womps
Olds
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We will be leaving for Arizona from the frozen north in Dec. Can I use my 2000 watt inverter to operate a 1500 watt electric heater while I am driving?
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michelb
Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Joined: 04/11/2007
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I suspect that your alternator won't be able to recharge your batteries as quickly as you use them up. That said, any reason you wouldn't just use the dash heat and the RV furnace?
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bldrbuck
Boulder, Colorado
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I agree with michelb, You will be pulling about 125 amps at 12 volts and there is no way you can charge that much.
93 Ford F350 Turbo Diesel, DRW, Crew Cab. PullRite Hitch. 90 Nomad 28' 5er, 375 Watts Solar, 2800 Watt Yamaha Generator, 1750 Watt Inverter, 4 Trogan T105 Batteries, Spare tire and wheel and folding ladder. Me, wife and 2 spoiled Maltise furkids.
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Spikester
Belfair WA
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A lot of folks run their furnace when traveling in real cold weather. I have always been lucky in that my dash heat does a pretty good job of keeping the coach warm when traveling in cold weather, especially if you start out in the morning with it nice an toasty.
If you have AC's that operate as Heat Pumps, run your Generator and one of your heat pumps to heat the back of the coach.
Spike
08 Newmar Ventana 3330
350HP ISBXT
Spartan NVS Chassis
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smkettner
Southern California
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I would not use the inverter for that purpose. Yes the inverter will power the heater. However you will probably be running the battery down even with the alternator putting out max amps for hours on end. And the electric heater will only provide about 5200 btu.
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
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patnchris
Gurnee, Il. USA
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And it will not save you any money on gas. The average alternator can suck up 5-7 horsepower when running at full output. That horsepower will drag on your fuel ecomony, so you might as well burn a little propane. Your furnace is much more efficient at creating heat, than your main engine turning an alternator, to charge batteries at 12V and then converting it to 120V AC to run an electric heater.
Patrick and Christine
and Maggie May, the cocker spaniel
1995 Damon Ultrasport 3470
Rallies Attended "21"
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geezer34nh
New Hampshire
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The real answer is "it depends". The depends is what amperage will the alternator on your rig put out? Your owners book should list the amperage of the factory installed alternator. Then figure that the running gear of the rig will probably consume 20 or so amps running down the road without the headlights or daytime running lights and you should keep the total amp draw at about 75% of the alternators rating for continuos operation. I like to run the refer on electric rather than gas when driving and as a result beefed up the alternator system. It was a single 125 amp alternator and now I have two 125 alternators on the engine. I am not a speed demon left lane driver so I do not notice the extra load on my 275 HP Detroit Diesel.
Brad
Brad & Lucy aka the Geezer & The Hedgehog
1990 Foretravel 38' DP
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womps
Olds
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Thanks for the info. I will rely on the furnace if extra heat is needed. I figured if the batteries could stay charged I would use the "free" heat. My alternator is 160 amps so it makes sense that under full load this would not be "free" heat anymore.
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RayChez
Barstow, Ca. USA
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The answer is NO. You will run your batteries dead. Turn the furnace on and it will keep the whole coach nice and warm.
2002 Gulf Stream Scenic Cruiser
330 HP Caterpillar
3000 Allison Transmission
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi womps,
You could run a 1000 watt heater. That would not over tax a 160 amp alternator.
If your inverter is "in the the living space" the heat it generates will also help a bit.
I find that if I set the heater control to defrost it seems to help heat the rear of my Class C RV. At mild temperatures I use the mix setting.
womps wrote:Thanks for the info. I will rely on the furnace if extra heat is needed. I figured if the batteries could stay charged I would use the "free" heat. My alternator is 160 amps so it makes sense that under full load this would not be "free" heat anymore.
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts solar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries 2500 watt inverter.
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