Sleeping Bag Heating Pad - A Game Changer

Vandwelling can have it’s temperature swings.  One or two sleeping bags may be needed if you don’t have heat.  My heater in the Four Wheel Camper is a propane Wave3 and it isn’t vented so I don’t use it while I sleep. I like to be toasty warm when I sleep.

Above my Wave3 heater

In the past I have used an aftermarket car seat heater under my sleeping bag.  It works great but it shuts off after 1 hour. It uses 3 amps of 12 volts when the thermostat calls for heat.  It did a good job of taking the chill off in the morning.  The problem is I usually wake from the chill at 4 am and I have to turn it in every hour.  I like that it has a thermostat that you dial in the temperature.  It’s also designed to be under you so it’s quite safe.

My car seat heater 

This past summer I found a sleeping bag liner heater on Amazon.  It uses USB power and will stay on all night.  It too is thermostat controlled. 

Above is the Amazon add for the sleeping bag heated liner.

It has 3 settings.  Red, blue, and green with red being the highest setting.  It too is safe as it is designed to sleep on.  It has a rubbery side for it to stay in place and it’s very thin and soft. It even rolls up and comes with a bag to put it in

Above is a picture of my sleeping bag heater liner.  If you look closely you can see the heating squares.

This picture above shows my sleeping bag with the heating liner with my flannel sleeping bag liner I made, so I don’t sleep on the pad and can take liner out to clean.

Note: my home made sleeping bag liner is a flat double size flat sheet folded over and sewn on the bottom and up the zipper side to my knees, so it’s east to get in and out of my sleeping.

Next above is a picture of the booklet that comes with the heater liner showing the location of the internal heating spots.

Now the picture of the liner in place with batter pocket/USB connection.  You can put a good size USB brick in the pocket, but I plug it to my house battery that is recharged from solar and engine.  

I  zip the end of a USB extension cord end and controls in the pocket.

Note: zipping the USB extension into the pocket reduces stress on the control head and internal wires if you move around.

Here is a picture of me powering the heating liner with a USB brick.  It’s on red (highest setting), so I connected the USB connector to my USB tester.  It shows 5 volts and 1.42 amps.  This is the highest amps it draws.

Note: on blue and green settings it still draws 1:42 amps but is designed to automatically turn on and off to give less heat by not being on all the time.

Why is this a game changer?

1. It only sips USB power at 1.42 amps when on.  About equal to a cell phone.

2. It goes inside sleeping bag so you are heated and the heat stays inside.

3. It is well made and it works well. I have woken up with the need to turn down the heat setting.

4. It stays on until you shut it off or you run out of power.

5. It is thin and light weight and does not move around.

6. The pocket is handy to store a 3 ft. USB extension cord and battery.

Cautions:  

1. I use a heavy duty USB extension cord for long wear and protection from pulling on control cord.

2. I zip the USB extension cord into pocket as a way to eliminate strain on the controls and cord.

I don’t receive any compensation for this review from Amazon or the seller.  My review is only here and is my honest assessment from my usage in real life situations.

Remember that any power source you use needs to be able to be recharged each day to allow you to heat the sleeping bag heater liner each night.

There are other companies that sell similar products but I have not done a cross evaluation.  

Best wishes from the road.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com