Why not a RoadPro heater?

[justoneman]

The HVAC system has two air inlets - One gets you outside air and there's another inlet which recirculates inside air within the cabin. If you could position your heater near that inside air inlet and then run the HVAC on fan only, it would suck the heat into the HVAC system (with the car's heater off) and you could then blow that warm air where ever you need it - Up against the windshield by selecting the defrost setting on your dash controls most likely. It may be as simple as mounting the heater to a board so it stays put where you need it

Don

As you can see the RoadPro is a pretty good size box. I am sure if I could even get to the inlet there would not be room for it.

The unit has a snap on pivot piece that allows for tilt upwards and downwards. It is a little wider than the housing and such that a pretty big stip of Velcro could be applied to it. If I made a PVC tube with a corresponding flat surface with the loop Velcro attached to it I could put it in the cup holder. I would have then pivot up and down and swivel side to side and I could remove it by virtue of the Velcro, so I could use it lying flat on the seat or floor too. I know it looks like it blocks the side mirror but it does not. Its the camera angle from way forward makes it look that way.

 

[justoneman]

And there is room for it on the drivers floor. It is not a problem. It is not so hot it could cause a fire or anything. It does not interfere with the pedals. Plus if there was Velcro on the bottom it would stick to the carpet.

 

[justoneman]

I'm making a passenger cup holder mount. The RoadPro gets a screwed on luan permanent base that is a little wider than the unit. This makes it so I can place it on the floor when not mounted to the cup holder connect. It will simply Velcro onto that. The cup holder is actually not round it is square, So I made the insert part square and the top luan piece has a single screw with washer to pivot.

 

[justoneman]

Here are the parts assembled and the RoadPro plastic tilt base screwed onto it. All wood parts had a spray of black paint.

 

[justoneman]

Here is the unit assembled (yet to get the Velcro). The top is mounted off set so the unit hangs a bit over the dashboard and away from the side mirror.

 

[justoneman]

Here is the unit in place. The photo is the driver's view so you can see the mirror is not blocked.

 

[justoneman]

Here is how the unit will separate via the Velcro and then the added base is wider and more stable and allows the tilt mechanism that comes with the unit to be used. The Velcro I add to the bottom of this should actually stick a bit to the carpet.

 

[JoeS]

jutoneman, thanks for posting the photos of your heater evolution, and appreciate that you're making it look nice as well. Waiting for your writeup as to how it works out for you in real life, before summer comes. Hope you have a smart 12v charger optimized for your AGM battery - be sure to fully recharge the AGM after every use and don't let it sit in a partially discharged state.

 

[justoneman]

jutoneman, thanks for posting the photos of your heater evolution, and appreciate that you're making it look nice as well. Waiting for your writeup as to how it works out for you in real life, before summer comes. Hope you have a smart 12v charger optimized for your AGM battery - be sure to fully recharge the AGM after every use and don't let it sit in a partially discharged state.

Glad you like it Joe. I actually had a good opportunity yesterday to use it although not with the mount. I drove around running errands and used it for 45 minutes straight. It was a lousy day here in the Chicago area with a high of 40 and cold rain all day. It was a bad fogging up window day with coming in the car with a wet jacket on. I had the heater on the passenger seat next to me. I did not run the cars heater at all. I did use the heated seat. With my RoadPro running and the heated seat I was warm and toasty. The cabin was warm. The windshield however was major league fogging up, so I was placing the heater on the dash to de-fog the windshield. It worked great but it reduced the warmth of heat delivered towards me. Clearly in Winter the temps will not be 39 degrees as was the case yesterday, Even so I think the unit will make a moderated dent in the cold as it was able to make warm the car in 39 degree weather.

 

[justoneman]

As far as a 12v charger I have one but it is not "optimized" for an AGM battery. I charged my battery up after I used it yesterday. I had it charging for 3 hours. Tell me please what is the difference in a standard charger and one that is optimized for an AGM battery please. Will I do harm to my battery using the unit I have used yesterday?

 

[JoeS]

Regarding the 12v charger and AGM, it depends on the brand of AGM. Used to be that Deka recommended keeping the maximum charging voltage to 14.4v at around 70degF, whereas the Optimas and Odyssey are spec'd higher but also are ok with this voltage. IMO (having run FLA (flooded lead acid) and AGM in parallel on my boat for ten years but limiting Vmax to 14.4v), it is not critical and the charger you presently have will probably suffice. I'd measure its voltage and see what it charges up to before cutting back into float (assuming it's somewhat smart) and also see what the float voltage is (13.2v-13.8 is ok). One nice thing about AGMs is that their self-discharge rate is very low so if you simply charge it and then put it on the shelf it will stay fully charged for months.

 

[Don]

The differences are in the maximum voltage the charger brings the battery up to and then the float voltage after charging is complete - Both are a couple tenths different than for flooded batteries

Any battery which is going to be repeatedly cycled nearly every day will live a much longer life with a true 'smart charger' - You don't need a big, expensive one. A 6 amp one should do what you need if you can plug it in both at home and at work

Great work! - Your installation looks very well thought out and you've done a good job of implementing your plans

Don

 

[justoneman]

Regarding the 12v charger and AGM, it depends on the brand of AGM. Used to be that Deka recommended keeping the maximum charging voltage to 14.4v at around 70degF, whereas the Optimas and Odyssey are spec'd higher but also are ok with this voltage. IMO (having run FLA (flooded lead acid) and AGM in parallel on my boat for ten years but limiting Vmax to 14.4v), it is not critical and the charger you presently have will probably suffice. I'd measure its voltage and see what it charges up to before cutting back into float (assuming it's somewhat smart) and also see what the float voltage is (13.2v-13.8 is ok). One nice thing about AGMs is that their self-discharge rate is very low so if you simply charge it and then put it on the shelf it will stay fully charged for months.

The charger I presently have is a Schumacher 4amp automated charger that switches to a float mode.

 

[justoneman]

What concerns me a little bit is that this heater does not turn off with the car's ignition (or should I say off switch). I am only relying on the off switch on the heater. It has built in fuses and I added an inline 40amp by the battery. Do I need to add an additional shut off? I do not think this unit is capable of starting a fire. It just does not get that hot.

 

[Don]

You'll turn it on when you get in the car and likely you'll turn it off a few minutes before you reach your destination. I don't see any problem with it turning on by itself, do you?

Schumacher calls that a 'charger' "designed for 6V and 12V batteries found on small motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and lawn tractors" and a "maintainer" for larger batteries. If your trip takes 25 AH from your AGM battery, it will take that little "charger" a long time to put it back

Don

 

[justoneman]

You'll turn it on when you get in the car and likely you'll turn it off a few minutes before you reach your destination. I don't see any problem with it turning on by itself, do you?

Schumacher calls that a 'charger' "designed for 6V and 12V batteries found on small motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and lawn tractors" and a "maintainer" for larger batteries. If your trip takes 25 AH from your AGM battery, it will take that little "charger" a long time to put it back

Don

Yes it is charging a long time today. I will buy another charger. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced charger?

 

[JoeS]

...I will buy another charger. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced charger?

I have a somewhat different take on this - save money! You're in the experimental stage right now and want to prove out not only the feasibility of this concept but also its practicality on a daily basis, all before sinking any more money into this project.

Your existing 4A charger will work just fine for an overnight charge, and will also be suitable for a daily recharge if you can plug it in at work. 25A over an hour's drive one way will, as Don pointed out, only be 25Ah that needs to be replenished.

In the future, a used solar panel or two and a 12v regulator will make a cute talking point and will actually be able to do some good during your workday.

I must have missed it, what is the capacity of the battery you bought and its brand/PN/specs?

Also, Schumacher makes so many battery chargers - what is the part number of yours?

 

[justoneman]

...I will buy another charger. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced charger?

I have a somewhat different take on this - save money! You're in the experimental stage right now and want to prove out not only the feasibility of this concept but also its practicality on a daily basis, all before sinking any more money into this project.

Your existing 4A charger will work just fine for an overnight charge, and will also be suitable for a daily recharge if you can plug it in at work. 25A over an hour's drive one way will, as Don pointed out, only be 25Ah that needs to be replenished.

In the future, a used solar panel or two and a 12v regulator will make a cute talking point and will actually be able to do some good during your workday.

I must have missed it, what is the capacity of the battery you bought and its brand/PN/specs?

Also, Schumacher makes so many battery chargers - what is the part number of yours?

Yes I agree. I do not want to throw money at it at this point.

The battery charger is a DieHard (made by Schumacher) model number 28.71219

The battery is a DieHard Platinum AGM group size 34M

 

[JoeS]

BATTERY

Wow, that's a fancy battery! The Sears website provided negligible information about this thing.

DieHard Platinum AGM group size 34M are made by Odyssey, according to a totally unverified source on a marine blog on the Internet. Take that with a grain of salt.

However, if that's the case, here is a link to the Odyssey website about the care and feeding of these things:
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-TM-002_1214.pdf

They like the charging voltage to be between 14.4v and 15.0v and a float voltage of 13.5v-13.8v.

If you're going to buy a charger then be careful and first verify that the battery is made by Odyssey, as these charging voltages are higher than what EastPenn (the other major US AGM manufacturer) recommends.

Not to worry, your present little charger will work with this battery, no matter who made it.

C H A R G E R

Oh, that charger is not 4A but it is 2A at 12v.

Here's a next-to-useless manual for it:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/769964/Diehard-28-71219.html#manual
Not even a spec sheet for the darn thing!

How long is your commute?

 

[justoneman]

BATTERY

Wow, that's a fancy battery! The Sears website provided negligible information about this thing.

DieHard Platinum AGM group size 34M are made by Odyssey, according to a totally unverified source on a marine blog on the Internet. Take that with a grain of salt.

However, if that's the case, here is a link to the Odyssey website about the care and feeding of these things:
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-TM-002_1214.pdf

They like the charging voltage to be between 14.4v and 15.0v and a float voltage of 13.5v-13.8v.

If you're going to buy a charger then be careful and first verify that the battery is made by Odyssey, as these charging voltages are higher than what EastPenn (the other major US AGM manufacturer) recommends.

Not to worry, your present little charger will work with this battery, no matter who made it.

C H A R G E R

Oh, that charger is not 4A but it is 2A at 12v.

Here's a next-to-useless manual for it:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/769964/Diehard-28-71219.html#manual
Not even a spec sheet for the darn thing!

How long is your commute?

Yes when you asked the question about my charger I looked up the info and saw that it was a 4 amp charger for 6 volt and a 2 amp charger for 12. I need to purchase another charger because I had the battery on charge last night from 8pm till my morning commute and it was still in charge mode. I would like to be able to fully charge the battery in like 4-5 hours. I will buy another charger because I find the heater's performance to be pretty good. I used the heater on my commute this morning in the 50 degree temperature. I actually ran it ten minutes on and ten minutes off. I was comfortable with no jacket on. I have no need to place the heater at the driver's foot area as the unit placed on the passenger side, pointed towards the drivers feet, still heats of the drivers feet by virtue of the gap between the shifter and the storage pocket. My commute is a long one between 55 minutes and an hour and 15 minutes, depending.