Diesel heater suggestion

[Nevwild]

Don't think Vevor actually makes anything. They just brand and market lots of generic Chinese stuff. Some of it is decent and some sucks ass. I've had a couple that were decent. My policy is to buy two whole units. If one has problems I swap them and fix the problem one whenever I get around to it.

Also, marketing them as 8kw is bullshit. These are clones of well made German machines that were either 2kw (which are physically smaller) or 5kw. Actually pushing them to 8kw would be far exceeding the design parameters of the much higher quality German machines that they are copies of. My suspicion is that the 8kw claim is just an outright lie.

Your suspicion is correct based off of my understanding. With that said I got a 8kw Hcalory and I have zero complaints.

 

[fishnhunt404]

+1 on the Hcalory line. I’ve been very pleased with mine.

hjow do you have it hooked up? im currently trying to make a diesel heater setup. ive seen people use the expensive power stations but im thinking of some type of battery with a cheaper solar panel for charging it during the day.

 

[fishnhunt404]

The engineering on these is well established to the point to where the patents have expired, and Chinese factories are able to build to the original German specifications for pennies on the dollar. This is why you’re able to get such a good deal with something like Vevor or Hcalory. At this point, I don’t see any value in getting a system that is more expensive than $200 or $300. Unless of course, you wanna get one of those fancy gasoline heaters instead of a diesel heater. With that said, this design was originally set up to work with diesel, and the gasoline variants tend to be less reliable, especially at elevation.

I have rabbit holed on this pretty far, built out a van that uses one, and run maintenance on it as need be. I depend on it for warmth in my van at least 20 to 40 nights a year both skiing and hunting. I wouldn’t get anything more expensive than an Hcalory as I’m not convinced that I would get any extra value from anything more expensive.

how would one make a cheap setup i. e diesel heater , battery and potentially a solar panel with alligator clips to charge the battery during the day.?

 

[Titan]

You can definitely just go straight to a 12v battery (lithium is much easier to lug around). And you can charge with solar without issue.

The worst thing you can do is go straight to some 120v source that can be immediately shut down, like a generator. If the generator runs out of gas and the heater looses power it can cause damage. Having a battery helps avoid that.

 

[Nevwild]

hjow do you have it hooked up? im currently trying to make a diesel heater setup. ive seen people use the expensive power stations but im thinking of some type of battery with a cheaper solar panel for charging it during the day.

Mine is hooked into the electrical system that I’ve installed in my van. I don’t have a power station, but I have a 300 and power battery, that runs the electrical for all of the house based things that I need to do. So my set up is not relevant for what it sounds like you’re trying to do.

As for the question about whether or not you could plug it into a 12 V battery with alligator clips, you totally could! The important part is to make sure that you actively shut it down via its shut down procedure. The system is basically a blow torch that is captured by a metal drum with a bunch of fins that dissipate heat on the other side. It has a fan that blows air over those fins. If the fan stops spinning, all of the electronics in the heater will melt, and you will lose functionality of the whole system. So it is super important to make sure that the flame is shut down and the system can spin the fan long enough to cool down after.

So I think a 12 V battery, with a solar panel would actually work just fine. I’m sure you could find something similarly set up on YouTube. In fact, I think I commented earlier in this thread a video series that really explains the way that these things work. Maybe you could copy his set up?

 

[Nevwild]

I just took a look at my set up, and it definitely has ring terminals coming off of the diesel heater. You should be able to get a solar panel with ring terminals and probably mount that to the luggage style heater. Could be a slick little set up.

 

[GoatPackr]

Love my Amazon diesel heater for heating my 25' enclosed trailer. I have 2 of them so one is a backup.
I've purchased them on-sale an paid anywhere from $65 - #100 for them.
Amazon has all the fancy little wires to have a quick connection setup. I have pulled into rest areas late at night and set it up in less than 5 minutes running off a milwaukee battery using a $20 step down converter.

 

[Highvoltage1]

Anyone run one off a set of deep cycle batteries wired in parallel? These have me curious for a heat source for a teepee hot tent truck camping. Feel free to message me if you have sone something similar with good results. Best wishes

 

[average]

Love my Amazon diesel heater for heating my 25' enclosed trailer. I have 2 of them so one is a backup.
I've purchased them on-sale an paid anywhere from $65 - #100 for them.
Amazon has all the fancy little wires to have a quick connection setup. I have pulled into rest areas late at night and set it up in less than 5 minutes running off a milwaukee battery using a $20 step down converter.

What kind of runtime are you getting on Milwaukee batteries?
I'm trying to be decide on a power source, Milwaukee would be nice but was worried about having enough amp hours

 

[taskswap]

Their startup requires glow plugs, mine (one of the HCalory models) takes 137W for that. But that's just for a minute. Once going it's just a fan, mine is 33W (at 12V, that's 2.75A). The math isn't perfect because a full 12V battery should be around 12.8V but it gets you in the ballpark.

A lead-acid should only be discharged at most to 50% of its rated capacity if you want to get any life out of it, even with a deep-cycle. A lithium can be run down to 0 without damaging it unless it has a crappy BMS - don't buy those.

So a 100Ah lead-acid should be able to run the heater for about 18 hours. A lithium can do double that. In practice, if you get a unit with a thermostat, you could get a week out of a full battery because it can shut the heater off instead of running it all the time. You can also use the "low" mode most of these have to save even more power.

Even a very inexpensive solar panel and charge controller (cheap as in Harbor Freight cheap) will easily keep up with the needs of one of these things unless it rains all week.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Last winter Amazon dropped the price of the LF Bros all in one units to silly levels so I bought the N2-T unit that's supposed to have automatic altitude adjustment. I just unboxed it last night and still need to test it. It's gonna be pretty great if it works as advertised without issues. I'll report back in October.

I just tested this puppy out in the back yard, on lowest setting is HOT and it's real quiet with no clicking. Wish I wouldn't have filled it all the way up, was planning to use Wyoming diesel with antigel and whatever other additives are in the fuel up there but now it's full of Texas summer diesel. :/
Kit is real smooth and should pack well, I'm impressed. Might need a silicone stove jack because that output pipe gets really hot. Controller correctly auto detected my altitude and supposed to work up to 15k feet.

 

[taskswap]

I just tested this puppy out in the back yard, on lowest setting is HOT and it's real quiet with no clicking. Wish I wouldn't have filled it all the way up, was planning to use Wyoming diesel with antigel and whatever other additives are in the fuel up there but now it's full of Texas summer diesel. :/

Just pour an appropriate amount of Diesel 911 right into the tank. You'll be fine.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Just pour an appropriate amount of Diesel 911 right into the tank. You'll be fine.

Thanks for the tip. Seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea to have that for the truck as well, though I've not had issues down into the negatives before it's better to have it and not need it...

 

[svivian]

I just tested this puppy out in the back yard, on lowest setting is HOT and it's real quiet with no clicking. Wish I wouldn't have filled it all the way up, was planning to use Wyoming diesel with antigel and whatever other additives are in the fuel up there but now it's full of Texas summer diesel. :/
Kit is real smooth and should pack well, I'm impressed. Might need a silicone stove jack because that output pipe gets really hot. Controller correctly auto detected my altitude and supposed to work up to 15k feet.
View attachment 941489

Do you happen to have a link? looks like a nice setup

edit disregard found it on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/LF-Bros-Park...-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Do you happen to have a link? looks like a nice setup

edit disregard found it on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/LF-Bros-Parking-Stylish-Suitable/dp/B0CBTN3HC1/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?adgrpid=1338108047005031&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.bWfbw0glsyvU2iji0Od00twEP1ctr69938caaG3b4ApSaThps3BDwremVa75k564DG1V4j_BeihbzbRkFBkjuB40J-usoQ2ar0LYXoUvmeOqPvUT69Uljl6kJ4tcIQuh_GGGOtFXsgV_2Ct6Zn4iF82Y8FXI5XkdGZf8rP-bx8hBbeP3EqkNCfD5br-KVOnJilZI-PHUbQEEiXjh8oEraBTyHoxMlabJ0zn88LYVw-k.k5ZkCkZdSyTBMEzLCnHXn-rHeeyd576Spf_bKOrw0eU&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83632025477489&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=91572&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83632794224294:loc-190&hydadcr=7667_13723075&keywords=lf+bros+diesel+heater&mcid=57e8fdeb3dce321bac5371d39df87031&msclkid=f3f588e94b0c13125693e03e51264ed2&qid=1758927447&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

That's not the same one, they have a few and that one definitely has a different controller... though I don't know if it's better model or worse. I think we want one with Plateau mode which is the one that can do higher altitudes without issue, unsure on the other ones.
Here's the one I bought, think they may have reboxed this as the "pro" model because I haven't seen it available since then which would explain why I got it for a good price: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D66FZQ94

 

[svivian]

That's not the same one, they have a few and that one definitely has a different controller... though I don't know if it's better model or worse. I think we want one with Plateau mode which is the one that can do higher altitudes without issue, unsure on the other ones.
Here's the one I bought, think they may have reboxed this as the "pro" model because I haven't seen it available since then which would explain why I got it for a good price: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D66FZQ94

Thanks ill have to research these. My silvell has been good to 10k feet but i like the design of yours better.

 

[Titan]

Watch the cap on those if traveling with diesel in the tank. Most will leak. You can use a ziploc bag over the spout and screw the cap over the top to help.

Don’t buy a cheap hot air pipe either. Look at the reviews on Amazon before buying to make sure it’s not off gassing like crazy with the heat

I just bought the stuff to put together my own power station. Using a 100ah lifepo4 battery in a little toolbox. Going to use Anderson connectors to run directly to 2 diesel heaters. I currently have a purchased power station so I have to use the 120v outlet to power them with an adjustable transformer. Losing a lot going from 12v to 110v back to 12v. Should give me 1200wh of run time.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Watch the cap on those if traveling with diesel in the tank. Most will leak. You can use a ziploc bag over the spout and screw the cap over the top to help.

Don’t buy a cheap hot air pipe either. Look at the reviews on Amazon before buying to make sure it’s not off gassing like crazy with the heat

I just bought the stuff to put together my own power station. Using a 100ah lifepo4 battery in a little toolbox. Going to use Anderson connectors to run directly to 2 diesel heaters. I currently have a purchased power station so I have to use the 120v outlet to power them with an adjustable transformer. Losing a lot going from 12v to 110v back to 12v. Should give me 1200wh of run time.

I'm just using the pipes it came with. I did buy an intake pipe so I could pull from air inside the tent thinking it would be more efficient intaking already warmed air but after testing it I don't think it'll be necessary.

Thanks ill have to research these. My silvell has been good to 10k feet but i like the design of yours better.

If this thing works as intended I'll be super happy. I just had it plugged into a tiny NinjaBatt similar to a Jackery but way smaller and it pulled 13w to 25w the whole time but unfortunately didn't watch it on startup.

 

[Titan]

The intake pipe might be a good idea. It definitely helps if you are trying to heat a larger area. But it does usually increase the moisture. So if you are trying to dry out some clothes, outside air might work a little faster.

We run 3 heaters for our tent. All of them pull intake air from the tent so it’s a little more efficient.

 

[GoatPackr]

What kind of runtime are you getting on Milwaukee batteries?
I'm trying to be decide on a power source, Milwaukee would be nice but was worried about having enough amp hours

I did a little test. I can't remember exactly but think it went around 6 hrs maybe it qas 8 on a 9 amp hr battery
If you had one of their newer 12 AH batteries you might make it all night but will need a good way to charge them.
I've charged them with my truck by plugging a milwaukee charger into the truck. I use them for other things around camp.
For the cost of them I would consider just buying a big lithium battery or RV battery. That's what I've done and charge it with a regular charger and generator.