and it's toast
Fantastic tutorial. I have a 5kw Chinese heater which I would like to operate from low (8-10°C) to high (25-30°C) so iam thinking that a 120ah Golf cart battery would be sufficient for operation?.
Thanks for sharing your video with us.👍✌️
Rule of thumb with lead acid only drain 50%. Or you’ll kill the life span of the batteries. They aren’t meant to be drained to nothing. It will damage the walls in the battery and won’t hold full capacity. But a 12v 120ah battery will run that for 2 days at the least
Great video explains alot to me, do you have a link for the amp meter you was using.
It's all over Amazon/ebay, search for watt meter or power meter. I use them all the time in the van, charging ebikes, drones etc. I have 2 so that I can check on input/output simultaneously on buck/boost systems. Also works on solar panels (until it gets dark!) Creates a lot of certainty/confidence that you are not doing something ridiculous.
@@simonbaxter8585
Thanks I managed to get one the same as yours works a treat,
Hi, thanks for this informative video. Is the heater controller wireless ?
it has a remote fop u can use
No, but as Gary here said, you can get a remote.
Make sure it's the two-way remote so you can see info on the remote.
Hello mate, thank you for this video. How long does a small sized leisure battery last for? I'm not sure if it's the battery that's gone but the fuel has stopped pumping
My old 110Ah lead acid used to last about 24hours with outside temp below 5C.. less with TV and lights on. Since upgrading to 300Ah Lifepo4 battery it'll run best part of a week
@@DanSohan ok thank you, my battery has just rant out I think... It just started slowing down and stopped. Thank you, didn't realise it would go after 48 approx hours
So what would the lowest amp hour battery it would take to have for it to work properly?
How long is a bit of string? How long do you want it to work for. I have a 280Ah LiFePo4 pack now. Runs it for about 4 or so days without any charging. I also have far better insulation now which helps
Do you subject that Status alarm to cold temperatures? I paid 100 USD for a brand that purports to survive to -13C, which I need in the Rockies. Did I waste my money?
awesome video, thank you!!!
Thanks! I appreciate the + feedback!
Would it be reasonable to assume that if instead of using a 12v battery, we used the 120v mains in the US, we could divide all those Ah numbers by 10?
Yes ish, but you would need to be converting down to 12v DC using a suitable power supply and considering the efficacy losses of the power supply used.
@@DanSohan Yes, thanks.
Is it possible to put a battery splitter in the car to run the alternator from time to time to boost the heater battery from the car engine?
I have the heater 10w in a toyota sienna minivan. I use 2 agm 750 car batteries from walmart with a 5 year warranty about $150 each. Longest I have run one battery is 2 nites 2 start ups 2 shutdowns 13hrs 1st nite 9 hrs 2nd nite. I run it low on 1.6 hz. . I stayed very warm only used 1/3 of a gallon. Mountain Biking and skiing. Thinking I can get 4 nites in Telluride out of these 2 agm walmart car batteries.
That sounds pretty good, avoid taking the batteries down too low (
What most people.want to know is what old plug in our home we can connect instead of big batteries.
Great presentation.. thanks..
I got a feeling my battery is no good…I got a 130mah battery. When resting it’s at 12.6v when I put the heater on it goes to 11.3v. If my lights are on they start to flicker very slightly. Assuming my battery doesn’t have enough power to power them both?
Thinking of adding an addition battery but dunno if my battery is okay, or should I just buy 2 new ones
That is a bit of a dip, suggesting the battery is a little weak.. however I have some high power 300Ah lithium battery and I still notice a slight pulsing in the light as the fuel pump pulses.
@@DanSohan yeah that’s how mine is..pulses to the beat of the pump. That’s a better way of describing it lol
So seems like I'd be safe to say I could run the 2kw model in my 8 ft truck bed for an 6-10 HR overnight sleep on a 35ah battery with no problems right?
it seems to use up to 8 amps starting up, but then way less
Glowplug fires full at shutdown to burn off soot. Apparently.
To complicated to understand, howlong will the battery last ?😢
How long is string?it will last a lot longer if 10C than if its -10C
Great vid. Super helpful.
Bit late to the party here.... I've got a 100ah 20hr leasuire battery. I'm planning on running it for around 10 hours on a low setting. Will I get 2 days use out of the battery or will it need charging daily?
Shame you didn't measure everything while in Hz mode as temperature mode varies the motor and pump speed and thus the current used where as fixed Hz mode uses a universal fixed amount on all 5kw and 8kw heaters (and those 2kw heater that are actually 5kw ones!) dependent on the Hz rate set. Still, a good rough guide for startup and shutdown usage though...
If it’s of any interest, my 5 Kw heater pulls about 0.6 Amp (at 12.8V) once it’s settled down. That’s about 7.7 Watts.
Hook us up with a link to that power meter. Brand etc..
You can find them on eBay, AliExpress, etc. Here is one on AliExpress:
FT08 RC 150A High Precision Watt Meter and Power Analyzer w/ Backlight LCD electric analyzer
www.aliexpress.com/item/32746253460.html
But that is just one seller -- there are more.
My heater only have it on for 10 minutes then off for half hour. So battery should last long time. At night set timer to come on couple of times to take chill off.
can u pls tell me what battery u use for this heater? is it a 200 ah battery? and is this a 5k watt heater? idk much about this stuff just trying to hurry and get what i need before it’s like 9 degrees out (that’s the coldest it gets here )
At the time I was only running a 100Ah lead acid leisure battery, but it wasn't enough.
I have since changed van, and now run a 280Ah battery, with 150W solar. This keeps it running for about 3 days for needing a top up from the engine. Problem with a much larger battery is it takes so much longer to charge back up. The solar is great in the summer, but it's started to struggle now the days draw in.
I actually find a really good sleeping bag and a well insulated hot water bottle work really well.
@@DanSohan aww that’s nice. u currently have a 200ah battery but i think it’s bad now. it dies very fast with just my max fan so i think i have to buy a new one. i have 200watts of solar.
@@DanSohan i also just got a sleeping bag. i currently use a blow dryer to warm it up inside😂 there’s electric out lets here at my local walmart parking lot
@@DanSohan when u had the 100ah. how cold was he weather that you were working with ?
@@jcardosa02 It generally not much below 5 to 10C in the winter here. But 1 night it got down to -10C and the battery gave up at 4 am in morning. Luckily the backup blankets did the job. Turned the engine on when it got to about 6:30am. The heaters do use more power to fight the freezing cold. If you have access to them, a power meter would help decide how much power your getting through. Something that does Amp hours or Watt hours. Then you could figure out if your battery is failing, or you just need more storage.
A very in depth test. Awesome
I’d like to see a real world avg. of maintaining a set temp for 24 hours..
Trying to decide between one of these heaters or a 1000 running watt generator/850w space heater as a survival device in case my work truck breaks down in -30°c. It is diesel and has three batteries so as long as it's not a charging system related break down I could run it for a while. If I have no batteries it sounds like my little 24ah lifepo4 battery won't run it for long. Thinking the generator/space heater might be the more reliable option. (If it starts lol) 20L of gasoline would last a long time. Could easily be 12 hours before they notice I'm missing and find me. Lots of desolate roads with no comms here
Near us, everywhere is very populated, so I wouldn't run a generator as it would upset others. If I were many miles from civilization, I might run one. But to be honest, for survival, some of the modern sleeping bags have very good thermal properties and a hot water bottle would keep you alive if the stove would work. At -30C you might run into trouble with diesel and batteries!
@@DanSohan sometimes I go to places where I can drive 100km an not see another vehicle. I drive a tow truck (or recovery truck as I believe you guys call it) in a sparsely populated part of Canada. If I get sent out in the middle of the night nobody will notice I am missing till morning as my dispatcher immediately goes back to bed after waking me up to do a call. If I'm 3 hours away it could be a long time before anyone finds me. It's never happened yet but it worries me that it might. I actually have a 2.2kw little inverter generator but it is too big to keep in the cab and I doubt it would start well below -30 unless I heated the engine block with a propane torch. I'm trying to decide my best option for 12+ hours of emergency heat
@@DanSohan I could build a lean-to and camp fire but I'm lazy and would rather heat the cab of the truck :)
I would love yo have a diesel heater instead of gas heater but the power and fuel consumption over 24 hours is just too much and its just because it never turns off. Plus no automatic control over temperature. It would just keep heating up even on a low setting.
Thanks for this
Excellent !
So given these have like so little PPM, you'd actually be OK theoretically to put exhaust through the main cabin as long as you're not circulating the exhaust...
If you wrap the fuel pump in insulation so it doesn't touch anything metal etc.
You know you need the car to start it recommended but once that thing's running in the fan goes low you should be able to run that for a day and a half off the battery 750 cranking amp hours
Is it possible to run the heater from a 3 cell lipo battery
first thing on the manual when I unboxed my 5kw heater says it is unsuitable for constant use! I'm pretty sure these things aren't designed to be used for 23 hours consecutively, in a real life situation would one would be switching the heater on a couple of times in the day for 3 or 4 hours at a time, similar to what you'd have your central heating set to in a house. The other info was useful though thanks
Many people have said that it is actually more economical and better for your AC unit to run constantly especially for gas units because like these parking heaters, once the system gets past its startup the only thing that is running is the fuel pump which can handle a few million "ticks" before wear and tear and a fan that usually has over a 10k hour life depending on model.
@@librab103 OK, I'll still be sticking to the Manual tho 😂
@@Andronicus88 What is a manual?
@@librab103 the instructions that come with the heater 😜
Mine has been running nonstop since December 5th. 🤷🏼♂️(2020) update it’s still running 1/25/21
awesome ty
Can I run my 5kw heater with a 13.8 volt supply from a bench top power supply?
No problem if it can provide enough amps for the glow plug and startup. I heard some like to use a small 12v and bench supply together. I think if the bench supply can do 10amps that should work.
@@DanSohan thanks buddy, yes it is a 15 amp supply so should be cool, much appreciated
Thank you!!!
Very helpful.
Great test , u never mentioned volts though . Them heators cut off at 10.5v
Without inishiateing the cooling shutdown process. This situation cookes the motherboard and the unit is scrap. A visual voltage display will avoid this situation. Simply start the van up then shut the.heator down untill u have sufficient power. ( when parked up ) cheers.
Mine actually runs through the full shut down process when the battery voltage gets too low. Least it has done twice now.
I have a question that has me stuck on my install?, if anyone could help it's so appreciated do I connect my diesel heater to the battery straight or do I hook it to my solar charge controller I noticed it has a fuse on it already I'm so confused and the instructions are useless
It's recommended to connect straight to the battery. The heater will automatically shut down if the battery gets too low. If we're not using the van I pull the fuse from its holder to prevent the display draining the battery.
@@DanSohan thank you soo soo much its got cold im in a rv. Lol. If I cud ask one more question can I leave the solar connected to the battery at the same time that the heater is attached to,? I hope I ask that in a way that makes sense. Lol thank you so much for the info u gave me, already
Battery.
You don't want to have that pump running on a horizontal plane mate, the fuel naturally releases a tiny amount of air as it goes from high pressure to low and that air needs to escape from pump or you will damage it through lack of lubrication. It should be ideally vertical with outlet on top and definitely no less than 45 degrees .
It is at an angle, all good 👍
They certainly do sound noisy. I have purchased an under mount box to put mine under the vehicle.
In the real world usage of my heater some time b4 morning it shutdown and got real cold the battery was to low. Two batteries will work and a solar panel to charge one while you use the other but I'm interested in your real world use results plus I had a brand new 100ah lead acid battery now I'm concidering a 12v power converter to assist the power use
We upgraded to a LiPo4 battery, they give far more amp hours compared to lead
people measuring power in amp hours is like ordering a specific volume of drink but only specifying the height of the glass. ya most glasses are the same diameter but its annoying to have the think through unless you live in 12v lead acid world. guess that was where a lot more people were 4 years ago when this video was uploaded.
The heater unit works on 12V, so therefore relates to a 12v scenario. The meter also measures Wh, but this video was describing usage of Ah from a 12V source, for those that wanted to know. Really, if the battery is 100Ah, and 12v, that's 1200Wh, when the battery is at 50Ah remaining, the heater has consumed ~600Wh, not difficult to work out / estimate?
@@DanSohan I assumed most people would be using a lifepo4 battery which usually operates on 13.6v when full, and almost 15v when charging. doesnt got to 12v until its under 10% capacity depending on load and health.
i usually charge lifepo4 batteries at around 14.8v which is nominally around 25% more wattage for the same amount of amp hours. 12v world is very confusing.
Did you work out what voltage the unit turns itself off due to low voltage. Cheers
I think it's about 10.5V but not 100% on that
@@DanSohan Cheers
after my heater Starts up since im running it in Hz it settles down to the last setting i ran it on. so if my last setting in Hz was P3.1 the heater after it Starts up will Default back to that setting 3.1
If you have a better battery and you maintain a higher voltage your current draw will probably be less.
That it will, but nearly all batteries will sag in voltage level with a 10amp load on it.. only time you'll see a level over 12.2v is if the engine is running or you have a few batteries in series.
@@DanSohan parallel !!
@@fannyschmeler223 oh yes, my typo!
So where the best place to wire the heater too
I wired the live directly to the leisure battery with inline 20A fuse with the supplied cable and the ground using a ring connector terminal to the stud that the chair was bolted to.
I connected it to the leisure battery and it kept killing the battery off how can I stop it doing that
@@bobbyholman9944killed if off? As in voltage dropped too low? Need a better battery is my guess without see the setup
I’ve wired the positive and negative straight to the leisure battery and the leisure battery is connect to the relay that’s connects to the starter battery and it kills both battery and the vehicle won’t start
@@bobbyholman9944 sounds like something is up. It should run for at least 15 to 20 hours if the battery is good. And if the split charge relay is not protecting the starter battery something is very wrong
Can this be wired up to a van's starter battery?
Yes, but it would be a bad idea.
If you flatten your starter battery you won’t be able to start your van!
In principle, use your starter battery for starting only.