Household heater in my car

[N0RCALDIME]

So my heater in the 510 is N/A at the moment and will be out of service for a while. So here is my question:

i have this:

and i want to wire it into my car for the winter.

how can i do this?

[motavated]

Get a good inverter and plug it in... Unless you live in your car then this is pretty much a bad idea. Fix your heater?

Edited December 8, 2009 by Motavated

[N0RCALDIME]

i have a small power inverter but it does not like my heater. i think it is too much of a pussy to handle the power the heater needs. i may have to invest in a better one. what kind would support my heater?

[motavated]

I have a 350 and that shit cant even power my laptop. Maybe a 1000?

[N0RCALDIME]

lol i dunno. i'm just tired of freezing my ass off!

[stilltwisted]

i would not do it ,,but if you are ,,i would use a battery isolater ,a 2nd battery ,a inverter,that can handle the wattage of that heater ,,,,,,that heater can use up all of a battery pretty quickly ,,and once the battery is drained ,then use more energy than your alt can put out ,,so the eng wont have enugh energy for the coil ,,the eng can stall,,no voltage for the starter left to restart ,,your stuck onthe side of the road ,,no power ,,heat going away,, so you will still be cold,,just not a good idea..

 

 

my buddy has one in his motor home ,,it has six house batterys ,,i about 45min he has to fire up the 5000 watt gen ,, or it will drain all six batterys before hour is up,,

 

yes the cabin size is smaller in your auto ,,but so is the wattage reserve

 

just my .02cent

[motavated]

yUOR SMAarT!

[banzai510(hainz)]

get a propane Heater buddy.

 

510 wires can handle that???????

 

how about fix the heater.

[Jesse C.]

They sell small heaters that actually plug into the cigarette lighter and can be placed under your car seat.

 

Or just put on an extra pair of sox and fix the heater!

[72wagun]

My heater had problems too, so I looked at several options. If you can't get to fixing the stock heater right away, I think the cigarette lighter type is your best bet. Just don't expect much heat from them.

 

The little bit I know about electricity tells me that the resistive heaters that run on 120 wouldn't be very practical. I just looked at one I have here at work, and the lowest setting on it is 1300W. I think at 12V that would be like 108A. You would have to have a massive wire straight from your alt (don't forget a big fuse:)). Even with that, you would use some power in the resistance of the wire, and the inverters are not that efficient either. You would have to have a pretty big alternator just to run the heater.

 

btw, I was driving my wagon for months right up until last week with no heater. It wasn't that bad if you wear gloves and warm clothes. Of course lack of defrost is the main problem.

[Bleach]

EV car conversions use 12v DC ceramic heater elements placed inside the heater box in place of the heater core. The existing fan in the dash blows air past it.

 

A ceramic element has to be removed from a small portable heater. They are usually AC units that have a 12v DC converter for the wall plug.

 

[N0RCALDIME]

They sell small heaters that actually plug into the cigarette lighter and can be placed under your car seat.

 

where do they sell these? ive been looking all over!

[Jesse C.]

Ebay and JC Whitney would be my first choice.

 

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=Car+heater&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[pl521sss]

remove and clean out your heater core and assembly.

Just plugged up with leaves and dirt from cowl vent.

Soak that valve with vinegar if it binds or won't openclose.

 

510 heater works very well

[N0RCALDIME]

i am removing the heater now. i will update when i find out whats going on.

[banzai510(hainz)]

when I was new to 510s I would put the heater switch to heat.On my white beater I had.

I find out the cable wasnt opening the valve(cock) to the heater box below on the driver side.

So i got up underneath there and the heater was good after I open the valve.lack of use or just the cable was not pulling/pushing the cock valve.

 

I would then just leave the switch to Heat and just use the vent switch to route the air or have it off. so not to use the heater valve cock

[Bleach]

(then close the valve in the summer time so the heater core remains cool with no hot water going through it)

[72240z]

EV car conversions use 12v DC ceramic heater elements placed inside the heater box in place of the heater core. The existing fan in the dash blows air past it.

 

A ceramic element has to be removed from a small portable heater. They are usually AC units that have a 12v DC converter for the wall plug.

 

 

I read a write up some where for this, was pretty cool. Except they left the working stock heater core alone though. Used the electric for instant heat then let the stock take over.

[N0RCALDIME]

The radiator park of it works, it runs hot water through it. The problem is the fan does not work anymore.

so i just pulled it and it's probably the dirtiest thing ive ever touched, with hella leaves/random rubbish in it. anywho, i dont think it has power going to it. which wires are pos and neg and how do i know?

anyone have the wire diagram for it?

[DanielC]

Once the heater is out of the car, look for the two wires going to the motor itself.

One wire should be black, the other could be any color.

I have a 521. The two wires on the heater motor are black, and blue. The blue wire plugs into another short wire harness that goes to the heater fan switch, and also connect to a resistor that is inside the heater box.

A 521 has three heater speeds. At low speed, the resistor is in series with the heater motor. Medium speed, half of the resistor is used, and at high speed, the resistor is bypassed, and 12 volts is connected directly to the heater motor.

On my 521, the ground wire for the heater is connected to the heater box, and bolting the heater box in the cab of the truck grounds the heater box.

Your 510 may be different.

[pl521sss]

The radiator park of it works, it runs hot water through it. The problem is the fan does not work anymore.

so i just pulled it and it's probably the dirtiest thing ive ever touched, with hella leaves/random rubbish in it. anywho, i dont think it has power going to it. which wires are pos and neg and how do i know?

anyone have the wire diagram for it?

 

 

Check the coil also inside the case.

It might be broken

It's cooled down when the fan is running

 

Motor should only be 2 wires to test it

[N0RCALDIME]

there are 3 wires in a harness that lead to the motor. all are blue with black/white/green stripe. one is only blue and seperate from the harness. which two?

[lynchfourtwenty]

heh, i have my heater wired to a toggle switch, on/off lol.. when i got the truck the dash was pretty messed up, had no heater controls.. the dash i have now has all that but im to lazy to go figure it out.. when i turn that sucker on she blows good tho, an pleanty warm... every now an then i have to re open the little valve on the passenger side cause it shuts some how (prolly passengers feet)

 

thanks for the tip for setting it to cool bleach, i prolly wont bother on the datsun in the summer, but in the winter that will work nicely for my car since she takes for ever to warm up.. suprised i didnt think of it..

[N0RCALDIME]

UPDATE: the motor test was a success! motor is good just no power is getting to the wires. anyone have any idea what might be causing this? is there something im missing here... otherwise what is the best way to hook it up to a switch or?

[lynchfourtwenty]

for temporary you can toggle it.. mines been this way for years..