12 volt heater

[Billrog]

Read a post here some place about 12 heaters so for $36 I thought I'd give one a try. Haven't put it to the test yet but will tomorrow as it's nice and cold out. On 150w luke warm are and on 300w warm enough it's bound to make a bit of difference since the cab fairly comfortable just from the engine heat.



In stall this light a few days ago and plowed a few miles of skid trail the other night it was like working in day light I have a 45w flood out the back of the tractor as well both are connected to the light switch using existing extra plugins in the harness probably meant for factory cabs.

I'll post if the heater is a waste of time or not in a few days.

 

[CalG]

Boy, If you have 300 watts of "EXTRA" alternator output, your tractor must be fitted with something very special.
Mine only has a 35 AMP unit. 100 AMP alternators are customary for modern automotive applications.

If the alternator won't keep up, the battery is going to need to make up the difference.

 

[2458n]

Used a electric heater from Harbor Freight on a old chevy blazer. Check out person warned me that they had this item returned many times- should have listened. Little fan blew and it got red wires but no heat. Was a complete waste of time,$, and effort. Old Volkswagens were cold for a reason.

 

[joefromga]

Boy, If you have 300 watts of "EXTRA" alternator output, your tractor must be fitted with something very special.
Mine only has a 35 watt unit. 100 watt alternators are customary for modern automotive applications.

If the alternator won't keep up, the battery is going to need to make up the difference.

You're confusing watts with amps.

 

[mrmikey]

At 13.8V it's going to draw 22A, not going to leave much for anything else if you have a small alternator...............M

 

[Travelover]

Don't expect much. A better solution might be a little propane heater, if you can't get heat off the engine directly somehow. I tapped into the upper and lower radiator hose and installed a car heater core that I got for cheap.

 

[art]

The old water heaters in the cab were 12,000 btu and the new ones are 20,000 btu and you are going to mess with a 300 watt heater? We did install one once. Customer came in and bought the right system which allowed him to have more lights and no dead battery! The best part is he had heat in the cab!

 

[tman1020]

I had one of those type of heaters before I upgraded to regular heater that hooks into the radiator hoses. Only thing it really did was help keep the windshield clear and barely did that. One thing that helped more than anything before I had a real heater was I ran an extension cord to where I parked my tractor. I kept a residential electric heater inside there that I would turn on for about 15 minutes before I got in. That made quite a difference. But honestly the radiator heat with a fan is definitely the way to go You won't regret it. I think surplus center sells some options that aren't unreasonable.

 

[CalG]

You're confusing watts with amps.

My bad ;-(

 

[Billrog]

The tractor has a 50 amp alt and the heater other than the fuel gauge is the only thing it would be running during the day is the heater so time will tell.