Im running the Afterburner in my van, its such a huge improvement over the original controller. My chinese controller only worked half the time and the timers were broken too, so now I`m a happy camper.
I ordered one a year ago and only just found the bloody thing after moving stuff round and now going to fit this weekend on my van, excellent video as norm, nice jobs bigman 👊🙌
Cheers for the video on changing the bearings on the motor, i changed both bearings on a noisy motor and noticed the same play and noise when spun by hand. I tried a few drops of motorcycle chain oil and it solved the problem. Good byyyyyeeee
Firstly David thanks for the unintentional comedy in the video. I love the way your exactly like me trying to make a explanatory video to help others but things don't all go to plan so you naturally revert to a natural state of normal you. Absolutely hilarious makes for a great watch. Oh and you make some interesting points in the process regarding the standard unit and the addition of the after burner. I think I will be buying one after seeing this. Looking forward to new vids from you. 👍
Yeah I don't really plan a video. I just start and see where it goes. Which does mean sometimes I start making a video and then nothing works and I have to scrap it. But it makes things interesting.
Having it run for aprox. 1 year now. Still working amazingly well. Not for everyone I guess but when you want to get most out of your heater it is definitely for you. Even far better than all those Webasto, Eberspächer, Autoterm controllers I saw.
Ordered mine today and have a tracking number.. can’t wait for it to arrive! Ray seems like a nice guy & is actively developing the product so I’m looking forward to experimenting with it.
Another doozy of an episode. David, your candidness and down to earth presentations are such a relief from that vile corporate world of hype and half truths, lies and downright money grubbing arseholery. I've contacted Ray about the unit - thanks. I'm interested in the basic unit...no bluetooth, GPIB, wifi - just want better temperature control in my camper.
Neat to see it uses the esp32. I'm just starting to learn about microcontrollers and thought that making a replacement controller for my heater might be an interesting project in the future.
I looked at this last year but despite my engineering knowledge, this looked too out of my depth, especially with the software side so glad you're covering it now 👍
can it regulate the temperature smoothly? because mine standard control when it is in thermostat mode adjust the temperature by switching from lowest to highest heating output all the time and that's annoying...
@@MrPeiringer best feature is slowly ramping up or down fuel supply and fan speed to maintain a set temperature. Great facebook group with tons of info as well.
I would also be keen to see a video on this working with that unit if it's compatible. See how it works with the water and the heat combind or separate.👍 😁
I'd Be interested in seeing videos on setting it to auto turn on once the room hits a certain temperature. I want it to compliment my wood stove and have it run either in the night after the fire goes down and during the day when I am at work.
Can you put up a video into setting minimum voltage on startup, as I have the same controller you did have but my heater will not produce heat unless van engine being run for approx 2 minutes. Thanks
The Afterburner unit is fantastic, much better than the original heater controller fitted to our RV it has enabled much better control over the Chinese heater with far more functions than the original noisy inefficient blown air LPG system.
Hi David Question when you connect the afterburner how long does it take to upload the settings from the original controller and when can I disconnect the original
2 Questions: 1. Can you hook up a float sensor to this so it tells the controller when to shut off the heater, and will tell me how much fuel time I have left? 2. Could this make running the diesel heaters on Makita Battery/ies easier since it has voltage sense/GPIO input? I intend to use one of these for a backup heat/shop heater at home, and I thought about using it for camping if I can hook up about 3 or 4 tool batteries to pre-heat a tent or small cabin before I get a wood stove going. Sorry if these were already answered. It's funny because something like this oddly excites me.
Try injecting kerosene I have been running mine now three years now never had to clean chamber only replaced glow plugs ,really enjoy the show.hope this comment goes to the right vid
Just found this video, what a great upgrade for these heaters. Just a quick question does it turn the heater on and off as it reaches temp or does the heater constantly run like the original controller. I love your videos always informative. Thanks for sharing. Steve.
_Thanks; I went straight to the Afterburner site from your link too, and sent out an email to buy one. The cost is a bit, but it's not if it does as you say. Again thanks!_
@@HorseboxCamper, thanks, and I have already been in contact with him. He's waiting on more supplies and putting people on a list. Thought I would pass that along too.
As always, love your videos. Would be great to know if you can set it to come on as a frost protection device when away from the heater eg in a camper. Also really REALLY keen to see how one would connect to it over the cellular network and what extra hardware is required. I’m just hoping my heater is compatible after all this lol.
Can someone please tell me how to set up the fuel usage Maximum/warning settings... I cannot figure out how it can know how large of a tank i am using to shut down and give me a warning before it runs dry.. I can not find, where to tell the unit what size tank i have ?
I just found your air/fuel tuning video. I seriously didn't know that I was causing the soot build up in my heater by running at the wrong mix... Anyway now I'm playing with my Afterburner's BT app to tune and monitor fan speed, pump speed, and comparing body temperatures as I don't have your fancy O2 sensor. I'm curious about the linear hz setting for the thermostat and if you can maintain a good ratio even as it approaches the target temp and varies the fan/pump speeds?
Hi David. I would like to see you test out the GPIO functions. I'd like to see how you wire in a digital input using a switch at the tank when you refill it (mine is outside) to reset the fuel used figure in the afterburner, or any other cool features you can think of. I'd also like to see you set up the MQTT broker and see if you can access the AB using just your cellular signal or from a remote location. That I'm really interested in. I'd really like to see Ray add on an API call to allow you to link it with Alexa for voice commands. Love your videos by the way. One last question. I'm running my heater with a 12V power supply and want to incorporate the relay in one of the videos you did, to switch to a small battery in the case of a power failure. I just want to use a small battery just powerful enough to allow the fan to run while it goes into cooling mode before it shuts down as I'm only interested in protecting the ecu from frying. What's the smallest battery I can get away with in terms of amperage as I don't want to use a massive great big car battery. Also would I need a trickle charger on the battery whilst it's on mains power. Again space is at a premium so I want to use a small profile charger. Any suggestions?
Hi from Alaska, I’ve been using webastos and espars at work alot in the past, new to the knockoff heaters, I’m really interested in getting one of these afterburners, because both of the 2 different heaters I just bought don’t have very many functions at all which is kinda lame I thought they were all supposed to be the same between the brands and what not, I was looking at the controllers, what is the difference between the normal one and the GPIO?
Morning, you asked for suggestions as to questions or things we would like more information on... well ;-) First, I have all in 1 5kw heater similar to your red tall one. The tank fuel take off is 30mm plus up the end so it never uses all the diesel, ok now I know, what are the implications of heater running out of fuel (apart from the obvious) secondly I have a 2m plus temp exhaust pipe exiting the house via a cat flap and angled down, so no condensation build up. I am getting lots of white smoke / steam out of the end and some evidence of soot. I am looking to reduce exhaust length but could do with your expertise in showing / describing setting up the hz and blower settings and their impact on running. My understanding is up the blower settings esp in low to give more air and therefore better combustion, so less soot, but your indepth advice / demo would be great. Many thanks Paul
If you can do Video on using the diesel heater on a standard thermostat would be great like a digital thermostat I have a cabin and went to visit and seen my pipes froze. I use my cabin a lot so didn't think to drain the Lines as I wasn't gone long but would be nice to control the temp when I away.
START AT PAGE 1 AND KEEP GOING LOL I JUST BOUGHT A HEATER LIKE YOURS ALL IN ONE IT HAS A ALL ALUMINIUM CASE AND A 4 HOLE OUTLET I WAS BLOWN AWAY ITS ALL ALUMINUM LOOKS GREAT CANT WAIT TO HOOK IT UP !! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR KNOWLEDGE BUDDY !
Hi David. Thanks again for your help in the past. Question, what is the easiest way to ascertain the core module type in a heater. Hope the answer will also be of use to others. Cheers. Jim.
Read a bit about this controller on their website. Some might find this funny, but as a ‘ yank ‘ I really appreciate that it can operate in Fahrenheit 🤠
Great vid as ever. I’ve just ordered an Afterburner from down under for my heater. Freeze protection would be great, also setting up the linear frequency temp control - and maybe seeing how much battery power it can save over night? Cheers
Quick question - possibly to be included in a future video: my heater (as probably all heaters) will drop the battery voltage considerably while the glow plug is on - say from 12.4V all the way down to 11.5V. Now I don't mind that, because I know it is temporary, because of the increased draw of the glow plug - as soon as the start up is completed, the voltage goes back up. However, during normal heater operation, I wouldn't want the battery to drop much further than, say 11.9V - as that would really mean draining the battery, not just a temporary voltage drop. Can you find out (or test) if the Afterburner is intelligent enough to distinguish between the two situations - because it wouldn't be of much use either if it aborts the start up when the battery drops during the glow plug activation - or the opposite, if it would let the battery drain all the way down to 11.5V during normal use. I hope the above makes sense.
The battery voltage is not dropping to 11.5 with the glow plug on, that's just the voltage at the end of those long wires. Using thicker shorter wires with less connections, or doubling up, would minimise this low voltage reading.
I have a question for you on afterburner. In thermostat mode while in start / stop... The controller reads start/stop at the top, then 32 degrees ( I have mine set for Fahrenheit), then -1 for where it is supposed to start back up. My question is... what is the 32 degrees for? I have my desired temp at 50 degrees Fahrenheit so I don't know what the 32 is. I have mine set to go 2 degrees past the desired temp of 50 degrees... but it still stops when temp hits 50. Any idea on this. I also turned the >-1 degree setting to off because I didn't want it to go a degree below my desired temp before it starts up. I would really like this to be efficient and not go through startup and stopping as much. So I would like to have it go the full 2 degrees before stopping. Any ideas?
Got my AB about 2 weeks ago and after "messing about with it" If you set it to "Frost Mode" then "Start Stop" set the START temp and then the STOP temp it then starts at the lower temp and stops at the higher temp and repeats as required, you can also set the "Soak Time" (if you want to you can leave it unset if you want) to a set time it then starts on lower temp and continues to run for that set time even if the stop temp is met, if the high temp is not met it carries on running untill it is Mine is in the Greenhouse for my wife it comes on at 10 deg C of at 12 deg C with a soak time of 30 minutes Hope I have I explained it properly
Hi David, enjoy your videos, do you have make models of your heater as I have the afterburner on its way and need to buy suitable heater. One all in one for workshop install and one for van install. Thanks
Hi David and Merry Christmas from the US! I have a question. These diesel heater's temps sensors are prone to failure. What are your thoughts about the temp sensors characteristics and how a better quality sensor might be adapted?
I've seen two kinds of failure. One is the actual thermistor inside failing for whatever reason, probably low quality. The second is the actual ceramic housing of the sensor failing and slightly moving away from the heater body. So if we were to source the correct and higher quality version of the thermistor and perhaps bond it to the heater body better this might alleviate some of the problems.
There doesn't appear to be a buy page on the website. How did you get your hands on it? I recently bought a RF device that I have synced my remote to. So I can turn it on and off, up and down the heat but nothing to this extent. I should had done more research!
I own an 8DM PLANAR diesel heater. Will it work for that!? Thanks. Can you set it to make the heater burn more efficiently !? Where do I buy one...and what's it called.
Thank you for your superb no nonsense content. What diesel heater are you using here? I am keen to get one which is compatible with the Afterburner. Thanks again.
Sadly there is no guarantee any heater you buy will actually come with a compatible ECU. The heater manufactures use whatever they can get or whats cheapest to build. The Afterburner Facebook page is a good place to find compatible boards.
i would be interested in, if you run the afterburner in thermostat mode if it has fixed the issue that the heater runs always just in lowest mode and highest mode. it would be nice if it could adjust the temperature smoothly!? thx
Hi I would love to see a video on you turning the heater on using WiFi only. So you can be miles away from the heater and see the settings and user interface.
Have Chinese diesel heater with the same stock controller that is mounted on your heater . The problem I'm having is the heater still runs on low heat mode when the set temperature in my RV is satisfied. There for overheating the RV making it very uncomfortable, have to shut the heater off manually and turn back on when he is needed ( not a good design) does the afterburner shut the heater down completely and then restarts at when heat is needed again . Like the thermostat does in my house . Please reply ASAP thank you George
I bought one of these after seeing this video and love it mate 👍🏻 but have you tried running and eberspacher d2/d4 off one? I believe you can run d2 with a chinese ecu😮 would be interesting to see if the amazing afterburner can do eberspächer too 🤔
Great video! So, is the afterburner android app mostly a monitor with limited control features, or does the app offer the same controls as the main afterburner module(?)
I Like to learn also more on Chinese Diesel water heater ( like your vid recently)..my project want to pre Heat engine and second heat source for an installed Alde heater....
Hi everybody, I'm totally brand new to these type of heaters can anyone point me in the right direction of which model is the best to buy, there seems to be so many! And of course where to purchase from, thanks.
Looks pretty good i would like to know more about the frost mode what it can do and how good it is in frost mode and if you can set the desired temperature to come on
Pretty much as you've described. You set the temperature you want frost mode to kick in at and it'll sit there in standby until that happens. Then it'll fire up.
I'm looking to fit one of these heaters to my small workshop to maintain a reasonable temperature in it. Any idea if the afterburner can take inputs from other sources? Either physical connections or over wifi. I want to integrate temp/humidity sensing, de-humidifier and heating in to a smart home solution but i've no idea how i would trigger the heater to start/ stop remotely.
@@DavidMcLuckie other option I've looked at is getting one with a remote and using a micro controller with blynk to mimic it or tap wired directly in to the controllers buttons.... ah well... I shall think of something! Need to actually buy a heater first :)
Hi David I have a eberspacher hydronic for heating my water in my van and a cdh for heating the air. I can turn on my hydronic through WiFi with a nest thermostat using the yellow wire on the heater connected to the hot water supply switch. Is there a way to turn on the cdh with the 12v supply wire from the nest thermostat? I love your very entertaining and informative videos and would value your advice on this. Thanks
Does this controller actually shut the burner off when the area is up to or above temperature? My chinese controller will turn the pump speed all the way down, but no matter what temperature the thermostat is detecting, it won't actually shut the heater off.
I've bought a couple of heaters that have the wrong motherboard and controller. A tad irritating, as the pics in ebay showed the correct one. Anyway, that said, I see replacement motherboards are available, have you or anyone else managed to convert the crap board to the working one?
So I know when my diesel heater goes to idle when it's at temp but it doesn't shut off. Will the after burner shut it off completely until it needs to heat again and turn back on my garadge is insulated very well so it would only need to run for a few hours a day in the winter.
Yes it will you set it to "Frost Mode" set the ON temp and the Off temp I have one in the greenhouse set ON at 10 deg and OFF at 11Deg and one in the garage set at ON at 8 deg OFF at 10 deg both work perfect, you can also look at how much fuel it has used and also hours run Also I have the garage one set to 20 Deg as well so when I go in I just press the middle button and it comes on ramps up to 20 then goes on tick over when I leave press middle button again it goes off and sits in frost mode If you connect it to a phone / laptop it is on a big screen and it is easier to see the settings and it will do practically anything you want it to If your Garage is close enough for bluetooth you can use that as well I bought a temp sensor with a 5M lead (£3 on Ebay) and plugged that in in place of the supplied one and fitted it in the middle of the garage roof space away from the heater for a better temp control; If you have any questions just e.mail Ray he is verry helpfull and nothing to much trouble for him I sent him about 10 e.mails and he answeredthem all within the time lapse UK to AUS
I'm pretty interested in how well Afterburner does actual temp control. Stock 5kW does it so that when outside is -2 to -5 and inside is set to +20°C, it runs full steam to exceed set value, then idles until drops 1 degree below set. Then full steam cycle to idle. For that exterior temps, my campervan does two cycles per hour. That consumes way much more battery charge than needed and likely also more fuel. Really working PI control algorithm would learn the control response and just raise a bit fuel pump bpm and speed up fans accordingly a bit. If Afterburner does that, it'll be excellent replacement. I'm just little worried that heater control board is too much responsible for controlling temps...
I read that it's adjustable. No idea why the stock controller doesn't have PI control, totally ridiculous. Maybe if you're okay with a slower warmup, you could turn down the maximum hz to something more manageable. Kind of a stop gap
Afterburner has a window so you can have a more gradual ramp instead of a bang on - bang off setup. I used mine all of last winter through -50 weather and it worked great.
@@Firebat45 How do you actually make this so? I've read the instructions fully (esp page 43 onwards) - & all it seems to be able to do is go from min to max, in order to maintain a set temp! I bought it in the hopes that it could do *other* than the standard controller, in this specific regard!
I'm dying to know if this can be made to work with the combo air/water heater model! Worst case just the heater part and wire up a switch manually for the circ. pump.
If you replace the ECU board with one of the compatible units then yes, as the heater is basically still the same. And if you bought the Afterburner with the GPIO (general purpose inputs outputs) then you could put a relay on one of the outputs and have it turn the pump on and off.
I'm looking at this too! A digital ecu can be found very cheep though wiring it into the heater unit will require some new connectors and knowledge of which pin goes where. This last part I'm stuck on. Great to know if you find a solution :)
I have a question, that I hope you can help me with. I have just bought a new PCB for my burner. But this version uses magnetics on the input fan. Does the polarity of the magnet's matter
Sort of. There is an option on the controller if you have two magnets with different polarity or one magnet, and the other is two magnets of the same polarity. If you get it wrong the heater will think the fan is spinning either faster or slower than it is.
@@DavidMcLuckie Thanks.. I thought so. Basically a speed controller for the fuel pump. I can say I have enjoyed your presentation of your videos and your thoughts of them. Thanks again
Just watched "Mispronounced Adventures" video on his stripping down the heater, he promoted the after burner unit as well. Which led to your link of the unit. He mentioned he only uses high grade diesel in his unit, others have used Red diesel. Have you done any tests of the affects of the different brands of Diesel ?
Here in the UK red diesel is the exact same as road diesel except for the red dye*. I think America might have different grades but don't quote me on that. I know the American cetane values for diesel can vary state to state. For this application, more cetane would be good as it makes the diesel easier to ignite. *now only farmers are allowed to use red diesel.
Just ordered one and reading the manual ready for when it arrives Messages with Ray he seems a real nice guy and verry helpfull Can anyone tell me the easist way to set the "Frost Mode" Its for the greenhouse so I want it to maintain 12 Deg C It looks easy enough to do but any help is appreciated Thanks in advance
David, just a point of order - while you referred to the other company who manufacture a copied version of this product in a derogatory way, here is a perspective on it. The product is built using the GPL license which is open source, so the software is freely available. The circuit schematic is also in public domain. The only part that is Ray's is the board layout. Now while it could be argued that this is Ray's, I don't think he has any copyright on this, so it is or at least can easily be a "free for all". On top of all this the device is made to control Chinese diesel heaters which I'm sure you are aware are a cheap rip -off of the German originals, so it is a little "fresh" to purchase a copied machine and then to reverse engineer it and sell a new controller without ensuring you have the rights to it in the first place. That said it is a great product etc, and Ray has put a lot of effort into it - great work!!
The code is open source, they asked for his board design and he declined. They bought one and copied it anyway and claimed it as their own. While probably legal, still a ripoff of someone else's hard work. They are still shit bags.
I'll stop you right there. First the heaters are not a rip off, Webastos patent has expired on the designs so now anyone can copy and make them. Now if you could point me to where said company are sharing the source code for their controller I'll happily concede that point, but under GPL if you got it for free you have to share your changes for free as well. They literally copied a board of another person. Do you think Apple would be ok if you bought an iPhone and reverse engineered it and started selling a copy?
@@stuartcotterill9475 No it is not just bought the AB off Ray when converted to GB£ by PayPal it was £87 The "Rip Off" one is £149 and it arrived in 6 days
Good shot making this video, I was about to buy the Challenger ACLS sells, if my holmebuild setup fails. But now I will go for the Afterburner. 1. It's not a copy of a aftermarket bit. (4th party thing?) 2. Seems to have better features and reviews.
@@DavidMcLuckie Industrial espionage happens everywhere shite patter but it happens... I read somewhere the Aussie guy is not delivering them to the uk due to the brexit rules ???? How else can we get them if not from the Scottish company mate?
Ive been trying to find a true 2kw version of the heater on Amazon and I cant find any for less than $170! Whats up with that. Its going into a 4'x8' Tear drop trailer and im thinking a 5kw will be way over powered.
Nice! I got mine a month ago. Heater was installed today. Installing the AB next. So glad you connected with Ray. He’s so great to work with.
Im running the Afterburner in my van, its such a huge improvement over the original controller. My chinese controller only worked half the time and the timers were broken too, so now I`m a happy camper.
I ordered one a year ago and only just found the bloody thing after moving stuff round and now going to fit this weekend on my van, excellent video as norm, nice jobs bigman 👊🙌
Thanks for all videos you made, I have bough this unit to my heater now, waiting it to arrive from down under. All because of your videos.
Cheers for the video on changing the bearings on the motor, i changed both bearings on a noisy motor and noticed the same play and noise when spun by hand. I tried a few drops of motorcycle chain oil and it solved the problem. Good byyyyyeeee
Firstly David thanks for the unintentional comedy in the video. I love the way your exactly like me trying to make a explanatory video to help others but things don't all go to plan so you naturally revert to a natural state of normal you. Absolutely hilarious makes for a great watch.
Oh and you make some interesting points in the process regarding the standard unit and the addition of the after burner. I think I will be buying one after seeing this.
Looking forward to new vids from you. 👍
Yeah I don't really plan a video. I just start and see where it goes. Which does mean sometimes I start making a video and then nothing works and I have to scrap it. But it makes things interesting.
Having it run for aprox. 1 year now. Still working amazingly well. Not for everyone I guess but when you want to get most out of your heater it is definitely for you. Even far better than all those Webasto, Eberspächer, Autoterm controllers I saw.
Whats the main problems with it?
Ordered mine today and have a tracking number.. can’t wait for it to arrive! Ray seems like a nice guy & is actively developing the product so I’m looking forward to experimenting with it.
My heater works really good now and to improve it more would be sweet as well . Tks for what you show and hope all is well
Congrats on buying one! They are great
Another doozy of an episode. David, your candidness and down to earth presentations are such a relief from that vile corporate world of hype and half truths, lies and downright money grubbing arseholery. I've contacted Ray about the unit - thanks. I'm interested in the basic unit...no bluetooth, GPIB, wifi - just want better temperature control in my camper.
@@geraldhenrickson7472 WTF?? - what are you smoking my man?
Another brilliant video 👍🏻👍🏻
Neat to see it uses the esp32. I'm just starting to learn about microcontrollers and thought that making a replacement controller for my heater might be an interesting project in the future.
Took me about 6secs to spot the classic Impreza STi badges. Good man.
Very informative David. Thank you 🙏
I looked at this last year but despite my engineering knowledge, this looked too out of my depth, especially with the software side so glad you're covering it now 👍
Afterburner is awesome! Been using mine for over 1 year.
can it regulate the temperature smoothly? because mine standard control when it is in thermostat mode adjust the temperature by switching from lowest to highest heating output all the time and that's annoying...
@@MrPeiringer best feature is slowly ramping up or down fuel supply and fan speed to maintain a set temperature. Great facebook group with tons of info as well.
@@ryanh4889 thanks for the info! :)
@@MrPeiringer Afterburner has a Linear HZ mode that does a good job of smoothing out the rollercoaster temp swings
I would also be keen to see a video on this working with that unit if it's compatible. See how it works with the water and the heat combind or separate.👍 😁
I'd Be interested in seeing videos on setting it to auto turn on once the room hits a certain temperature. I want it to compliment my wood stove and have it run either in the night after the fire goes down and during the day when I am at work.
Been using that afterburner off ray for 4 months , i never used the cdh ecu, works great with a phone
Can you put up a video into setting minimum voltage on startup, as I have the same controller you did have but my heater will not produce heat unless van engine being run for approx 2 minutes. Thanks
The Afterburner unit is fantastic, much better than the original heater controller fitted to our RV it has enabled much better control over the Chinese heater with far more functions than the original noisy inefficient blown air LPG system.
Wow... how brilliant. This is as it should be.
David - just came across this. Can you get more heat out of these heaters by whacking up the frequency of the pump pulses?
Hi David Question when you connect the afterburner how long does it take to upload the settings from the original controller and when can I disconnect the original
2 Questions:
1. Can you hook up a float sensor to this so it tells the controller when to shut off the heater, and will tell me how much fuel time I have left?
2. Could this make running the diesel heaters on Makita Battery/ies easier since it has voltage sense/GPIO input?
I intend to use one of these for a backup heat/shop heater at home, and I thought about using it for camping if I can hook up about 3 or 4 tool batteries to pre-heat a tent or small cabin before I get a wood stove going.
Sorry if these were already answered. It's funny because something like this oddly excites me.
Try injecting kerosene I have been running mine now three years now never had to clean chamber only replaced glow plugs ,really enjoy the show.hope this comment goes to the right vid
Just found this video, what a great upgrade for these heaters. Just a quick question does it turn the heater on and off as it reaches temp or does the heater constantly run like the original controller.
I love your videos always informative. Thanks for sharing. Steve.
'made to explore' posted recently that this controller does indeed shut off the heater - a major improvement IMHO
_Thanks; I went straight to the Afterburner site from your link too, and sent out an email to buy one. The cost is a bit, but it's not if it does as you say. Again thanks!_
Don’t forget the price is in Australian dollars, for what it does I think it is amazing value.
@@HorseboxCamper, thanks, and I have already been in contact with him. He's waiting on more supplies and putting people on a list. Thought I would pass that along too.
@@FirstSuiGeneris Ray surprised me as I only had to wait 2 weeks before he sent me the invoice after ordering then despatched the next day!
@@HorseboxCamper that's great news, thanks!
Just keep making videos like you do now, they're all interesting. The Aussie voice should end each phase with "Cobber".
I was thinking of another C word. :)
As always, love your videos.
Would be great to know if you can set it to come on as a frost protection device when away from the heater eg in a camper. Also really REALLY keen to see how one would connect to it over the cellular network and what extra hardware is required. I’m just hoping my heater is compatible after all this lol.
Yes, it's literally got a frost setting in the menu. :)
That'd be a good video, explaining the ° on/off and how much battery it might be using if it's going through a cycle several times a day.
Hi David,do these heaters turn themselves off,Safely, when or if they run out of fuel ?
Can someone please tell me how to set up the fuel usage Maximum/warning settings... I cannot figure out how it can know how large of a tank i am using to shut down and give me a warning before it runs dry.. I can not find, where to tell the unit what size tank i have ?
Very much enjoy your videos. Sounding like my 2 favourite RUclipsrs (Clive and AVE) talking about my current obsession
I just ordered one!
Yes ! More videos on afterburner. Thanks
is it possible to run 2 dieselheaters on 1 controller maybe you can test it
I just found your air/fuel tuning video. I seriously didn't know that I was causing the soot build up in my heater by running at the wrong mix... Anyway now I'm playing with my Afterburner's BT app to tune and monitor fan speed, pump speed, and comparing body temperatures as I don't have your fancy O2 sensor. I'm curious about the linear hz setting for the thermostat and if you can maintain a good ratio even as it approaches the target temp and varies the fan/pump speeds?
There is also the video tuning with the cheap CO meter, I recommend that for easy tuning.
Hi David. I would like to see you test out the GPIO functions. I'd like to see how you wire in a digital input using a switch at the tank when you refill it (mine is outside) to reset the fuel used figure in the afterburner, or any other cool features you can think of. I'd also like to see you set up the MQTT broker and see if you can access the AB using just your cellular signal or from a remote location. That I'm really interested in. I'd really like to see Ray add on an API call to allow you to link it with Alexa for voice commands. Love your videos by the way. One last question. I'm running my heater with a 12V power supply and want to incorporate the relay in one of the videos you did, to switch to a small battery in the case of a power failure. I just want to use a small battery just powerful enough to allow the fan to run while it goes into cooling mode before it shuts down as I'm only interested in protecting the ecu from frying. What's the smallest battery I can get away with in terms of amperage as I don't want to use a massive great big car battery. Also would I need a trickle charger on the battery whilst it's on mains power. Again space is at a premium so I want to use a small profile charger. Any suggestions?
Hi from Alaska, I’ve been using webastos and espars at work alot in the past, new to the knockoff heaters, I’m really interested in getting one of these afterburners, because both of the 2 different heaters I just bought don’t have very many functions at all which is kinda lame I thought they were all supposed to be the same between the brands and what not, I was looking at the controllers, what is the difference between the normal one and the GPIO?
Any idea on timescales for next Afterburner video?
Great stuff,
Geaham
Morning, you asked for suggestions as to questions or things we would like more information on... well ;-)
First, I have all in 1 5kw heater similar to your red tall one. The tank fuel take off is 30mm plus up the end so it never uses all the diesel, ok now I know, what are the implications of heater running out of fuel (apart from the obvious) secondly I have a 2m plus temp exhaust pipe exiting the house via a cat flap and angled down, so no condensation build up. I am getting lots of white smoke / steam out of the end and some evidence of soot. I am looking to reduce exhaust length but could do with your expertise in showing / describing setting up the hz and blower settings and their impact on running. My understanding is up the blower settings esp in low to give more air and therefore better combustion, so less soot, but your indepth advice / demo would be great. Many thanks Paul
If you can do Video on using the diesel heater on a standard thermostat would be great like a digital thermostat I have a cabin and went to visit and seen my pipes froze. I use my cabin a lot so didn't think to drain the
Lines as I wasn't gone long but would be nice to control the temp when I away.
START AT PAGE 1 AND KEEP GOING LOL I JUST BOUGHT A HEATER LIKE YOURS ALL IN ONE IT HAS A ALL ALUMINIUM CASE AND A 4 HOLE OUTLET I WAS BLOWN AWAY ITS ALL ALUMINUM LOOKS GREAT CANT WAIT TO HOOK IT UP !! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR KNOWLEDGE BUDDY !
@@geraldhenrickson7472 thats the first all aluminium heater ive seen . very cool though lol
Can the Afterburner be operated offline via Sonoff ZigBee to turn it on/off?
was just looking into using a webasto climate controller on my jina heater. NICE
Hi David. Thanks again for your help in the past. Question, what is the easiest way to ascertain the core module type in a heater. Hope the answer will also be of use to others. Cheers. Jim.
Other than opening the heater and having a look and being able to compare to the Afterburner site, there isn't an easy way to tell.
Glad I'm not the only one that gets the screws in backwards
I thought screws were stripped. But my screw driver was broken. Handle was spinning but not the bit.
App could use Prime pump. I use web site. But pita when phone disconnects wifi due to lack of internet
Read a bit about this controller on their website. Some might find this funny, but as a ‘ yank ‘ I really appreciate that it can operate in Fahrenheit 🤠
I think that’s awesome cause I also live in the US… and while I know 21 c is about 70 f… I still want to see 70 😅
Great vid as ever.
I’ve just ordered an Afterburner from down under for my heater. Freeze protection would be great, also setting up the linear frequency temp control - and maybe seeing how much battery power it can save over night? Cheers
Just ordered mine I want to set frost mode for greenhouse was it easy to do
@@michaelbailey7112 how did you order it please
Quick question - possibly to be included in a future video: my heater (as probably all heaters) will drop the battery voltage considerably while the glow plug is on - say from 12.4V all the way down to 11.5V. Now I don't mind that, because I know it is temporary, because of the increased draw of the glow plug - as soon as the start up is completed, the voltage goes back up. However, during normal heater operation, I wouldn't want the battery to drop much further than, say 11.9V - as that would really mean draining the battery, not just a temporary voltage drop. Can you find out (or test) if the Afterburner is intelligent enough to distinguish between the two situations - because it wouldn't be of much use either if it aborts the start up when the battery drops during the glow plug activation - or the opposite, if it would let the battery drain all the way down to 11.5V during normal use. I hope the above makes sense.
That is something I can test.
Brilliant - thank you!
The battery voltage is not dropping to 11.5 with the glow plug on, that's just the voltage at the end of those long wires. Using thicker shorter wires with less connections, or doubling up, would minimise this low voltage reading.
Mine came in the mail today!
I have a question for you on afterburner. In thermostat mode while in start / stop... The controller reads start/stop at the top, then 32 degrees ( I have mine set for Fahrenheit), then -1 for where it is supposed to start back up. My question is... what is the 32 degrees for? I have my desired temp at 50 degrees Fahrenheit so I don't know what the 32 is. I have mine set to go 2 degrees past the desired temp of 50 degrees... but it still stops when temp hits 50. Any idea on this. I also turned the >-1 degree setting to off because I didn't want it to go a degree below my desired temp before it starts up. I would really like this to be efficient and not go through startup and stopping as much. So I would like to have it go the full 2 degrees before stopping. Any ideas?
Got my AB about 2 weeks ago and after "messing about with it" If you set it to "Frost Mode" then "Start Stop" set the START temp and then the STOP temp it then starts at the lower temp and stops at the higher temp and repeats as required, you can also set the "Soak Time" (if you want to you can leave it unset if you want) to a set time it then starts on lower temp and continues to run for that set time even if the stop temp is met, if the high temp is not met it carries on running untill it is
Mine is in the Greenhouse for my wife it comes on at 10 deg C of at 12 deg C with a soak time of 30 minutes
Hope I have I explained it properly
I subscribed right after that Mrs. Doubtfire greeting. 😂
Hi David, enjoy your videos, do you have make models of your heater as I have the afterburner on its way and need to buy suitable heater. One all in one for workshop install and one for van install. Thanks
Hi David and Merry Christmas from the US! I have a question. These diesel heater's temps sensors are prone to failure. What are your thoughts about the temp sensors characteristics and how a better quality sensor might be adapted?
I've seen two kinds of failure. One is the actual thermistor inside failing for whatever reason, probably low quality. The second is the actual ceramic housing of the sensor failing and slightly moving away from the heater body.
So if we were to source the correct and higher quality version of the thermistor and perhaps bond it to the heater body better this might alleviate some of the problems.
Hello david.
I'm in Spain. Is there any way to buy it here?
thanks for your work on the videos
There doesn't appear to be a buy page on the website. How did you get your hands on it? I recently bought a RF device that I have synced my remote to. So I can turn it on and off, up and down the heat but nothing to this extent. I should had done more research!
I own an 8DM PLANAR diesel heater. Will it work for that!? Thanks. Can you set it to make the heater burn more efficiently !? Where do I buy one...and what's it called.
I'm planning on getting diesel heaters for a couple of my rigs. Is there one that you would recommend that is compatible with the Afterburner?
Not yet. But I hope to be getting some new heaters soon, from what is supposed to be a good brand.
Thank you for your superb no nonsense content.
What diesel heater are you using here? I am keen to get one which is compatible with the Afterburner.
Thanks again.
Sadly there is no guarantee any heater you buy will actually come with a compatible ECU. The heater manufactures use whatever they can get or whats cheapest to build. The Afterburner Facebook page is a good place to find compatible boards.
i wonder iff you can tru to save more from the exhaust form webast like put on some radiator and fan
i would be interested in, if you run the afterburner in thermostat mode if it has fixed the issue that the heater runs always just in lowest mode and highest mode. it would be nice if it could adjust the temperature smoothly!? thx
What Ryan H said. :)
What is the oxo flashing light for on the screen
Hi I would love to see a video on you turning the heater on using WiFi only. So you can be miles away from the heater and see the settings and user interface.
Have Chinese diesel heater with the same stock controller that is mounted on your heater . The problem I'm having is the heater still runs on low heat mode when the set temperature in my RV is satisfied. There for overheating the RV making it very uncomfortable, have to shut the heater off manually and turn back on when he is needed ( not a good design) does the afterburner shut the heater down completely and then restarts at when heat is needed again . Like the thermostat does in my house . Please reply ASAP thank you George
That is one of the options on the Afterburner, it will turn the heater all the way off and start it back it up again.
I bought one of these after seeing this video and love it mate 👍🏻 but have you tried running and eberspacher d2/d4 off one? I believe you can run d2 with a chinese ecu😮 would be interesting to see if the amazing afterburner can do eberspächer too 🤔
Hey, what heater is that in the background? Or is it a custom stand jobby?
It's just an all in one heater with the cover off of it.
Hey David, the term you were after at the end was Hysteresis :-)
And PID, being the software routine that learns the behaviour of the overall system.
Great video! So, is the afterburner android app mostly a monitor with limited control features, or does the app offer the same controls as the main afterburner module(?)
Ah the app. I've actually forgotten what the app can actually do as the best advise is to ignore the app and just use the web interface from a phone.
I Like to learn also more on Chinese Diesel water heater ( like your vid recently)..my project want to pre Heat engine and second heat source for an installed Alde heater....
class video as always I took you advice and I ordered from ray . Friend have you any more videos on this
Are the delays the same as the lcd screen or can you set it to start every morning before work/shower?
There is a full seven day timer.
Could this also be used to control the 16kw diesel water heater ?
I don't think so.
Hi everybody, I'm totally brand new to these type of heaters can anyone point me in the right direction of which model is the best to buy, there seems to be so many! And of course where to purchase from, thanks.
Looks pretty good i would like to know more about the frost mode what it can do and how good it is in frost mode and if you can set the desired temperature to come on
Pretty much as you've described. You set the temperature you want frost mode to kick in at and it'll sit there in standby until that happens. Then it'll fire up.
How or where do I buy one? Couldn't even find it on the afterburner site. Thanks
Do you have a link to buy one of these does anyone have one for sale in uk please cheers kye
I'm looking to fit one of these heaters to my small workshop to maintain a reasonable temperature in it. Any idea if the afterburner can take inputs from other sources? Either physical connections or over wifi. I want to integrate temp/humidity sensing, de-humidifier and heating in to a smart home solution but i've no idea how i would trigger the heater to start/ stop remotely.
It can. But we can't get them in UK right now.
@@DavidMcLuckie other option I've looked at is getting one with a remote and using a micro controller with blynk to mimic it or tap wired directly in to the controllers buttons.... ah well... I shall think of something!
Need to actually buy a heater first :)
Does it have a feature where you set a temp and it'll switch its self on rather than having it on tick over?
Yes. There is the option where it shuts down once the set temperature is reached.
I'm going to use the exhaust to preheat the fuel to 130c for better combustion what do you think about this?
It might make a small difference, if the fuel is exceptionally cold. But generally, I doubt you'd notice it. It can't hurt to experiment!
Hi David I have a eberspacher hydronic for heating my water in my van and a cdh for heating the air. I can turn on my hydronic through WiFi with a nest thermostat using the yellow wire on the heater connected to the hot water supply switch. Is there a way to turn on the cdh with the 12v supply wire from the nest thermostat? I love your very entertaining and informative videos and would value your advice on this. Thanks
To my knowledge there is no single trigger wire for the heater.
Does this controller actually shut the burner off when the area is up to or above temperature? My chinese controller will turn the pump speed all the way down, but no matter what temperature the thermostat is detecting, it won't actually shut the heater off.
Yes. One of the thermostat options is to fully shut down the heater at a desired temperature.
I've bought a couple of heaters that have the wrong motherboard and controller. A tad irritating, as the pics in ebay showed the correct one. Anyway, that said, I see replacement motherboards are available, have you or anyone else managed to convert the crap board to the working one?
By convert do you mean replace it entirely? I've done that a few times.
So I know when my diesel heater goes to idle when it's at temp but it doesn't shut off. Will the after burner shut it off completely until it needs to heat again and turn back on my garadge is insulated very well so it would only need to run for a few hours a day in the winter.
Yes it will you set it to "Frost Mode" set the ON temp and the Off temp I have one in the greenhouse set ON at 10 deg and OFF at 11Deg and one in the garage set at ON at 8 deg OFF at 10 deg both work perfect, you can also look at how much fuel it has used and also hours run Also I have the garage one set to 20 Deg as well so when I go in I just press the middle button and it comes on ramps up to 20 then goes on tick over when I leave press middle button again it goes off and sits in frost mode If you connect it to a phone / laptop it is on a big screen and it is easier to see the settings and it will do practically anything you want it to If your Garage is close enough for bluetooth you can use that as well I bought a temp sensor with a 5M lead (£3 on Ebay) and plugged that in in place of the supplied one and fitted it in the middle of the garage roof space away from the heater for a better temp control; If you have any questions just e.mail Ray he is verry helpfull and nothing to much trouble for him I sent him about 10 e.mails and he answeredthem all within the time lapse UK to AUS
Hi, Love your vids, can you tell me the model of your heater and where available please, Again thanks, from a fellow Scot.
That was the cheapest one I could find on eBay. At the time it was £79 to the door.
Is this compatible with the Eberspächer? My 4Kw Eberspächer came with the basic rheostat rotary controller.
Negative. Only the cheap chinese ECUs.
I'm pretty interested in how well Afterburner does actual temp control. Stock 5kW does it so that when outside is -2 to -5 and inside is set to +20°C, it runs full steam to exceed set value, then idles until drops 1 degree below set. Then full steam cycle to idle.
For that exterior temps, my campervan does two cycles per hour. That consumes way much more battery charge than needed and likely also more fuel.
Really working PI control algorithm would learn the control response and just raise a bit fuel pump bpm and speed up fans accordingly a bit.
If Afterburner does that, it'll be excellent replacement. I'm just little worried that heater control board is too much responsible for controlling temps...
I read that it's adjustable. No idea why the stock controller doesn't have PI control, totally ridiculous. Maybe if you're okay with a slower warmup, you could turn down the maximum hz to something more manageable. Kind of a stop gap
Afterburner has a window so you can have a more gradual ramp instead of a bang on - bang off setup. I used mine all of last winter through -50 weather and it worked great.
@@Firebat45 How do you actually make this so? I've read the instructions fully (esp page 43 onwards) - & all it seems to be able to do is go from min to max, in order to maintain a set temp! I bought it in the hopes that it could do *other* than the standard controller, in this specific regard!
@@Lucentlens You need to put it into linear Hz mode and give it a window of at least a few degrees.
@@Firebat45 Fantastic buddy! Very many thanks!! This was the main reason that I forked out for these units! 👍🏽👍🏽
Hi David!
Where can I buy a genuine Afterburner?
I'm dying to know if this can be made to work with the combo air/water heater model! Worst case just the heater part and wire up a switch manually for the circ. pump.
If you replace the ECU board with one of the compatible units then yes, as the heater is basically still the same. And if you bought the Afterburner with the GPIO (general purpose inputs outputs) then you could put a relay on one of the outputs and have it turn the pump on and off.
I'm looking at this too! A digital ecu can be found very cheep though wiring it into the heater unit will require some new connectors and knowledge of which pin goes where. This last part I'm stuck on. Great to know if you find a solution :)
I have a question, that I hope you can help me with.
I have just bought a new PCB for my burner. But this version uses magnetics on the input fan. Does the polarity of the magnet's matter
Sort of. There is an option on the controller if you have two magnets with different polarity or one magnet, and the other is two magnets of the same polarity. If you get it wrong the heater will think the fan is spinning either faster or slower than it is.
@@DavidMcLuckie
Thanks.. I thought so. Basically a speed controller for the fuel pump.
I can say I have enjoyed your presentation of your videos and your thoughts of them.
Thanks again
How are people in the UK getting hold of these? I see that Mr Jones doesn't ship here ??
Just watched "Mispronounced Adventures" video on his stripping down the heater, he promoted the after burner unit as well. Which led to your link of the unit.
He mentioned he only uses high grade diesel in his unit, others have used Red diesel. Have you done any tests of the affects of the different brands of Diesel ?
Here in the UK red diesel is the exact same as road diesel except for the red dye*. I think America might have different grades but don't quote me on that. I know the American cetane values for diesel can vary state to state.
For this application, more cetane would be good as it makes the diesel easier to ignite.
*now only farmers are allowed to use red diesel.
Will it work with webasto evo?
How can i get one shipped to northern Ireland?
Can one use The fan in it without the heating with it?
Just ordered one and reading the manual ready for when it arrives Messages with Ray he seems a real nice guy and verry helpfull
Can anyone tell me the easist way to set the "Frost Mode"
Its for the greenhouse so I want it to maintain 12 Deg C It looks easy enough to do but any help is appreciated
Thanks in advance
David, just a point of order - while you referred to the other company who manufacture a copied version of this product in a derogatory way, here is a perspective on it. The product is built using the GPL license which is open source, so the software is freely available. The circuit schematic is also in public domain. The only part that is Ray's is the board layout. Now while it could be argued that this is Ray's, I don't think he has any copyright on this, so it is or at least can easily be a "free for all". On top of all this the device is made to control Chinese diesel heaters which I'm sure you are aware are a cheap rip -off of the German originals, so it is a little "fresh" to purchase a copied machine and then to reverse engineer it and sell a new controller without ensuring you have the rights to it in the first place. That said it is a great product etc, and Ray has put a lot of effort into it - great work!!
The code is open source, they asked for his board design and he declined. They bought one and copied it anyway and claimed it as their own. While probably legal, still a ripoff of someone else's hard work. They are still shit bags.
I'll stop you right there. First the heaters are not a rip off, Webastos patent has expired on the designs so now anyone can copy and make them. Now if you could point me to where said company are sharing the source code for their controller I'll happily concede that point, but under GPL if you got it for free you have to share your changes for free as well. They literally copied a board of another person. Do you think Apple would be ok if you bought an iPhone and reverse engineered it and started selling a copy?
Also, it's slightly cheaper; and has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover
Copied version is better and cheaper.
@@stuartcotterill9475 No it is not just bought the AB off Ray when converted to GB£ by PayPal it was £87 The "Rip Off" one is £149 and it arrived in 6 days
Good shot making this video, I was about to buy the Challenger ACLS sells, if my holmebuild setup fails. But now I will go for the Afterburner.
1. It's not a copy of a aftermarket bit. (4th party thing?)
2. Seems to have better features and reviews.
Challenger are the thieving cunts that stole the design and are selling it as their own.
@@DavidMcLuckie so they are the company you mentioned. That is cheeky as fuck to reverse Engineer something and then say you did it!!
@@DavidMcLuckie
Industrial espionage happens everywhere shite patter but it happens... I read somewhere the Aussie guy is not delivering them to the uk due to the brexit rules ???? How else can we get them if not from the Scottish company mate?
Ive been trying to find a true 2kw version of the heater on Amazon and I cant find any for less than $170! Whats up with that. Its going into a 4'x8' Tear drop trailer and im thinking a 5kw will be way over powered.
I think a lot of people have been buying the true small body 2kw for the same reason and they seem to be a bit scarce.