THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Hi all,

Anyone familiar with the Stealth IQ 24V heater? Wires right up to your battery and provides around 4000 BTU of heat. I'm thinking of one for just the cab area. They are small enough to fit anywhere and build for very harsh conditions.

Let me know your thoughts. I have a 710M, and again, really just want it to heat the cab.

tx Dave

The 3-4000 BTU heaters draw 35-45 amps, more than the stock alternator can put out. Hard on the alternator and batteries, requires #6-#8 gauge leads to wire it up.

If you only run it for short durations (like less than 1/2 hour on a long trip) you might get by power wise, but it won't be a good solution for real cold temps. And if it isn't so cold, just tough it out!

I'm not a fan of electric heaters as the elelctrical power just is not there for significant heat.

Jim M.

I have found that if you just want to heat the cab, wrapping the tubes from the heat exchanger to the cab with foil covered fiberglass ( type used for water pipes in residences) works really well. This is the time you will discover if you need to replace the cloth/wire tubes with new. I did that with tubes and unless it is below freezing you will be warm with the blackout curtain down and secure.
I also have a Webasto, installed by Dennis at LinDen to get the chill off until the engine gets heat going.

I have no experience with the type you are speaking of but eliminated that from my thoughts early on as the power requirements were slightly beyond the pinz.

Thanks guys, the wife can just get a thicker sweater!

I've been using some 12v fleece covered electric blankets for the past two winters that really helped a lot. The electric draw is a lot lower and its more effective to heat up passengers than to try to heat up the whole interior. I forget where I found them online, but there were several retailers.

12v fleece covered electric blankets

Now that DOES sound like a solution. Please let us know where you found them!

Jim M.

[quote="McCall Pinz"]I've been using some 12v fleece covered electric blankets for the past two winters that really helped a lot.

I got one of those for those days waiting for the ferry on the cold rainy days in Seattle. Great buy.

Morris

Used an electric vest for many years for winter motorcycling. You can buy one or build your own. May be better to build one for the 24 volt system (I suspect a 12 volt vest plugged into 24 volts could get real toasty)
http://www.shadowriders.org/faq/electricvests.html
http://www.klr650.marknet.us/diy-Electric_Vest.pdf
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=927

Ed

I think this is the source, but there are lots of them around. Mine have timers, but they're a little less $ without

http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/12volheathea.html

http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/usa-mad ... 7AodtVYAzAFound these online,
14,000 btu at 35 amps?

That unit requires serious power

Why not a fuel burning heater like some Haffies have. You can get small self contained units that burn diesel (a bit safer) that have their fuel tank built in. A tank full of diesel will last for days. You also get petrol burning units that are plumbed into your fuel system but I would not be happy with a petrol fire burning at my feet.

Garry

@ Aspen360

I have the 18,000 BTU version of that heater. It's quiet, and works reasonably well.
The alternator puts out 35 Amps, so as I have it installed now, I wouldn't run it for more
than about 30 minutes (that would deplete your batteries at a rate of 10 Amps ... like leaving
your lights on without the vehicle running) but I don't think you would need more than that.
It also has a riostat, so the amperage can be reduced. ultimately, I'm working on fixing
up an alternator, so in the end, I might spend about 50% of what I would if I paid $2400
for the esperbacher.

Personally I'm a great follower of fuel burning heaters.

Over the years I've looked at a variety of heaters but keep returning to the Eberspacher/Webasto option because of their flexibility and reliability........yes new units are expensive, but they are high quality, safe units that work independently from the rest of the vehicle, so any issue with either the vehicle or the heater doesn't affect the running of the other.....and when I camp in the Pinzgauer in cold conditions I can leave it running all the time.

I've been using a petrol Eberspacher in my Haflinger for almost 40 years and a petrol Webasto in the 712 for 10+ years, so have no issues recommending these units. I'm currently researching fitting a diesel unit to the 718, but only because the vehicle is diesel.

Personally I'm a great follower of fuel burning heaters.......Over the years I've looked at a variety of heaters but keep returning to the Eberspacher/Webasto option because of their flexibility, reliability and safety.

Yes new units are expensive, but they are high quality, safe units that work independently from the rest of the vehicle, so any issue with either the vehicle or the heater doesn't affect the running of the other.....and when I camp in the Pinzgauer in cold conditions I can leave it running all the time.

I've been using a petrol Eberspachers in my Haflinger for almost 40 years and a petrol Webasto in 712 for 10+ years, so have no issues recommending these units. I'm currently researching fitting a diesel unit to the 718, but only because the vehicle is diesel.

Sports Import LTD also has a 36V electric heater http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/us-made ... eater.html

Theoretically, if you run that at 24V (resistive element) you will draw 13.3A and output 8,000 BTU.
Then you can run that all day long. Although that's like having a 300W shower heat lamp
Not too bad supplementing the heat exchanger.