$200 5KW Portable Diesel Air Heater
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Sal R.
Active member
Well, I dun f-ed up.
I cut the wiring to the fuel pump to remove the excess so my package work is clean. To my surprise, both wires are colored the same, white with green stripe. On the heater side, both brown.
I've read the schematic in the manual and one is supposed to be positive, the other ground.
Anyone of you kind folks please share which wires trace to their respective connector positions? It'd help me out a lot.
TIA!
I cut the wiring to the fuel pump to remove the excess so my package work is clean. To my surprise, both wires are colored the same, white with green stripe. On the heater side, both brown.
I've read the schematic in the manual and one is supposed to be positive, the other ground.
Anyone of you kind folks please share which wires trace to their respective connector positions? It'd help me out a lot.
TIA!
Last edited:
Personal experience only, and may be wrong, and only applies to my particular heater.
The pulse pump has a coil that serves as an electromagnet to move a small plunger, so polarity PROBABLY won't matter.
My experience so far is that fuel/air mix is determined mainly by pulse pump frequency. The programmable models that allow for changing pump pulse frequency AND fan idle and maximum speeds are handy for efficient fuel burn.
It is a simple, think drool, fuel feed. There is no real pressure developed from the pump to the combustion chamber. Fuel oozes through the glow plug screen into the chamber. An impeller type fan forces air though shaped louvers to provide a swirl effect.
Even when you adjust min/max fuel pump frequency and min/max fan speeds, the controller adjusts those variables in the automatic thermostat settings as it ramps up and down. Mine does not shut down and restart. In automatic, it ramps up and down in pulses and fan speed.
In manual settings, it delivers constant pulses per second and fan speed.
By not shutting off and restarting automatically, battery consumption is reduced. The glow plug draws its 8-10 amps at every start AND stop. It is almost always more battery effective to allow the constant approximate one amp fan load, plus, constant burning helps keep things clean.
Since buying and installing mine, I've seen Chinese versions that supposedly have a barometric pressure sensor on the control board. That could be a plus if it works.
The pulse pump has a coil that serves as an electromagnet to move a small plunger, so polarity PROBABLY won't matter.
My experience so far is that fuel/air mix is determined mainly by pulse pump frequency. The programmable models that allow for changing pump pulse frequency AND fan idle and maximum speeds are handy for efficient fuel burn.
It is a simple, think drool, fuel feed. There is no real pressure developed from the pump to the combustion chamber. Fuel oozes through the glow plug screen into the chamber. An impeller type fan forces air though shaped louvers to provide a swirl effect.
Even when you adjust min/max fuel pump frequency and min/max fan speeds, the controller adjusts those variables in the automatic thermostat settings as it ramps up and down. Mine does not shut down and restart. In automatic, it ramps up and down in pulses and fan speed.
In manual settings, it delivers constant pulses per second and fan speed.
By not shutting off and restarting automatically, battery consumption is reduced. The glow plug draws its 8-10 amps at every start AND stop. It is almost always more battery effective to allow the constant approximate one amp fan load, plus, constant burning helps keep things clean.
Since buying and installing mine, I've seen Chinese versions that supposedly have a barometric pressure sensor on the control board. That could be a plus if it works.
spressomon
Expedition Leader
An EP member who has had a Kimberley Karavan for many years and has travelled extensively all over the western and mountain states USA has been using kerosene in his non-altitude corrected Webasto 2000 without issue. Costs a little more up front but based upon what I've read and heard, kerosene pays dividends regarding cleaner running combustion chamber as well as being less sensitive to altitude. FWIW.
biggoolies
Adventurer
Just look carefully at the wires you cut. How you cut each wire should match up with the respective wire.
CampStewart
Observer
I think it would be next to impossible to source unless you know someone who works around jets but jet fuel would probably be the cleanest burning fuel of all
crazysccrmd
Observer
Just go to a smaller airport and ask the FBO there to fill your gas can with Jet A. Depending on the size of the place and the nozzles they have they might be willing to do that. It usually runs about $4.50 a gallon.
crazysccrmd
Observer
Usually true but at a smaller field they might be willing to make a couple bucks off you from their fuel truck instead of having the fueler sitting inside watching TV.
Herbie
Rendezvous Conspirator
I would not assume this is true. The operating driver for avgas and jet fuel is operating costs - these fuels are refined and conditioned to have the necessary operating safety at the minimum possible cost. There's a cost-per-hour curve, for sure: Too dirty and maintenance costs go up, but beyond a point, cleaner does not mean lower maintenance costs since the FAA requires engine rebuilds on a schedule anyhow. Jet fuel is just clean enough to fit the prescribed teardown schedules.
Kerosene sold for lamp and heating use tends to be optimized for cleaner burning, since they are still often used indoors in many places.
Red90
Adventurer
Here is a custom made wifi enabled controller for the chinese air heaters.
Does he sell them? That is the worst web page I've attempted to read in a long time.
bikerbill2021
Member
Just went through this whole thread, great info, however I may have missed it, for those of you who have put together one of these and used it, how are you powering it? Are you running them off your normal starting battery of your vehicle with some gator clips? Hardwired to the car? A separate battery entirely? I saw someone a few pages back with a deep cycle battery in front of their setup
I'd like to put one of these together to make sleeping in the back of my Tundra's bed with my Softopper shell a bit more comfortable. My thinking is I can grab the unit that is already ready to go in its own body, get a deep cycle battery, some kind of small solar charger to charge the battery during the day when I'm out on the bike, and some kind of small wheeled cart. Run some dryer duct up into the shell, and be warm for the night. It seems there have been some success in doing so in this thread with RTTs, can't see what it wouldn't work in my application, just want to make sure it wont die on me in the middle of the night.
I'd like to put one of these together to make sleeping in the back of my Tundra's bed with my Softopper shell a bit more comfortable. My thinking is I can grab the unit that is already ready to go in its own body, get a deep cycle battery, some kind of small solar charger to charge the battery during the day when I'm out on the bike, and some kind of small wheeled cart. Run some dryer duct up into the shell, and be warm for the night. It seems there have been some success in doing so in this thread with RTTs, can't see what it wouldn't work in my application, just want to make sure it wont die on me in the middle of the night.
Utah KJ
Free State of Florida
This is my current set up:
Line dropped into my jerry can, powered by my 200AH LiFePO4 bank
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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