Heated Blanket

[treillw]

Would like to get an electric blanket for sleeping in a roof top tent winter car camping.

Any good recommendations? Would like to put it inside a sleeping bag. One that uses a small amount of electricity would be ideal. Power source suggestions and run time?

Thanks!

 

[Stealth-X]

Check out the USB powered ones. They'll be easier to power with just a normal battery bank.

Amazon.com : usb eated blanket

 

[ericacymcdonald]

It was around 5 years ago but at the time I was working out of town for the railroad and built out a van to live in, spent winters in the Midwest at well below zero. I looked into electric blankets but all the 12v ones had sketchy reviews of catching on fire or melting and the ac powered ones had too much draw and I had a very nice battery/alternator/solar system. Not to mention the mixed reviews I've heard about inductive loads on DC power.
Things may have changed but I ended up with a Chinese Diesel heater. They now have standalone units that would work great for a rtt and they are cheap (like 100 bucks) and sip fuel without creating any condensation

 

[*zap*]

I would just get a battery powered vest. Don't even have to wear it....any decent electric blanket/hat pad uses up power...my big deep cycle battery does about 4 hrs with two large heat pads on high....

 

[treillw]

I would just get a battery powered vest. Don't even have to wear it....any decent electric blanket/hat pad uses up power...my big deep cycle battery does about 4 hrs with two large heat pads on high....

What kind of heated vest?

 

[*zap*]

Battery powered. I use milwaukee m-18

 

[treillw]

It was around 5 years ago but at the time I was working out of town for the railroad and built out a van to live in, spent winters in the Midwest at well below zero. I looked into electric blankets but all the 12v ones had sketchy reviews of catching on fire or melting and the ac powered ones had too much draw and I had a very nice battery/alternator/solar system. Not to mention the mixed reviews I've heard about inductive loads on DC power.
Things may have changed but I ended up with a Chinese Diesel heater. They now have standalone units that would work great for a rtt and they are cheap (like 100 bucks) and sip fuel without creating any condensation

Good input. I have a little camp trailer that I'm putting the tent on. It has solar and two 105 amp hour batteries. Think the blankets will kill that pretty quick? I know nothing about this battery stuff ... Just getting into it.

 

[treillw]

Battery powered. I use milwaukee m-18

Interesting.

 

[treillw]

Battery powered. I use milwaukee m-18

Do you mean m12?

 

[ericacymcdonald]

Good input. I have a little camp trailer that I'm putting the tent on. It has solar and two 105 amp hour batteries. Think the blankets will kill that pretty quick? I know nothing about this battery stuff ... Just getting into it.

It really depends are the 2 batteries series or parallel? And what all you are running off it and how much your solar is doing which varys a lot with weather especially in the winter months with no sun.

2 6v batteries in series would be 105 ah at 12v
2 12v batteries in parallel would be 210ah at 12v

Convert everything to watt hours.

Watts = amps * voltage.

Watt hours = watts * hours

Ie:
12v, 105ah batteries has 1260 watts.
That will power one 126w draw (average) for 10 hours.

 

[MuleyFever]

Those little diesel heaters appear to have elevation limitations. At least the couple I looked at said up to about 9800ft.

 

[*zap*]

Do you mean m12?

the vest is m-12 but I use the m-18 power source and m-18 batteries. The vest wire plugs into the m-18 power source.




The m-18 power source also has a USB plug in.

 

[treillw]

It really depends are the 2 batteries series or parallel? And what all you are running off it and how much your solar is doing which varys a lot with weather especially in the winter months with no sun.

2 6v batteries in series would be 105 ah at 12v
2 12v batteries in parallel would be 210ah at 12v

Convert everything to watt hours.

Watts = amps * voltage.

Watt hours = watts * hours

Ie:
12v, 105ah batteries has 1260 watts.
That will power one 126w draw (average) for 10 hours.

These are the batteries. 12V 105Ah

Lion Safari UT 1300 - Lion Energy

Lion Energy is offering a limited lifetime warranty on the 12V, 105Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Lion Safari 1300 battery. This will be the last battery you'll ever buy. Order online today!

lionenergy.com

Not certain how they are wired. There is the black wire connecting the two positive terminals, which says parallel. Then there are two separate white wires coming form the wiring harness in the floor that each go to individual batteries, which says neither ???

 

[ericacymcdonald]

These are the batteries. 12V 105Ah

Lion Safari UT 1300 - Lion Energy

Lion Energy is offering a limited lifetime warranty on the 12V, 105Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Lion Safari 1300 battery. This will be the last battery you'll ever buy. Order online today!

lionenergy.com

Not certain how they are wired. There is the black wire connecting the two positive terminals, which says parallel. Then there are two separate white wires coming form the wiring harness in the floor that each go to individual batteries, which says neither ???

That's pararell, if it were in series you'd have a 24v system.
That's a really good setup, you have 210 ah and since it's lithium you can use it to around 20% and not damage it at all so figure 168 ah. Find the blanket you are interested in and used the formula to see how long you can run it. You can also use a voltage meter to get an idea of how many ah you are getting back from the solar with the formula

 

[treillw]

That's pararell, if it were in series you'd have a 24v system.
That's a really good setup, you have 210 ah and since it's lithium you can use it to around 20% and not damage it at all so figure 168 ah. Find the blanket you are interested in and used the formula to see how long you can run it. You can also use a voltage meter to get an idea of how many ah you are getting back from the solar with the formula

So when I'm using them, I shouldn't drain them below 20% to avoid damaging them?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[treillw]

That's pararell, if it were in series you'd have a 24v system.
That's a really good setup, you have 210 ah and since it's lithium you can use it to around 20% and not damage it at all so figure 168 ah. Find the blanket you are interested in and used the formula to see how long you can run it. You can also use a voltage meter to get an idea of how many ah you are getting back from the solar with the formula

I contacted Lion Energy and they said that theirs can be drained down to 0% without causing damage.

 

[ericacymcdonald]

I contacted Lion Energy and they said that theirs can be drained down to 0% without causing damage.

I believe it! I haven't done any battery since my van almost 5 years ago. Battery technology is changing so fast right now.

 

[treillw]

It was around 5 years ago but at the time I was working out of town for the railroad and built out a van to live in, spent winters in the Midwest at well below zero. I looked into electric blankets but all the 12v ones had sketchy reviews of catching on fire or melting and the ac powered ones had too much draw and I had a very nice battery/alternator/solar system. Not to mention the mixed reviews I've heard about inductive loads on DC power.
Things may have changed but I ended up with a Chinese Diesel heater. They now have standalone units that would work great for a rtt and they are cheap (like 100 bucks) and sip fuel without creating any condensation

Do you have recommendations for a heater? I'm thinking that I'd like to avoid the diesel heaters because of the smell. Are there any good propane options? The trailer has a propex heater for the cabin and it works great. Don't want to spend $1200 on another one of those though. I don't think that there is a great way to splice into the trailer's heat line to run a a double line off the trailer heater (one line to trailer, one line to tent on top of trailer).

Thanks!

 

[ericacymcdonald]

Do you have recommendations for a heater? I'm thinking that I'd like to avoid the diesel heaters because of the smell. Are there any good propane options? The trailer has a propex heater for the cabin and it works great. Don't want to spend $1200 on another one of those though. I don't think that there is a great way to splice into the trailer's heat line to run a a double line off the trailer heater (one line to trailer, one line to tent on top of trailer).

Thanks!

I only have experience with the diesel heaters and mr buddy types. The Mr buddy one worked good but I had issues with condensation in some weather, they are cheap so it might be worth a try before you spend a lot of money, it will come down to how well ventilated your tent is

 

[GoatPackr]

The diesel heaters don't have a diesel smell. They worked as a forced air heater. You set it up outside and run a flexible dryer duct into the space you want to heat.
Very efficient and will heat well. Also will allow you to dry things out. I don't think any heated blankets or vest will do that.
You can get them on Amazon and they run $130- $170 .

You can also run them off a milwaukee 18v battery if you buy a $20 step down converter that's available on Amazon also. I ran my 8kw heater on high for 6 hrs on a 12 AH battery when I tested it. I heat a large enclosed trailer and usually had it on low or medium using the remote to adjust at night as needed.


Kris