12 volt Electric Blanket

[afblangley]

I am thinking of buying a 12 volt electric blanket for my motorhome, with the thought that I won't have to run the furnace at night saving on propane and the electric to run it.

Assuming you have the space, why not install a diesel heater and duct it to your bedroom. It uses minimal fuel and I think that it would use less electric than a heating pad/blanket.

 

[Inti]

Assuming you have the space, why not install a diesel heater and duct it to your bedroom. It uses minimal fuel and I think that it would use less electric than a heating pad/blanket.

Actually, diesel heater will use approximately the same watts as blanket. Watch this video:

and here:


Initially even more than any blanket and then little bit less.

 

[Inti]

By the way, I discovered that all these 12v cigarette lighter connectors become hot because they usually include a fuse like this one:

Not a big issue with 50w blanket but definitely too hot when I tried my 100w 12v kettle:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9JCB5z - this overheating problem was solved when I used connector without fuse - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9w7pXp - it looks very flimsy and cheap but it remains cold. There is no need for any fuses with power stations which have built-in circuit breaker.

 

[Matlock]

Interesting. A fuse causing it to get hot. I bet it would have blown and hopefully just before it caught fire. You know, like what a fuse is suppose to do.

 

[Inti]

Interesting. A fuse causing it to get hot. I bet it would have blown and hopefully just before it caught fire. You know, like what a fuse is suppose to do.

That's right. If it will become way too hot then the fuse will be blown. Because it has a very thin wire which heats much more than blanket or kettle. Also, such fuses add two additional contacts which can contribute to overheating problem. In any case, simple experiment is better than theoritising. I tried 3 different connectors with fuses and they all became very hot with 100w kettle, I wasn't sure what will be destroyed first, the fuse or my power station. Connector without fuse remains cold. Why to waste electricity and heat connector instead of kettle/blanket if power station has built-in protection? Again, these fuses don't become extremely hot under 50 watt load like typical blanket. But I noticed that my 75w tire pump also uses connector without fuse... now I know why

By the way, beside cigarette connector my GoLabs R300

also has two smaller 12v connectors without any fuses

but they also become hot under more than 50w load.

To run my trolling motor on speed 3 without overheating I have made a cable with all three 12v connectors.

Minn Kota Endura C2 (360w):
Speed Amps Watts
1 6.8 81w
2 8.5 102w
3 14.5 174w
4 18 216w
5 30 360w

However, after all this struggle with my kettle, it looks like one cigarette connector without fuse would be good enough even for speed 4.

Yes, looks like these power stations have lots of power which is not so easy to get in 12v form

 

[Inti]

By the way, I think that some electric blanket users should also consider USB Heating Pad(s). I use this one https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AKczuh when I have problem with sinusitis, just put it on my forehead with help of sleep mask or headband and sleep all night(well, I also put some thin toilet paper between pad and skin). Heating Pad draws very little power, so I guess it is also safe to connect it to car battery instead of power station. I even see that some of them have regulated power https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AmnSLx but I doubt that this feature is useful as its maximum power is just about 8-10 watts anyway, it never becomes too hot, just warm.