Does Car Seat Warmer = Vandweller Bed Heater?

(Amazon screen capture)

My friends know I like to engineer solutions to problems.  I’m not always designing solutions as much as finding them.  This post is about testing a car seat heater for use as Vandwelling bed heat mat.

In March I head up into Utah with friends when at night it is in the 20’s at night and 50’s during the day.  If not colder at times.

I like being warm but will not run an open flame heater when I’m sleeping.  Since I often entertain friends in my FWC camper in the evening, I’ll have the heat on so it’s warm when I go to bed.  Along about 3:00 am I’ll otter wake to the need of putting a fleece blanket on top of my sleeping bag to stay warm until I get up and turn on the heater.

I have looked and looked over they years for a 12v electric solution to the creeping cold.  Most 12v electric blankets are too large for my bed.

Then I saw this $20 solution, above,  to try out.

(My bench bed in my FWC)

 My FWC Camper lower bed is 24” wide.  In fact, it’s  the same width of my Prius 60% rear side bed.

I also wanted to use the least amount of electricityfor all electrical appliances. This car seat warmerlooks like a good choice as it is narrow, so there is no heating elements overhanging the bed that looses heat to the compartment air.

(Ambient temperature is shown when you push the center power button)

My desires of a 12v electric blanket didn’t end there, as I wanted controls for the blanket that would set the exact temperature and automatically shut off..

This Eluto Heated seat cushion had it all.  I in addition to being narrow, It has auto shutoff (30, 60, and 90 minutes).  I can Also set the exact temperature I want.  I’m liking 100 deg F right now during my testing,

Unlike other 12v electric blankets that stay on the high, medium, or low setting, I get the exact temperature I want.  It is designed to be sat on so it’s durable to be placed under you so the heat isn’t lost to the air above you.  It warms you while in your bed. 

(Pushing the bottom button allows you to step through the 3 timer settings)

The timer is great to.  So far 30 minutes has been fine, since your body warms, after it shuts off by timer you stay warm for awhile.  I’ve found that although it is not full length, of my body it doesn’t matter as if my core is warm my arms and legs also warm.

(Showing it is set for 100 degrees - pushing the left button the temperature setting goes up / push the right button the temperature goes down)

Lastly, the thermostat knows when it has reached the set temperature and auto shuts off saving your 12 volt house battery from bein overdrawn.

So here is what it draws for amps.

There it is below 3,5 amps draw.  But wait, the thermostat turns off the heater current when the set temperature is reached.  The meter then switches to zero.

How much it’s on under you in bed will depend on what is below the heater.  I sleep on 2” of foam so there is not much heat loss below.  Most heat rises and if your body is in the bed you will absorb it.

I have not measured this variable as it will be different for everyone.

Worse case it will draw 3.5 amps per hour, but wait you may only use it to get warm so you set it at 30 minutes.  I figure I’m using about 1 amp an hour on average during my test in Quartzsite, AZ in early February.

I did test it at home in my easy chair under me watching TV while it was plugged into a 110v ton12v adapter and it was good there too.

My testing will go on through my travels in Utah, so I’ll have more to add later but my initial impression is positive.

Note: I have no affiliation with the company or distributor of the car seat heater, or Amazon.  I’m a consumer who often buys things and like to test them to share with others.

You must assess if you have sufficient 12v battery storage to use this car seat heater without depleting your house battery.  Overdrawing your house battery may damage it.  It is good to first understand if your battery can be fully charged the next day too.

Happy travels

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

The Best Deal In San Diego - Updated

I travel to San Diego to visit family during my travels. It’s not cost effective for vandwellers on tight budgets. I get gas in Yuma and can get to San Diego but then I must pay the $3.78 a gallon for gasoline.  This adds up quickly as I drive all over.

While getting ready to head to 29 Palms on the way back to AZ,  I stopped in a Sprouts Market and saw water was more here in San Diego by $.05 than Quartzsite.

So this was not the best deal in town.

I went to Costco and stopped in for the best deal in town on their menu.  

Yes. The best deal in town is the 1/4 lb hotdog with fountain drink for $1.50.  

There are not many Costco’s in the New England area, and the ones that do have their fast food counter inside.

Here in San Diego the two Costco’s I know have their food offerings outside for anyone to stop by and enjoy.

Kind of made up for the high price of gasoline there.

Happy travels,

Brent

PS - Costco announces that membership will be required to eat at outdoor food courts in near future.

Above is a screen capture of a Google search

Mt. Ryan Hike - Joshua Tree NP

(AllTrails screen capture.)

My CA son invited me to 29 Palms where he works at the Marine base.

The rest of the family came up from San Diego for the weekend too. So, daughter-in-law, and 2 granddaughters, son and I went for a hike Sunday morning in Joshua Tree National Park.

Above is my hike stats.  3 miles and over 1000 ft elevation is in the realm of a predict exercise hike for me.  That includes the amount of time to hike, calories burned, and cardiovascular exercise.

(AllTrails screen capture.)

I’ve been to Joshua Tree a number of times but have never hiked Ryan Mountain.  Mostly because the parking lot fills early.  The sign as you enter the National Park says that parking lots fill by 10:00 am.

If you want to hike in Joshua Tree plan to arrive early.

The hike up Ryan Mountain is generally gradual with just a few spots with steeper spots but overall an easy trail on a well maintained trail, as seen above.

When you get to the top of the mountain the views are wonderful to see the park in a 360 degree view.

Here is my artistic picture from the hike.  I like it when I can frame the photo with plants like these, and get foreground, mid ground, and distance in one photo.

It was worth the hike to just get this photo.

This was my first hike I carried my backpack and I had no problem with pain in my shoulder.  It still feels sore at times but the hike didn’t aggravate it.

Happy hiking,

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Ambidextrous Disc Golf?

It’s been over 2.5 weeks since I so gracefully tripped, fell forward, put my arms out and dislocated my right shoulder.

The shoulder and arm are still sore to painful at times.  It is most difficult at night trying to find a position of comfort.  

I’ve been able to do some hiking but I must be careful not to trip again, but my other travel interest is Disc Golf.

Since I’m right handed (throwing hand) and I tried it today and I can’t play as I would have as it hurts.  Today was a perfect time to overcome my problem and get out and play again so I’ve started playing with my left hand.  

I can throw backhand and forehand with my right hand.  Today, as you will see in the picture, I’m practicing backhand with left hand.

The results were better than I expected and I was able to play with a friend.  It was a nice weather day and I was happy to be on the course here in Quartzsite again.

While I’m convalescing my right arm, I will now be building strength and technique in my left hand.

It will be interesting to be a bit more ambidextrous to help my game.  

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Simple Volt Meter Solves Vandweller’s Battery Depletion Issue

Above is a picture I captured of the simple voltage gage I buy to install in friends 12V circuits.

Having a degree in Electronic Engineering, I’ve gotten into answering questions and helping people with their 12V and other DC systems on my Travels.

One of the most common problems I run into with Vandwellers is people running their house battery down low enough or enough times to damage it, and  they need to spend the money to buy a new one prematurely.

This is not only a costly expense for vandwellers, but also requires time to find the cost effective replacement.

In actuality, it adds to their day to day frustration that they are not in control of their destiny, because they forget and drain their lead-acid battery too low.

I have two examples of vandwellers that needed assistance this year thinking they were over draining their battery and thought they were hurting their house battery.

In preparation for my travels this year I designed some circuits called Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD) circuits to being on my travels to since their problems. 

Note: See my related post on LVD design.

1. First friend has a lead acid battery charged from solar.  They would plug their laptop and phone in to charge and run in the evening and were not aware of how much relative power their battery had.

In this case, my friend didn’t need some fancy device to show and track watts and amps but just a simple volt meter that they could see the voltage of their battery and when the voltage was low enough they shut things down from charging for the night until solar charging the next day.

So friend #1 just needed a simple volt meter, like the one above, to know the relative state of the battery.  Ie. The lead-acid battery about 12.7V without charging and noting drawing on it is full.  The same battery at 12.1 not charging and no draw on it is where to stop.  

Lead-acid batteries are happiest charged the next day when used overnight.

So my friend now can monitor her usage real-time with this simple volt meter.  When it gets down to 12.1V on the battery running the laptop all they have to do is disconnect the charging of the laptop.  The voltage will probably go up a bit and that means they can run a bit longer.  Soon they will know when running the computer at what voltage on the volt meter they will see to 12.1 when the laptop is unplugged.

The vandweller is now in charge of their own destiny, and this is a good feeling.

2. Friend and I met on the road too.  After discussing her house battery setup, I learned her battery is a Battleborn 100 Ah LiFePo4 battery. 

I advised her that her battery comes with BMS (Battery Mangement System) that protects the battery in many ways.  Charge and usage current are just two examples, but the battery also has an auto voltage shutoff on low voltage so they can’t damage the battery by forgetting and going too low.  

Yes the Lifepo4 battery doesn’t want to run on the auto shutoff as this is a battery protection circuit.  It is best to charge before it auto shuts off.  A battery voltage of 12.0V would be good for recharging.   When charging lithium with the proper lifepo4 charger you may see 14.6-14.6 volts when charger shuts off and my often rest at 13.3-13.7V

This friend just needed some education and a volt meter would be helpful, but I had only one with me and I had used it on friend #1’s vehicle.

My last example is my off grid friends house.  She bought the house with an older 24V solar system to supply power.

A control monitor was never installed on the first floor living space and the system is in the basement.  For her to know the health of her system and to know what she could run off the inverter.  She also just needed the same volt meter and follow the same rules for lead acid batteries as I noted above.  The only exception is that her resting voltage is 24.2, double the 12.1.

After installation of the volt meter, she too was now in control of her own destiny and was no longer risking draining her battery bank to low and the inverter shutting off leaving her in the dark.

Many people will tell you you need to know watts or amps in and out.  No you don’t!  A little education and you have a good handle on the health of your battery from just the volt meter.

Above is my volt meter for my FWC camper LiFePo4 house battery that I installed and is all I use to know the health of my battery.

Yes, you can get a lot more technical but the vandwellers I know just want their systems to be simple and this is just that.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Charging Your House Battery With 120v AC

My Vandwelling friend had a common problem.  They had 100 watts of solar for their house battery but needed to fix the Combiner that charges the house battery from the engine when solar is not possible.

On my way to meet my friend, I didn’t know what the fix would be for resolving the combiner (see separate post on how I fixed the problem), so I confirmed that they had a 120 v inverter first.

When I arrived to check the Combiner circuit, my friend had a small inverter like the one in the Amazon picture, above.

Since I needed to do some research on the Converter circuit, I had stopped at Harbor Freight in Tucson in the way to Ehrenburg, AZ and purchased an extension cord and small lead acid battery charger / maintainer that would work with a 4 amp 120v charger.

I bought this 12v lead acid battery charger, as seen in the Harbor Freight screen capture above.

I also bought a short 10’ heavy duty power cord to match the charger.  Again the picture above is a Harbour Freight screen capture photo.

The charger comes with SAE connectors so I chose the fused terminal lug adapter above, in the Harbor Freight captured photo, to connect directly to the battery terminal lugs.  

My friend plugged their inverter into the dash socket while running the engine and then plugged in the charger.  As it turned out the power cord and charging cord was long enough for the charger to plug directly into the inverter and the 10’ extension cord wasn’t needed.

So, what is my friend to do with the unused extension cord?  They offered to give it back but I said keep it.

See, I knew they visit a friend’s house in the summer and may not get enough solar but possibly they could plug the extension cord into the house wiring and feed the charger that way to keep the battery charged when parked and not driving if there is no solar due to trees, or clouds.  It’s a great backup even if you have a friend with extra solar to share.

With this setup my friend has 3 ways to charge their house battery.

1. Solar

2. Combiner once I fixed it.

3. 120v from inverter with vehicle or shoreline when parked at a friend’s house or campground with power.

This is how my 12v charging system works in my camper, only it’s for my LiFePO4 battery system using lithium solar charge controller, Lifepo4 120v Charger, and fixed voltage charger from engine specified by Bioenno, my LiFePo4 battery supplier.

Note: I am not affiliated with Harbor Freight, Amazon, or Bioenno.  My post is an unbiased look at how I solve small vehicle house battery charging problems.  There are more than one way to address charging and my suggestion is highly cost effective over damaging batteries prematurely due to under charging.

PS.  I have already written about fixing the combiner circuit for my friend.  This supplement blog was actually provided first while I researched the combiner circuit problem, and the days that went by before my friend and linked up our locations again.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

The Skoolies Are Here!

Above is a screen capture from Facebook.

In place of one grand gathering for the RTR, as in past years, it was my goal to check out other groups rather than just hang in one place.  Some groups were 30 miles apart so it involved some driving.

The skoolies were a group that somewhat collocated next to the RTR in the past.

They have grown each year and are a large group by themselves.

The Skoolie folks have always been welcoming and willing to share their designs

So, I headed over to Ehrenburg, AZ where their gathering was to see the Skoolies with a friend.  There was another friend met us there too.

Above is a screen capture from Facebook.

I don’t have a drone for capturing the group so I let the group speak for themselves with their photo above.

We have buses of all types at the gathering and many offer tours to show off their proud work.

This bus above was a book mobile in Japan.  With right hand drive and 4x4 and high clearance it stands out, not to mention the original colors.

I’m not about capturing the age, motor type and size.  I’m into the novelty aspect of each.  Color, modifications, and the stories that go with each to bring them back to life.

The one above was shipped from Japan to North America for the purpose of having a Skoolie.

Above is an interesting take on a bus modification, stacking a van on top of the bus.

The husband an wife team of the bus above pulled in as we were walking around and they were gracious enough to entertain some quick questions as they were setting up.  The woman of the bus did the paining.

If you zoom in closely enough you may see Wile E Coyote.

How about a bus with a rear porch and umbrella awning?

Or this very large bus

There are also buses that have roof patios.  Like this couple enjoying a conversation in the afternoon sun.

One thing about Skoolies is that you have lots of space.  This one guy had a mushroom and he installed this wood stove in his big bus.



He also has this mini washer and extractor for doing his laundry.  With plenty of roof space and lots of room there are opinions over my camper for amenities that I will never have.  Well, I wouldn’t want in my minimalist lifestyle.

I’ll leave you with the first vehicle we saw and owner i interviewed.

It was a class C camper on a good chassis.  He tore the camper off and built his own camper in its place.  Ok not technically a school buss conversion, but it goes to the acceptance that people receive in the different groups.  His build was very interesting,  he learned as he built it.  

He was more than a proud owner.  He was modest too. Very inviting and willing to share.  The vandwelling life has one theme to me and that is general acceptance of others even if they may not exactly fit.  

It’s a welcoming feeling that you can feel a kinship with others.

Don’t pass up the odd ones in a group as they may be the most interesting.

Many have Youtube links if you care to search.

Brent

macaliney@hotmail.com